United States v. Zangari, No. 10-4546-cr (2d Cir. April 18, 2012) (Cabranes, Pooler, Wesley, CJJ) In this decision, the court found that the district court’s restitution order, which was based on the defendant’s gain instead of the victims’ loss, was error, but not plain error. It accordingly affirmed. Defendant Zangari was a securities broker in … Read more
United States v. Aleynikov, No. 11-1126 (2d Cir. April 11, 2012) (Jacobs, Calabresi, Pooler, CJJ) Sergey Aleynikov, a former Goldman Sachs computer programmer, stole a portion of Goldman’s proprietary high frequency trading (“HFT”) computer code, apparently in preparation for taking a related, but higher paying, job at a startup company. A jury convicted him of … Read more
United States v. Scott, No. 10-3978-cr (2d Cir. April 6, 2012) (Pooler, Parker, CJJ) In 2009, two NYPD detectives arrested defendant Scott after witnessing him engage in what they said was a hand-to-hand drug sale. At trial, the district court permitted the detectives to testify, over objection, that they had seen Scott several times before, … Read more
United States v. Pitera, No. 10-1564-cr (2d Cir. April 3, 2012) (Jacobs, Miner, Katzmann, CJJ) In this opinion by the late Judge Miner, the circuit rejected the claim of Thomas Pitera, formerly of the Bonanno crime family, that the district court erroneously rejected his application for DNA testing of “newly discovered” evidence. Pitera was convicted … Read more
United States v. Oyewumi, No. 10-3427(L) (2d Cir. March 29, 2012) (Wesley, Carney, CJJ, Cedarbaum, DJ) Defendant-appellant Saeed went through the entire district court process – arrest, trial, safety-valve proffer and sentence – under the name Reginald Davis, a stolen identity. He also, according to a footnote in this opinion,tried to continue using that identity … Read more
United States v. Roccisano, No. 10-5237-cr (2d Cir. March 14, 2012) (Katzmann, Parkjer, CJJ, Restani, JCIT) (per curiam) Guideline section 4A1.1(d) adds two criminal history points if the defendant committed the federal offense while under a criminal justice sentence, e.g., probation, parole or supervised release. The defendant here was deported to Italy in 2006 after … Read more
United States v. Moore, No. 10-2740-cr (2d Cir. February 22, 2012) (Jacobs, Cabranes, Livingston, CJJ) This decision marks the circuit’s latest effort to sort out a “two-step” interrogation in the wake of Missouri v. Seibert, 542 U.S. 600 (2004). Chauncy Moore, having evaded a Connecticut police officer who had a warrant for Moore’s arrest, tossed … Read more
United States v. Hsu, No. 09-4152-cr (2d Cir. February 17, 2012) (Winter, Lynch, Carney, CJJ) Norman Hsu, a prominent, if corrupt, political fundraiser, used the connections he made in politics to run a giant Ponzi scheme. He pled guilty to mail and wire fraud, and was convicted by a jury of campaign finance fraud. In … Read more
United States v. Gilliard, No. 11-1088 (2d Cir. February 16, 2012) (Wesley, Lohier, CJJ, Rosenthal, DJ) Tapia v. United States, 131 S.Ct. 2382 (2011), held that the district court cannot impose or lengthen a prison sentence based on the defendant’s rehabilitative needs. Here, the circuit joins the national trend of reading Tapia narrowly. Troy Gilliard, … Read more
United States v. Coppola, No. 10-0065-cr (2d Cir. February 14, 2012) (Raggi, Lynch, Wallace, CJJ) This very long, and very fact-bound mob-related RICO appeal covers very little new ground. However, it has an interesting discussion of the applicability of Skilling to extortion cases. Defendant Michael Coppola spent three decades rising through the ranks of the … Read more