Winning Daily Decision

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

notes

Retaliation case hearing on hold
Billings Gazette, USA - Oct 30, 2007
Later that day, the deputies objected to the stay and turned to the Montana Supreme Court for an emergency ruling to nullify Phillips' order





US v. McKee, No. 05-3297, 05-3469, 05-3357
In a case involving a small religious sect that opposes payment of taxes based upon members' religious opposition to war and the taxes that fund it, defendants' convictions for conspiracy to obstruct a government function, failure to pay federal employment taxes, and failure to file individual income tax returns for certain years are vacated in part, and reversed in part, where: 1) the district court's jury instruction constructively amended the indictment, for purposes of the convictions on tax evasion charges; and 2) the evidence was insufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on two counts.

US v. Wilson, No. 06-6339
In a case involving the constitutionality of a pat-down search of a car passenger that resulted in the discovery of over one pound of powder cocaine, grant of a motion to suppress evidence in the prosecution for drug-related offenses is affirmed where the district court did not err in finding that the government had not shown that the officers had a reasonable suspicion that the passenger was armed and dangerous before conducting the pat-down search

US v. Gibbs, No. 06-1916
Treating U.S.S.G. section 5G1.3(c) as leaving the district court without discretion to impose a federal sentence concurrent or partially concurrent with an undischarged term of state imprisonment is reversible error requiring a remand for resentenci

notes

Retaliation case hearing on hold
Billings Gazette, USA - Oct 30, 2007
Later that day, the deputies objected to the stay and turned to the Montana Supreme Court for an emergency ruling to nullify Phillips' order





US v. McKee, No. 05-3297, 05-3469, 05-3357
In a case involving a small religious sect that opposes payment of taxes based upon members' religious opposition to war and the taxes that fund it, defendants' convictions for conspiracy to obstruct a government function, failure to pay federal employment taxes, and failure to file individual income tax returns for certain years are vacated in part, and reversed in part, where: 1) the district court's jury instruction constructively amended the indictment, for purposes of the convictions on tax evasion charges; and 2) the evidence was insufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on two counts.

US v. Wilson, No. 06-6339
In a case involving the constitutionality of a pat-down search of a car passenger that resulted in the discovery of over one pound of powder cocaine, grant of a motion to suppress evidence in the prosecution for drug-related offenses is affirmed where the district court did not err in finding that the government had not shown that the officers had a reasonable suspicion that the passenger was armed and dangerous before conducting the pat-down search

US v. Gibbs, No. 06-1916
Treating U.S.S.G. section 5G1.3(c) as leaving the district court without discretion to impose a federal sentence concurrent or partially concurrent with an undischarged term of state imprisonment is reversible error requiring a remand for resentenci

Friday, February 16, 2007

Supervised Release Probation Officers Prior Approval

RECENT CASE SUMMARIES:
US V. SALES
9th Circuit

Conditions of supervised release imposed on defendant as part of his sentence for counterfeiting U.S. federal reserve notes are vacated in part and remanded where: 1) a condition requiring that defendant seek and obtain approval from his probation officer before using any particular computer or computer-related device results in an unnecessary deprivation of defendant's liberty; and 2) a related search and seizure condition was also overbroad.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0650219p.pdf

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Illegal protective sweep

US v. Walker, No. 05-2287 (10th Cir. January 31, 2007)
Denial of a motion to suppress evidence in a prosecution for being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition is reversed and remanded where: 1) a warrantless protective sweep of defendant's home after he had been handcuffed and removed to the porch may have been impermissible because defendant had not yet been arrested when the sweep was conducted, for purposes of being incident-to-arrest; but 2) a remand is necessary to determine whether the sweep was proper under the exigent-circumstances doctrine based on a threat to the victim's safety. http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/10th/052287.html

Labels:

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Defective Indictment

US v. Sinks, No. 05-2170 (10th Cir. January 23, 2007)
Appellants challenging their indictments for failure to charge an offense do not waive their claims by failing to object before trial, but such appellants receive only plain error review when they raise the argument for the first time on appeal. [To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com.] http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/10th/052170.html

Monday, January 22, 2007

Apprendi proginy

Cunningham v. California, No. 05-6551 (U.S.S.C. January 22, 2007)California's determinate sentencing law, by placing sentence-elevating factfinding within the judge's province, violates a defendant's right to trial by jury safe-guarded by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/056551.html

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

CIVIL PROCEDURE, CLASS ACTIONS, CONSUMER PRODUCTS, CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW, RETAIL

Galeno v. Blockbuster, Inc., No. 05-8019 (2d Cir. December 26, 2006)Denial of motion to remand a class action -- involving disgruntled customers of Blockbuster alleging that the "no late fee" program is a decptive forced sale scheme -- to state court is vacated as the district court made no findings and offered no explanation as to how it calculated the amount in controversy here to be more than $5 million, the jurisdictional amount. [To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com.] http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/058019p.pdf

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, HABEAS CORPUS, IMMIGRATION LAW

Gonzales-Gonzales v. Weber, No. 04-1181 (10th Cir. December 27, 2006)In a proceeding arising from a grant of habeas relief to an alien under order of removal, the proceeding is converted to a petition for review of the underlying administrative order and the petition is granted, petitioner must be permitted to apply for cancellation of removal, and his state court conviction must not be treated as an aggravated felony, in line with recent Supreme Court precedent.

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, HABEAS CORPUS, IMMIGRATION LAW

Gonzales-Gonzales v. Weber, No. 04-1181 (10th Cir. December 27, 2006)In a proceeding arising from a grant of habeas relief to an alien under order of removal, the proceeding is converted to a petition for review of the underlying administrative order and the petition is granted, petitioner must be permitted to apply for cancellation of removal, and his state court conviction must not be treated as an aggravated felony, in line with recent Supreme Court precedent.

DRUGS & BIOTECH, HEALTH LAW, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, PATENT

Ventana Med. Sys., Inc. v. Biogenex Labs., Inc., No. 06-1074 (Fed Cir. December 29, 2006)In a patent case involving patents relating to automated methods and apparatuses for staining microscope slides, grant of a judgment of noninfringement in favor of defendant is vacated and remanded where the district court erred in its claim construction of “dispensing."http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/fed/061074p.pdf

Police Brutality

Arrington v. US, No. 05-5263
(D.C. Cir. December 29, 2006)Summary judgment for defendants, in case seeking relief under the Federal Tort Claims Act and 42 U.S.C. section 1983 for alleged police brutality, is reversed where the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff created a genuine issue of material fact as to whether he was severely beaten by the officers after he had been captured, restrained, disarmed, and handcuffed. [To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com.]

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, PER CURIAM, SENTENCING

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, PER CURIAM, SENTENCING
US v. Henry, No. 04-3076 (D.C. Cir. January 12, 2007)Convictions and sentences stemming from participation in conspiracy to import and distribute heroin are vacated and remanded as to sentences where it is unclear that the district court's Booker error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. [To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com.] http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/043076a.pdf