Author Archive | Yuanchung Lee

Thursday, February 29th, 2024

A post-sentencing examination of previously seized electronic data does not violate the Fourth Amendment. And the subsequent prosecution of the defendant for producing child pornography – based on evidence discovered in that examination – is not barred by the prior plea agreement concerning his conviction for possessing child pornography.

In United States v. Cory Johnson, 2d Cir. No. 22-1086-cr (February 27, 2024), the panel (Livingston, Carney, Bianco) rejects Johnson’s claims and affirms his conviction and 20-year sentence for producing child pornography (CP) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a). The opinion, by Chief Judge Livingston, concludes that the instant prosecution for CP production – which follows Johnson’s 2019 conviction for CP possession, after a guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement– is not barred by the prior agreement. The opinion also rules that the evidence leading to the production charge, discovered during an examination of electronic data seized in the possession case that occurred after Johnson’s sentencing, was not obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

***

Here’s the gist.

After “Johnson was first identified by federal authorities as trading child sexual abuse material (CSAM) within an Internet chat group in 2018, the execution of a search warrant …


Posted By
Categories: child pornography, Fourth Amendment

Continue Reading
Friday, August 4th, 2023

De novo resentencing required after district court imposed a supervised-release term, following revocation, that exceeded the statutory maximum

In United States v. Sire Gaye, 2d Cir. No. 22-251-cr (August 4, 2023), the panel (Judges Park, Nardini, and Nathan) issued a per curiam opinion vacating the district court’s revocation sentence and remanded for de novo resentencing. Although only the supervised-release portion of the revocation sentence was unlawful – the five-year term exceeded the statutory maximum – the Court decided that, instead of simply lowering that term to the true maximum (18 months) and leaving alone the imprisonment portion of the sentence (three years’ imprisonment) – as the Government wanted — the district court should decide in the first instance how to apportion the imprisonment and supervised release portions of its revocation sentence on remand (as Gaye desired).

Here’s the gist. Gaye pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 2018 and was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release – the statutory maximum. The court …


Posted By
Categories: plain error, supervised release

Continue Reading
Monday, May 22nd, 2023

Circuit construes supervised-release conditions (restricting or monitoring computer and Internet use) in the defendant’s favor in order to avoid constitutional, statutory, or delegation problems

In United States v. Victor Kunz, 2d Cir. No. 21-2577-cr (May 23, 2023), Judge Lynch (joined by Judges Livingston and Calabresi) upheld (with one exception) several potentially problematic conditions of supervised release restricting or monitoring Kunz’s computer and Internet usage. Kunz was convicted of CP possession in 2005 and has been on supervised release since 2009 (with several violations (and terms of imprisonment) between then and his current 33-year term of supervision). The Circuit acknowledged that he “raise[d] a number of legitimate concerns” on appeal, but ultimately concluded that “a sensible reading of the restrictions neutralizes the most troubling of those concerns” and thus affirmed the “judgment of the district court as construed in the manner set forth below.” Op. 3.

The relevant conditions / restrictions fall into three categories. Here’s how the Court dealt with them.

Conditions that are “technically vague or unworkable”

Kunz challenged several conditions requiring …

Posted by
Categories: supervised release

Posted By
Categories: supervised release

Continue Reading
Thursday, January 19th, 2023

Davis (2019), voiding the residual clause at § 924(c)(3)(B) for vagueness, is retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review

Benjamin Hall v. United States, 2d Cir. No. 17-1513 (Jan. 19, 2023), decides a question most of us thought had been answered already – that United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019), striking the residual clause of § 924(c) as unconstitutionally vague, rendered a substantive rule retroactive to cases on collateral review. As Judge Carney’s opinion notes, the Supreme Court held in Welch v. United States, 578 U.S. 120 (2016), that Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. 591 (2015), striking the residual clause of the ACCA as unconstitutionally vague, is retroactively applicable as a substantive rule. Op. 9. Johnson “changed the substantive reach” of the ACCA by voiding its residual clause, thus “altering the range of conduct or the class of persons that the [Act] punishes.” 578 U.S. at 129.

