Double Counting

US v. Duckro (10/18/06 - No. 05-3379, 05-3381)
A sentence for theft of firearms and use of firearms in connection with a drug transaction is reversed and remanded where the district court incorrectly calculated defendant's guideline range because a two-point enhancement for possession of stolen guns amounted to impermissible double counting, even though the determination of the range was otherwise correct. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/6th/053379p.pdf

5K Motion

US v. James (10/18/06 - No. 06-30405)
A Government motion for downward departure based on 18 U.S.C. section 3553(e) gives a district court the discretion to sentence an individual below the mandatory minimums of section 924(c)(1). http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0630405cr0p.pdf

U.S. v. Lock, No. 06-1423 (7th Cir. October 20, 2006)
Sentence for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine is vacated and remanded where the district court erred in including prior convictions for Loitering-Illegal Drug Activity in its sentencing calculations since loitering offenses are never calculated and the loitering offense in question is no different for sentencing purposes than a normal loitering offense. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/061423p.pdf

selling or offering to sell marijuana did not qualify as drug trafficking crim

US v. Almazan-Becerra, 456 F.3d 949 (9th Cir 2006)

(defendant's prior conviction California conviction for either transporting or selling or offering to sell marijuana did not qualify as drug trafficking crime).

US v. Flatter, 456 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2006)(officer's had no reason to believe that defendant was armed or dangerous, and thus had no grounds for conducting pat-down search for weapons, conviction vacated

sentencing judge erroneously held that events

U.S. v. Avila, No. 05-1894 (7th Cir. October 13, 2006)

Sentence for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute is reversed and remanded where the sentencing judge erroneously held that events described in the presentencing report were part of the same course of conduct, common scheme or plan as the offense of conviction. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/051894p.pdf

Various winning decisions

US v. Shaw (09/26/06 - No. 05-6110)

In a case involving alleged child sexual abuse, denial of defendant's motion to suppress written statements made while he was held in custody for nearly twenty hours at an army base is reversed where he was arrested without probable cause and in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, and the confessions he made were not sufficiently voluntary to eliminate the taint of the illegality of his arrest. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/6th/056110p.pdf
U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals
U.S. v. Harris (09/27/06 - No. 05-3808)

Conviction for possession with intent to distribute more than fifty grams of crack is reversed where defendant made a substantial preliminary showing that the search of his home was unlawful pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision in Franks, which entitled him to a hearing to challenge the veracity of the affidavit used to procure the search warrant. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/053808p.pdf

US v. Beal (09/25/06 - No. 05-4483)

A sentence for knowingly and intentionally distributing cocaine base is reversed and remanded pursuant to the government's claim that it was unreasonable where a downward variance of 104 months from the lowest end of the applicable Sentencing Guidelines range was so great that it did not give appropriate deference to the congressional policy on career offenders, and other justifications did not support the variance either. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/054483p.pdf
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
US v. Baza-Martinez (09/26/06 - No. 05-10282)

A conviction under North Carolina General Statute (N.C.G.S.) section 14-202.1, for taking indecent liberties with a child, is not necessarily a "crime of violence," as defined by U.S.S.G. section 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii) to include "sexual abuse of a minor." Defendant's sentence, entered following his guilty plea to illegal re-entry after deportation, is remanded for resentencing pursuant to a claim that a prior felony conviction was not "sexual abuse of a minor," a "crime of violence" under United States Sentencing Guidelines. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0510282p.pdf
US v. Day (09/27/06 - No. 05-15676)

15-year sentence, including sentence as an armed career criminal, after guilty plea to being a felon in possession of a firearm, with prior Florida convictions of breaking and entering, burglary, and burglary of a dwelling, is vacated where the district court erred in basing its finding that prior third-degree burglary conviction was for generic burglary, a violent felony, on the information, a document that charged a crime of which defendant was not convicted. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/11th/0515676p.pdf