Peggy Cross-Goldenberg In Carpenter v. United States, the Supreme Court today held that the government’s acquisition of historical cell-site location information constitutes a Fourth Amendment search and the government generally will be required to obtain a warrant to acquire that information. The so-called third-party doctrine does not permit the government to obtain cell-site location information as “business … Read more
An FYI for counsel who will be cross-examining witnesses in SDNY Judge Katherine B. Forrest’s Courtroom. Judge Forrest has issued “Guidelines Regarding Appropriate Use of 302 Forms in Criminal Trials.” You can read the Guidelines here and may need to plan ahead where you need to use a 302 to complete the impeachment of a witness. … Read more
More news out of the Midwest: In United States v. Cross, the Seventh Circuit held that Beckles v. United States applies only to post-Booker cases in which the Sentencing Guidelines were advisory. In pre-Booker cases in which the Guidelines were mandatory, the residual clause of the career-offender guideline is unconstitutionally vague under Johnson v. United States.
Two judges in the Northern District of Iowa recently have announced that they disagree with on policy grounds, and no longer will follow, the marijuana equivalency called for in the Sentencing Guidelines when imposing sentences in cases involving actual methamphetamine and ice. The Sentencing Guidelines distinguish between a methamphetamine mixture and actual/pure methamphetamine or ice, … Read more
Today the Second Circuit issued an amended opinion in United States v. Hill, holding that Hobbs Act Robbery is a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3)(A) (924(c)’s so-called “force clause”). The good news about the decision is that it omits the portion of the earlier-issued opinion that upheld against a vagueness challenge 18 U.S.C. … Read more
In United States v. Langston, the Second Circuit vacated and remanded a violation of supervised release. The government conceded that the judgment should be vacated, because the District Court had held a hearing on the violation over the objection of Langston and his counsel, who was not prepared, but disagreed that the case needed to be reassigned to … Read more
Today, BuzzFeed News made public a searchable database of the disciplinary records of 1,800 NYPD employees who faced departmental misconduct charges between 2011 and 2015. BuzzFeed News says it has “determined that there is an overwhelming public interest in” the records, and has published them in searchable format. You can find an article explaining the … Read more
In the first decision of its kind within the Second Circuit, Judge Caproni in the SDNY held that once a defendant has met the conditions of release imposed under the Bail Reform Act, ICE cannot detain that defendant unless it is actually taking steps to remove him. You can read the opinion in United States … Read more
The Circuit affirmed the denial of a suppression motion today in United States v. Huertas. You can access the opinion here. A woman drove up to a patrol car and told the officer that “a man named Branden was nearby with a gun.” The officer drove in the direction the woman pointed and saw Huertas, … Read more
Earlier this week, in United States v. Allen, the Second Circuit reversed the defendants’ convictions and dismissed the indictments against them. You can access the Circuit’s 81-page opinion here. The Circuit considered whether a witness’s involuntary testimony that was compelled by a foreign government can be used against in a U.S. prosecution. In its introduction, … Read more