Johnson qualifies easily as a substantive rule, defined as one that “narrow[s] the scope …

Posted by
Categories: 924(c), Davis, Hobbs Act, Johnson

Posted By
Categories: 924(c), Davis, Hobbs Act, Johnson

Continue Reading
Wednesday, September 21st, 2022

Court must provide habeas petitioner with notice and an opportunity to respond before sua sponte dismissing the petition on procedural grounds

In Ethridge v. Bell, 2d Cir. No. 20-1685-pr (Sep. 20, 2022), a Panel of the Court (Lynch, Bianco, and Nardini), in an opinion by Judge Bianco, ruled that the district court erred when it sua sponte dismissed Ethridge’s § 2254 petition, challenging his New York drug and weapons conviction on the ground that state courts erroneously denied his motion to suppress a gun seized during an allegedly unlawful search, without giving him any notice or an opportunity to be heard. Before sua sponte dismissing a petition on procedural grounds, the Circuit ruled, a district court must give the petitioner notice of its contemplated decision as well as a genuine opportunity to respond.

The district court erred in dismissing Ethridge’s petition sua sponte by invoking Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465 (1976), which “held that a petitioner may not obtain [federal] habeas relief under the Fourth Amendment on the …

Posted by
Categories: Uncategorized

Posted By
Categories: Uncategorized

Continue Reading

A sealed sentencing conducted by videoconference, which was not accessible to the public, does not implicate Rule 53’s ban on broadcasting judicial proceedings

In United States v. Sealed Defendant One, 2d Cir. No. 21-118 (Sep. 21, 2022), a Panel of the Court (Newman, Chin, and Sullivan), in an opinion by Judge Sullivan, principally ruled that a sealed sentencing proceeding, which occurred via Skype videoconferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic, did not violate Rule 53’s bar on the “broadcasting” of judicial proceedings. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 53 (“Except as otherwise provided by statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom.”). This is so because the term “broadcasting” “clearly entails ‘public’ distribution to make something ‘widely’ known.” Op. 16-17 (emphases in original) (quoting Merriam-Webster’s online entry for “broadcast”). Because the sealed sentencing here occurred through a “closed” Skype call, which “no one other than Sealed Defendant, his wife, and …

Posted by
Categories: Uncategorized

Posted By
Categories: Uncategorized

Continue Reading
Friday, July 30th, 2021

A district court may consider the defendant’s future earning potential to conclude that the defendant is “non-indigent” and thus subject to the mandatory $5,000 “special assessment” under 18 U.S.C. § 3014(a)

Section 3014(a) of Title 18, enacted as part of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (“JVTA”), requires district courts to impose a $5,000 special assessment on “non-indigent” persons convicted of certain sex- and trafficking-related offenses.1 Carlos Rosario is an indigent person represented by this Office. After he pleaded guilty to three qualifying offenses, the district court considered his future earning capacity, concluded that he was “non-indigent” in light of that capacity, and imposed the $5,000 special assessment. Rosario argued on appeal that this was error.

The Circuit affirms Rosario’s sentence. United States v. Rosario, No. 20-2268 (2d Cir. July 29, 2021). Writing for himself and Judge Sack, Judge Park concludes that “the ordinary meaning of ‘indigent’ encompasses not only a lack of present resources, but also includes a forward-looking assessment of the defendant’s ‘means’ or ability to pay.” This reading, moreover, is consistent with “all …

Posted by
Categories: Uncategorized

Posted By
Categories: Uncategorized

Continue Reading

A substance can be an “analogue” of fentanyl for purposes of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(vi) — requiring a 5-year minimum sentence where the offense involved “10 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of any analogue of” fentanyl — even if it does not qualify as a “controlled substance analogue” under 21 U.S.C. § 802(32).

