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Author Archive | Steve Statsinger

Friday, August 13th, 2010

PC World

United States v. Shyne, No. 08-0865-cr (2d Cir. August 5, 2010) (Kearse, Sack, Hall, CJJ) (per curiam)

An unusual discovery issue is the theme of this per curiam opinion.

Three defendants went to trial on bank fraud and money laundering charges. Before trial, the government provided notice that it would offer statements of five other individuals as co-conspirators’ declarations under Fed.R.Evid.801(d)(2)(E), although it was not planning to call them as witnesses. The government also provided Giglio material as to these declarants. In response, the defendants demanded the declarants’ 3500 material – specifically their proffer notes – even though they would not be testifying at trial. The district court denied the application and, here, the circuit affirmed.

The Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500, by its very terms applies only to a “witness” who has “testified on direct examination,” and is not “trumped” by Fed.R.Evid 806, which provides that the credibility …

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Categories: 3500 Material, Jencks Act, Rule 806, Uncategorized

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Coach Bagged

United States v. Broxmeyer, No. 09-1457-cr (2d Cir. August 3, 2010) (Jacobs, Miner, Wesley, CJJ)

Todd Broxmeyer, was a field hockey coach for teenage girls in upstate New York and elsewhere. For many years he engaged in sexual relationships with some of them , relationships that sometimes also involved the exchange of photographs. Eventually the axe fell, and he was tried and convicted of five count s- four relating to child pornography and one of aiding and abetting the transportation of a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity. On appeal, he successfully challenged the legal sufficiency of the evidence as to three of the counts of conviction. The court reversed those counts and remanded the case for resentencing on the other two.

A. Production of Child Pornography

In 2007, Broxmeyer began a sexual relationship with A.W., who was then seventeen years old. The relationship …

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Categories: child pornography, sufficiency, transportation, Uncategorized

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Court Reads the Riot Act

United States v. Johnson, No. 08-5245-cr (2d Cir. August 2, 2010) (Cabranes, Parker, CJJ, Amon, DJ)

In this split decision, the majority held that a conviction for the Connecticut offense of “Rioting at a Correctional Institution” is a “violent felony” under the “otherwise involves” clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”).

In getting there, the majority looked beyond the statute’s title – which “suggests an obvious answer ” – to examine the conduct that the statute actually proscribes. The Connecticut statute provides that a person is “guilty of rioting at a correctional institution when he incites, instigates, organizes, connives at, causes, aides, abets, assists or takes part in any disorder, disturbance, strike, riot or other organized disobedience to the rules and regulations of such institution.” Connecticut courts have “clarified” the meaning of the statute, holding that it is “specifically directed” at those who lead or plan prison disturbances and …

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Categories: ACCA, crime of violence, Uncategorized

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Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Our Blips Aren’t Sealed

United States v. Amanuel, No. 06-1103-cr (2d Cir. July 29, 2010) (Cabranes, Katzmann, Hall, CJJ)

After a nearly eight-year journey through both the state and federal courts without being tried, the defendants here will finally have to face the music. In this decision, the circuit vacated most of the district court’s order suppressing the evidence against them.

The State Court Proceedings

In 2002, New York state police officers obtained a warrant to intercept a digital pager used by the defendants, who were suspected of drug trafficking. The officers were supposed to record the intercepted communications electronically, but did not do so. Instead, they visually monitored a clone pager and entered the intercepted information in a handwritten log. When the warrant expired, they gave 84 pages of this material to a state judge for sealing. Based on the contents of the logs, state prosecutors then obtained a warrant to monitor and …

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Categories: Uncategorized, wiretaps

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Cops Out

United States v. Caracappa, No. 09-1177-cr (2d Cir. July 23, 2010) (Kearse, Sack, Wesley, CJJ)

When last we heard from Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito, two corrupt NYPD detectives who also did hits for the mob, the circuit had vacated a district court order tossing their RICO conspiracy conviction and granting them a new trial on the remaining counts. See Enterprise Rent-A-Cop, posted September 27, 2008. On remand, the district court sentenced Caracappa to life plus 80 and Eppolito to life plus 100. This opinion disposes of the defendants’ appeal. The circuit affirmed.

The opinion treads little new ground, with the exception of one interesting evidentiary issue. An important cooperating witness was Burton Kaplan, who in his day had been a trusted member of the Lucchese Family and the main intermediary between Caracappa/Eppolito and Anthony Cassso, the Lucchese underboss. During his trial testimony Kaplan explained that he would relay law …

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Categories: prior consistent statements, Rule 801(d)(1)(B), Uncategorized

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Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

PC World

United States v. DeSilva, No. 09-2988-cr (2d Cir. July 28, 2010) (per curiam)

In this child pornography case, the sentencing court made a clearly erroneous finding of fact in the defendant’s favor. On the government’s appeal, the circuit vacated and remanded.

