Navigation

Archive | cross-examination

Friday, June 22nd, 2018

SDNY Judge Issues Guidelines Regarding Use of 302 Forms in Criminal Trials

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.

In the eight-page document, the Court addresses what it sees as the “most common issues related to the proper use of 302s.”  After discussing how the Federal Rules of Evidence apply to the use of 302s, the Court concludes: “It is clear that statements included in 302s are therefore classic hearsay without — in and of themselves — requisite indicia of reliability.”  Because the Court views mention that the witness’s statements contained in the 302 were written down by an FBI agent as “giving [the statement] an indicia of reliability,” it will preclude counsel …

Posted by
Categories: 3500 Material, cross-examination, evidence, impeachment

Posted By
Categories: 3500 Material, cross-examination, evidence, impeachment

Continue Reading
Wednesday, March 16th, 2016

Second Circuit Updates – March 16, 2016 – Home Confinement as Condition of Supervised Release, Sentencing Enhancement for Using Gun in a Robbery, Scope of Cross Examination

Three short summary orders today:

First up, United States v. Fiume: In this case, the sentencing court imposed “GPS tracking” as a condition of Mr. Fiume’s supervised release, but never stated that it was also imposing home detention, a “separate and additionally burdensome condition.” Nonetheless, a condition of home detention appeared in Mr. Fiume’s written judgment. The circuit vacated the home detention condition and remanded for the written judgment to be corrected. The circuit otherwise upheld Mr. Fiume’s 10-month prison sentence as reasonable.

Next up, another sentencing case, United States v. Crum. Here, Mr. Crum argued that the sentencing court should not have enhanced his weapon possession sentence on the basis that the weapon had been used in a robbery. The circuit disagreed, finding the enhancement was not clearly erroneous based on a witness’s 911 calls about a gunpoint robbery by two men, one wearing black and one …

Posted by
Categories: cross-examination, sentencing, supervised release

Posted By
Categories: cross-examination, sentencing, supervised release

Continue Reading
Sunday, May 15th, 2011

Bad Cop, Bad Cop

United States v. Cedeno, No. 09-1857-cr (2d Cir. May 2, 2011) (Jacobs, Calabresi and Chin, CJJ)

In 1990, the Appellate Division specifically found that a New York City detective lied at a suppression hearing, by “patently tailor[ing]” his testimony to avoid suppression. Here, the circuit held that it was error for the district court to categorically preclude cross-examination of that same detective at trial about the adverse credibility finding.

The district court, relying on United States v. Cruz, 894 F.2d 41 (2d Cir. 1990), had held that the Appellate Division’s finding went to the detective’s credibility in a specific hearing, not that he lacked veracity generally, and that, here, the subject matter of the testimony would be different because the detective would not be testifying about the constitutionality of a search.

The circuit faulted this inquiry as “too narrow,” because Cruz did not “purport to set out a rigid two-part …

Posted by
Categories: cross-examination, Uncategorized

Posted By
Categories: cross-examination, Uncategorized

Continue Reading