Torri McCray was charged under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(vi) for distributing 10 grams or more of “butyryl fentanyl,” an analogue of fentanyl under the ordinary meaning of the term “analogue.” As Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary puts it, an “analogue” in the relevant chemistry context is “a chemical compound structurally similar to another but differing often by a single element of the same valence and group of the periodic table as the element it replaces.”

Everyone, including McCray, agrees that butyryl fentanyl is an analogue of fentanyl under this definition. And if this definition governed for purposes of § 841(b)(1)(B)(vi), then McCray would be subject to a 5-year mandatory minimum: Such a sentence is required when the defendant distributes “10 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of any analogue of” fentanyl.

But McCray disagrees that the ordinary definition of “analogue” applies to § 841(b)(1)(B)(vi). He …

Posted by
Categories: Uncategorized

Posted By
Categories: Uncategorized

Continue Reading

District court’s egregious flouting of long-established procedures regarding a jury note and a proposed Allen charge does not constitute “plain error” because its mistakes did not prejudice the defendant

In United States v. Catherine Melhuish, No. 19-485 (2d Cir. July 27, 2021) (opinion by Judge Nardini, joined by Judges Walker and Wesley), the Circuit rejects the defendant’s argument that the trial judge erred in responding to a jury note and in proposing an Allen charge during deliberations; concludes that 18 U.S.C. § 111, prohibiting the assault of a federal officer, is a general-intent offense; and remands for further fact-finding on the defendant’s claim that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to introduce evidence supporting an insanity defense. The first is worth discussing.

The principal issue is the trial judge’s egregious refusal to follow the Circuit’s long-established procedures for how to deal with jury notes and supplemental instructions during deliberations. These are the steps that a trial judge must follow:

(1) the jury inquiry should be in writing; (2) the note should be marked as the court’s exhibit …

Posted by
Categories: Allen charge

Posted By
Categories: Allen charge

Continue Reading
Thursday, July 29th, 2021

Panel upholds 40-year prison sentence for Hizballah “sleeper agent” who did not injure anyone or engage in violence; Judge Pooler dissents on the ground that the Guidelines’ terrorism enhancements yield inappropriately high ranges that can result in sentences that, like this one, “shock[] the conscience.”

Ali Kournai was a “sleeper agent” working on behalf of Hizballah1 and the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO) in the United States and Canada for over a decade. In United States v. Kourani, No. 19-4292 (2d Cir. July 27, 2021) (opinion by Judge Cabranes, joined by Judge Kearse), the Circuit affirms the judgment below, rejecting Kourani’s challenges to his conviction following trial as well as to his 480-month sentence.

Judge Pooler agrees that “Kourani received a fair trial and was properly adjudicated guilty by a jury.” But she dissents on the punishment: Although “[h]is crimes were undeniably serious” and “[i]t is not lost on me that Kourani’s actions could have culminated in far more injurious results,” she explains, “[n]evertheless, they did not, and accordingly, the sentence imposed is disproportionately high.”

Here are the relevant facts as recounted by Judge Cabranes; whether 40 years is “unreasonably long” is the principal …

Posted by
Categories: terrorism enhancement

Posted By
Categories: terrorism enhancement

Continue Reading

District court lacks jurisdiction to amend a clerical error in the judgment (under Rule 36) while an appeal is pending from the court’s denial of a prior Rule 36 motion

In an opinion by Judge Kearse, the Circuit ruled in United States v. Jacques, No. 20-1762(L) (2d Cir. July 26, 2021), that a district court lacks authority under Rule 36 (of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure) to correct a clerical error in the judgment while an appeal is pending in the Circuit from the court’s denial of the defendant’s prior Rule 36 motion. This simply applies the general rule that “the filing of a notice of appeal confers jurisdiction on the court of appeals and divests the district court of its control over those aspects of the case involved in the appeal.” Op. 14.

Although Rule 36 states that the court “may at any time correct a clerical error in the judgment,” the Circuit reads this as “meant literally in the temporal sense, rather than in a situational sense.” That is, Rule 36 empowers a court to correct …

Posted by
Categories: Rule 36

Posted By
Categories: Rule 36

Continue Reading