DeSilva was charged only child pornography offenses, but in the course of the investigation admitted to law enforcement officers that he had sexually abused a friend’s child for more than two years. As part of his bail application, which was unsuccessful, he submitted a psychologist’s report that indicated that if DeSilva were released to his parents and tightly supervised there was little chance that he would abuse another child.

DeSilva ultimately pled guilty to distributing child pornography. His sentencing range was 235 to 240 months’ imprisonment, and he faced a 60-month mandatory minimum. The district court imposed a below-Guideline sentence of 132 months, citing several factors, including the psychologist’s …

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Land of Enhancement

United States v. Tutty, No. 09-2705-cr (2d Cir. July 16, 2010) (Calabresi, Pooler, Chin, CJJ)

In United States v. Dorvee, 604 F.3d 84 (2d Cir. 2010), the court held that the child pornography Guidelines are entitled to less deference because they are not the product of an “empirical approach,” and because they “provide for a series of enhancements that apply in virtually every case,” resulting in enormous sentences “even in run-of-the-mill cases.” See Deconstruction Project, posted May 23, 2010. Here, following on the heels of Dorvee, the court found procedural error in the district court’s refusal to consider a broad-based policy challenge to those Guidelines.

Background

Defendant Jason E. Tutty pled guilty to possessing digital images of child pornography that he had received and distributed over the Internet using a file sharing program. He had no criminal history and no know history of sexual contact with a child. At sentencing, …

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Sunday, July 25th, 2010

PC World

In the current crop of per curiams the court follows the Supreme Court’s lead on two sentencing issues.

United States v. Pickett, No. 09-0683-cr (2d Cir. July 20, 2010) (Winter, Cabranes, Wesley, CJJ) (per curiam), follows Dolan v. United States, 2010 Wl 2346548 (June 14, 2010). Pickett was sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment after a fraud trial. The court did not impose restitution immediately, holding it open for a more complete accounting of the victims’ losses. It entered a restitution order ninety-eight days later. Under Dolan, a sentencing court that misses the ninety-day statutory deadline for imposing restitution can still do so where it “made clear prior to the deadline’s expiration that it would,” leaving open “only the amount.” Since that is what happened here, the restitution order was proper.

United States v. Mock, No. 09-4154-cr (2d Cir. July 19, 2010) (Wesley, Hall, CJJ, Goldberg, JCIT) (per curiam) applied Dillon …

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Summary Summary

It’s been a while, but here is the latest set of summary orders of interest.

In United States v. Romeo, No. 09-3106-cr (2d Cir. July 19, 2010), the court found plain error in the sentencing court’s fact-finding as to the number of victims, and ordered a Jacobson remand.

In United States v. Timewell, No. 09-2777-cr (2d Cir. July 15, 2010), the court found error in a post-Crosby remand sentence. The district court ruled in the case before the mandate issued, thus it lacked jurisdiction. It also erred in ruling before giving the parties an opportunity to be heard, and misapprehended the terms of the mandate.

In United Sates v. Most, No. 09-6292-cr (2d Cir. June 8, 2010), the court upheld the imposition of the statutory maximum sentence for a supervised release violation. The district court’s reasons – the defendant’s criminal history, repeated violations of supervision and the fact that he …

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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

Second Time Aground

United States v. Castello, No. 09-2784-cr (2d Cir. July 7, 2010) (Jacobs, Winter, McLaughlin, CJJ)

Joseph Castello was convicted of failing to file CTRs in connection with his check cashing business. When last we heard from him, see Cashed and Burned, posted 2/6/2009, the circuit vacated a 12 million dollar-plus forfeiture order and remanded for more complete findings under United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 337-39 (1998), and its Eighth Amendment-derived excessive fines test. On remand, the district court made findings on the four factors set out in Bajakajian, and reduced the amount of the forfeiture to zero. On this, the government’s appeal, the circuit vacated the zero and ordered reimposition of the original forfeiture amount.

Reviewing the district court’s findings de novo, the circuit found fault with all of them. The first Bajakajian factor requires consideration of “the essence of the crime of the defendant and its relation …

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Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Le Platt Du Jour

United States v. Woltmann, No. 10-413 (2d Cir. July 6, 2010) (Jacobs, Winter, Walker, CJJ)

Once again, Judge Platt’s unconventional way of doing business has resulted in a sentencing remand to a different judge. Here, the issue was his treating the guideline range in a plea agreement as binding, while ignoring a 5K1.1 letter and § 3553(a). This prompted the circuit to hold that the plea agreement’s appellate waiver was unenforceable and vacate the sentence.

Background

Pursuant to a cooperation agreement, Gary Woltmann pled guilty to tax fraud, then provided substantial assistance to the government in the successful prosecution of another tax case. The government duly filed at 5K1.1 letter that expressly asked for a sentence below the 18 to 24 month guideline range. But Judge Platt refused to consider the letter, viewing it as an effort to repudiate the plea agreement, in which Woltmann had agreed not to appeal …

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