United States v. Lee, No. 06-4933-cr (2d Cir. April 17, 2008) (Cabranes, Wesley, CJJ, Castel, DJ) Defendant Cathy Lee received a 120-month sentence, the mandatory minimum, in a crack trafficking case. She raised on appeal a host of constitutional and statutory challenges to her sentence, claiming that it violated § 3535(a), the Eighth Amendment, and … Read more
United States v. Hardwick, No. 04-1369-cr (2d Cir. April 11, 2008) (Winter, Walker, Sotomayor, CJJ) Glen Hardwick was convicted after a jury trial of conspiracy to commit and aiding/abetting murder-for-hire in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1958. Virtually all of the evidence of the “consideration” element of the offense came from the plea allocution of … Read more
United States v. Hendry, No. 06-5118-cr (2d Cir. Aprl 9, 2008) (Leval, Calabresi, Wesley, CJJ) (per curiam) In this decision the Court blows yet another opportunity to clarify the “fast-track” sentencing issue in illegal reentry cases. The court has already held that district courts are not required to take into account the lower sentences imposed … Read more
Here are three more s/o’s to chew on: In United States v. Glum, No. 06-3099-cr (2d Cir. April 8, 2008), the court ordered a Crosby remand even though the district court, when denying the defendant’s pro se 2255 motion, had already indicated that it would impose the same sentence. In United States v. Ogman, No. … Read more
United States v. Donoso, No. 07-0635-cr (2d Cir. April 3, 2008) (McLaughlin, Hall, CJJ, Sand, DJ) (per curiam) Resolving an open question in this circuit, the court here holds that, under 18 U.S.C. § 3584(a), a district judge cannot order the federal sentence to run consecutively to another sentence that has not yet been imposed. … Read more
United States v. Wexler, No. 06-1571-cr (2d Cir. April 3, 2008) (Miner, Raggi, CJJ, Rakoff, DJ) David Wexler was a Manhattan dermatologist who ran a prescription mill. He would prescribe painkillers to patients whom he did not examine or treat, often with the understanding that either the prescriptions or the medications would be sold to … Read more
United States v. Frias, No. 06-5381-cr (2d Cir. March 31, 2008) (Cardamone, Sack, Katzmann, CJJ) The ten-day time for filing a notice of appeal in a criminal case under Fed.R.Ap.Proc. 4(b) is not jurisdictional, which means that the court can consider an untimely appeal if the government forfeits a claim of untimeliness failing to raising … Read more
It has been a slow week in Foley Square – lots of civil and immigration decisions, but not too much on the criminal front. So, here are some recent summary orders of interest: In United States v. Williams, No. 06-5530-cr (2d Cir. March 27, 2008), the court dealt with an unusual circumstance in this circuit … Read more
United States v. Dominguez, No. 05-7005-cr (2d Cir. February 15, 2008, amended March 20, 2008) (Miner, Sack, Hall, CJJ) Last month, when we wrote up this case, we noted with alarm the circuit’s holding that, for cases where the defendant faced a mandatory minimum but provided substantial assistance to the government, under § 3553(e) “any … Read more
United States v. Sero, No. 05-6967-cr (2d Cir. March 19, 2008) (per curiam) Defendant Sero, who pled guilty to illegally exporting weapons to the Philippines, challenged his sentence. In doing so, he gave the court its first opportunity to consider U.S.S.G. § 2M5.2 and its “bump-down.” This particular Guideline ordinarily calls for a base offense … Read more