Federal Defenders There were no published opinions today. In an unpublished opinion, United States v. Fernandini, No. 14-2203, the Second Circuit affirmed a within-Guidelines life sentence for the leader of a violent drug trafficking organization over procedural and substantive reasonableness challenges. Fernandini pleaded guilty to (i) conspiracy to traffic narcotics; (ii) using a firearm to commit murder … Read more
The Second Circuit did not issue any criminal decisions today.
In United States v. Tagliaferri, No. 15–536, the Second Circuit held that a conviction for investment adviser fraud, under section 206 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. § 80b–6 and 80b–17, requires only intent to deceive one’s clients, not intent to harm them as well. Tagliaferri ran a boutique investment advisory firm … Read more
In 1989, when he was 16 years old, Alex Wong, a teen runaway who had been recruited by a violent street gang, committed a murder during an extortion gone awry. He was convicted of RICO conspiracy and sentenced to life under the mandatory Guidelines. On Friday, in light of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Miller … Read more
If you move from Kansas to the Philippines, do you still “reside” in Kansas? Seems simple, right? The Supreme Court thought so, too. In Nichols v. United States, No. 15–5238, the Court said no, in a unanimous, eight-page opinion issued just a month after oral argument. Lester Nichols was convicted of a sex offense and … Read more
There were no Circuit opinions or summary orders today. The Supreme Court decided Nichols v. United States, No. 15–5238. A unanimous Court, per Justice Alito, held that a sex offender residing in Kansas who moved to the Philippines could not be prosecuted under SORNA for failing to update his registration in Kansas after the move. … Read more
United States v. Taylor, No. 14-360-cr (March 2, 2016) (Droney, with by Pooler and Lohier) The Circuit affirmed a cocaine conspiracy conviction over a constructive amendment claim, but vacated a conviction for transaction structuring on sufficiency grounds, holding that no rational juror could have found the requisite intent to evade currency reporting requirements just from … Read more
United States v. Sanchez, No. 11-2429-CR (2d Cir. Dec. 4, 2013) (Cabranes, Straub, and Livingston), available here Defendant pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 1 kilogram of heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A), an offense that carries a 10-year mandatory minimum. The government filed a prior felony … Read more
United States v. Anderson, No. 13-4152-CR (2d Cir. Nov. 24, 2013) (Parker, Lynch, and Carney), available here Following a traffic stop of defendant’s car, Vermont state troopers arrested defendant’s wife Crystal, a passenger, believing that she had drugs hidden on her person. The troopers brought Crystal to the state police barracks, handcuffed her to a chair, … Read more
United States v. Dantzler, No. 13-2930-cr (2d Cir. Nov. 14, 2014) (Cabranes, Carney and Droney), available here The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), mandates a 15-year minimum sentence for certain firearms offenses if a defendant “has three previous convictions … for violent felony or a serious drug offense, or both, committed on occasions different … Read more