Federal Defenders of New York Second Circuit Blog

Federal Defenders

Panel holds that (1) defendant waived argument that continuing on supervised release during pendency of violation proceeding does not constitute “release” under Bail Reform Act for purpose of bail-jumping statute (§ 3146); and (2) § 3147’s enhancement for offenses committed on release applies to § 3146 violations without violating double jeopardy.

by

United States v. Ceasar, No. 25-949 (2d Cir. Sept. 25, 2026) (Sack, Livingston (writing), Carney). The Second Circuit dismissed in part and otherwise affirmed Sinmyah Ceasar’s conviction for failure to appear under 18 U.S.C. § 3146(a)(1). It also affirmed the two-month consecutive term she received under § 3147 for committing that offense while on release. … Read more

Circuit rules that manual examination of a traveler’s cellphone at an international border is “routine” and requires neither reasonable suspicion nor a search warrant.

by

United States v. Alisigwe, No. 24-960 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2026) (Menashi, C.J. (writing), joined by Gonzalez, D.J.; Lee, C.J., concurring in the judgment). The Second Circuit recently affirmed Chinwendu Alisigwe’s bank-fraud and money-laundering convictions, holding that border agents who manually scrolled through his cellphone and photographed its content at JFK Airport needed no suspicion … Read more

Court upholds third-party risk-notification condition against delegation challenge where the defendant’s criminal record and an on-record colloquy defined the risk she posed and sufficiently guided Probation’s discretion.

by

In United States v. Stuart, No. 25-599 (2d Cir. Sept. 3, 2026) (Lohier, Jacobs (writing), Sack), the panel upheld a special condition of supervised release authorizing the Probation Office “to notify third parties, to whom you may present a risk including employers and potential employers, of your criminal history and past criminal conduct.” Slip op. at 12. … Read more

Federal law requiring registration and payment of $200 fee for possessing short-barreled rifles and suppressors doesn’t implicate the Second Amendment because such regulation does not “meaningfully constrain” the right to bear arms.

by

United States v. DeFelice, No. 25-920-cr (2d Cir. Sept. 2, 2026) (Lohier, Kearse, and Walker, Circuit Judges) (per curiam). Affirming DeFelice’s conviction on a conditional plea for possessing two unregistered short-barreled rifles and an unregistered suppressor, the panel held that because neither the registration requirement nor the then-$200 fee of the National Firearms Act (NFA) … Read more

Hunter v. United States: Supreme Court Adopts a “Miscarriage-of-Justice” Limit on Appellate Waivers

by

The Supreme Court ruled in Hunter v. United States, No. 24-1063 (U.S. June 18, 2026), that appellate courts will not enforce an appellate waiver in a plea agreement when enforcing it “would result in a miscarriage of justice — meaning, when it would leave in place the kind of egregious error that would bring the … Read more

What Remains of Compassionate Release After Rutherford and Fernandez?

by

Last week the Supreme Court decided two companion cases (Rutherford v. United States and Fernandez v. United States) largely confining 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), colloquially known as compassionate release, to its historic core as a remedy grounded on a prisoner’s personal circumstances (such as age or infirmity), and not a vehicle for litigating the legality … Read more

How far can harmless-error review go before it swallows the jury-trial guarantee?

by

United States v. Parasmo, No. 23-6555 (2d Cir. May 19, 2026) (Sullivan, joined by Kearse, Robinson dissenting) The Second Circuit affirmed Frank Parasmo’s conviction on thirty-two counts of unlawfully distributing controlled substances under 21 U.S.C. § 841, despite acknowledging — as it had to after Ruan v. United States, 597 U.S. 450 (2022) — that … Read more

Sentencing court cannot accept a police report at face value but must assess its specific indicia of reliability; and cannot consider third-party misconduct unrelated to the defendant as “context.”

by

United States v. Dralle, No. 24-2424 (2d Cir. May 12, 2026) (Bianco, joined by Robinson; Sullivan dissenting). On plain-error review, the Second Circuit vacated Chase Dralle’s 30-month sentence for receipt of a trafficked firearm and remanded for resentencing. Judge Bianco’s opinion identifies two procedural errors: The sentencing court erred in (1) accepting at face value … Read more

Can a trial court determine on its own what evidence satisfies a jury’s generalized request to view exhibits or testimony “link[ing]” the defendant to an inculpatory alias?

by

United States v. Fabian, No. 22-1247-cr (2d Cir. Mar. 25, 2026) (Livingston, Lynch (writing), Menashi, Circuit Judges The Second Circuit affirmed Fabian’s conviction and 15-year sentence for conspiring to distribute crack cocaine. Fabian raised a host of challenges to his conviction and sentence, but the panel placed at “the forefront of this appeal” the district … Read more

Second Circuit reaffirms that confronting defendant with evidence of guilt can “create the kind of atmosphere of significant restraint that triggers Miranda.”

by

United States v. Pence, No. 24-1025-cr (2d Cir. Apr. 10, 2026) (Cabranes, Chin (writing), Robinson, Circuit Judges). In a decision the panel described as “a close call,” the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Pence’s motion to suppress statements he made to agents before they gave Miranda warnings. In an opinion by Judge … Read more