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Sunday, October 31st, 2010

Dread Herring

United States v. Rosa, No. 09-0636-cr (2d Cir. October 27, 2010) (Walker, Livingston, CJJ, Kaplan, DJ)

Back in June, in a case called Julius, after finding a Fourth Amendment violation, the circuit remanded the case so that the district court could perform a cost-benefit analysis in deciding whether to apply the exclusionary rule. See Julius’ Seizure, posted June 19, 2010. According to Julius, such an analysis is now required under the Supreme Court’s decision in Herring v. United States, 129 S. Ct. 695 (2009). Here, the court took Julius one step further, performing its own Herring analysis and concluding that the exclusionary rule should not apply.

Background

Defendant Rosa was suspected by upstate police officers of molesting local children. Before arresting him, the officers obtained a search warrant for his apartment. While the materials supporting the warrant specified the kinds of offenses of which Rosa was suspected and the particular …


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Saturday, October 30th, 2010

PC World

United States v. Drachenberg, No. 09-3114-cr (2d Cir. October 2, 2010) (Kearse, Pooler, Hall, CJJ) (per curiam)

The court’s latest per curiam puts to rest several recurring tax-protester argumenst. Representing himself pro se, Drachenberg argued that federal courts had no jurisdiction over him because “New York is not subject to the legislative or territorial jurisdiction of the United States” and thus that as a “native-born” New Yorker he was under no obligation to pay income taxes “unless and until the United States has conquered or subsumed New York.”

The circuit called this argument “as frivolous as it is hackneyed.” Congress had authority to enact the statute of conviction, and the constitution clearly authorizes Congress to collect taxes. “In sum, the United States was not in want of jurisdiction.”

The court also summarily rejected Drachenberg’s arguments that he was not a “person” subject to income tax – he obviously is – …

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Deal Or No Deal?

United States v. Marks, No. 08-1207-cr (2d Cir. October 19, 2010) (Leval, Hall, Livingston, CJJ)

Defendant Chad Marks was convicted after a jury trial of drug trafficking offenses and two § 924(c) counts, and was sentenced to the resulting 40-year mandatory minimum. The trial came after months of plea negotiations, including an offer by the government to resolve the case with a 20-year sentence.

Before trial, Marks had filed a motion with the district court seeking to compel the government to follow up on a different plea offer that, apparently, was in the nature of a cooperation agreement. The court denied the motion and the case proceeded to trial.

But after trial, Marks’ counsel renewed that motion and, this time, the government’s opposition indicated that the government had extended a 20-year offer before trial. Before sentencing, Marks filed a pro se habeas corpus petition under 18 U.S.C. § 2241 claiming …


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Friday, October 29th, 2010

No Angry Men

Portolatin v. Graham, No. 07-1599-pr (2d Cir. October 18, 2010) (en banc)
Earlier this year, a Second Circuit panel held that New York’s persistent felony offender (PFO) statute violated the right to a jury trial under Apprendi. See The Persistents of Apprendi, posted April 9, 2010. In this en banc opinion, authored by Judge Wesley, the full court changed course and held that the PFO scheme does not, in fact, violate Apprendi. The members of the original panel, along with Judge Pooler, dissented.
The PFO scheme provides for dramatic sentencing enhancements for certain recidivists, and those that are deemed PFO’s can be subject to a sentence far greater than statutory maximum they would otherwise face. Application of the PFO statute is a two-step process. The first step requires the prosecution to prove that the defendant has two or more qualifying prior felonies. Once this is

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Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Summary Summary

This is hot off the presses – today, in a summary order, the court held that the Fair Sentencing Act is not retroactive, since it “contains no express statement that it is intended to have retroactive effect nor can we infer such intent from its language.” The case is United States v. Baldwin, No. 09-1725-cr (2d Cir. October 27, 2010) (summary order).…

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Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

Summary Summary

Well, it’s been a while, but the court has finally issued a couple of summary orders of interest.

In United States v. De La Cruz, No. 09-4641-cr (2d Cir. October 21, 2010), the district court, in imposing sentence, remarked that a “Guideline sentence by definition really can’t create unwarranted sentencing disparity.” The circuit agreed with the defendant’s argument that this was incorrect; under Kimbrough “a Guidelines sentence can create an unwarranted disparity.” But here, since the sentencing decision did not depend in any way on an improper view that a Guideline sentence was by definition reasonable, there was no error.

In United States v. Faison, No. 09-1519-cr (2d Cir. September 14, 2010), the court remanded for recalculation of defendant’s criminal history. The district court used the Guidelines in effect at the time of the offense, but those in effect at the time of sentencing would likely have produced in a …

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Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

PC World

United States v. Folkes, No. 09-3389-cr (2d Cir. September 29, 2010) (Newman, Hall, CJJ, Restani, JCIT) (per curiam)

A conceded plain error in applying the definition of “crime of violence” in the illegal reentry Guideline is the subject of the court’s most recent per curiam.

Before he was deported, Walford Folkes had been convicted in New York State of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and burglary in the third degree. When sentenced for his illegal reentry, received a sixteen-level enhancement for having reentered after sustaining a conviction for a crime of violence.

On appeal, the circuit vacated the sentence, holding that the enhancement did not apply. The illegal reentry guideline’s definition of “crime of violence” is unique. While it covers more or less the same enumerated categories of offenses as other such definitions – such as that in the career offender Guideline and the Armed Career …


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Unlicensed Striver

United States v. Mazza-Alaluf, No. 09-3940-cr (2d Cir. September 22, 2010) (Sack, Raggi, Lynch, CJJ)

Mazza-Alaluf operated an unlicensed money-transfer business that, while based in Chile, sent millions of dollars through New York, Illinois and Michigan, without acquiring the appropriate state licenses. After a bench trial, the district court convicted him of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1960(a) and (b)(1)(A), which make it a crime to conduct an “unlicensed money transmitting business.” The statue defines this phrase as any such business that affects interstate or foreign commerce and “is operated without an appropriate money transmitting license in a State where such operation is [a crime] whether or not the defendant knew [that a license was required].”

On appeal, Mazza-Alaluf argued that the evidence was legally insufficient because the government failed to prove that his company was a “money transmitting business,” as referenced in 31 U.S.C. § 5313, which relates to “domestic …


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Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

Gender Contender

United States v. Paris, No. 08-5071-cr (2d Cir. September 17, 2010) (Jacobs, Wesley, Chin, CJJ)

This interesting Batson decision deals with gender-based peremptory challenges, a subject that the circuit has not previously discussed.

Background

For about five years, Dennis Paris ran a multi-state prostitution ring centered in the Hartford, Connecticut, area and recruited teenage girls to work for him. He was charged with criminal sex trafficking and conspiracy offenses, and took the case to trial.

Before jury selection, his attorney notified the district court that Paris would exercise peremptory challenges primarily against women, because he believed that male jurors would be “fairer to Mr. Paris than female jurors will be.” Sure enough, after the challenges for cause were resolved, Paris used his first four peremptory challenges against women. When the government registered a Batson objection, defense counsel conceded that gender was “absolutely” one of the reasons for the strikes.

The …


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Saturday, September 18th, 2010

PC World

United States v. Ahders, No. 09-4093-cr (2d Cir. September 16, 2010) (Katzmann, Hall, Chin, CJJ) (per curiam)

In this latest per curiam, the court vacated a long sentence imposed for producing child pornography, because the district court did not make adequate findings on a sentencing enhancement.

Steven Ahders pled guilty to a single production count that alleged he victimized a “male minor,” his step-son. Ahders had also abused two of the boy’s friends, however, and at sentencing the court “grouped” the other children into his Guidelines calculations, even though that conduct was not charged. The circuit rejected Ahders’ argument that this was error. The relevant Guideline, § 2G2.1, expressly provides that if the abuse involved more than one minor the court should treat each child as if a separate count of conviction.

However, the court agreed with Ahders that the district court did not adequately explain its application of the …

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Sunday, September 12th, 2010

Summary Summary

As summer draws to a close, here are two more summary orders of interest.

In United States v. Reap, No. 06-5793-cr (2d Cir. August 30, 2010), the court notes that it is an open question in the circuit whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) requires proof that the defendant knew that he had a prior felony conviction.

In United States v. Goodwin, No. 09-2019-cr (2d Cir. September 9, 2010), the district court erroneously applied the four-level enhancement for possessing a firearm “in connection with” another felony offense by relying on a “fact not supported by record evidence.” The court rejected the defendant’s request for a remand with instructions not to impose the enhancement, instead opting for an “open ended” remand because “the facts relating to whether the enhancement might apply are unclear.”…

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