FDNY Staff Not much to report today, just one summary order, which reminds us of the importance of due dates! In United States v. Russow, 15-1768, the district court extended the defendant’s time to file an appeal. When the defendant failed to file by that date and the government objected, the 2nd Circuit precluded an appeal. … Read more
Today there was a big decision (both metaphorically and literally – the decision runs 104-pages) from the Second Circuit in United States v. Ganias about search warrants in an age of digital data. In Ganias, the government seized and made identical copies of three hard drives that belonged to an accountant, Stavros Ganias, pursuant to … Read more
There were three summary orders from the Second Circuit. Of particular interest is the Court’s order in United States v. Choudhry, No. 15-1737-cr. There a panel of the Second Circuit (Newman, Cabranes, Lohier, Jr.) addressed, among other issues, whether jury instructions regarding the charge of transmission of a threat to injure were erroneous in light … Read more
Below is a message from Denise Barrett from the National Sentencing Resource Counsel Project reporting on new rules relating to the Bureau of Prisons’ Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). The BOP changed some of the RDAP rules. They are published in the federal register and take effect May 26, 2016. Unfortunately, BOP has retained the … Read more
After this week’s Supreme Court decision in Welch v. United States, — S. Ct. –, slip op. (April 18, 2016) (No. 15-6418), which found that Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015) is retroactive to those serving Armed Career Criminal sentences, the next big question is whether the rule in Johnson will apply … Read more
Today the Supreme Court decided that Johnson announced a new substantive rule that has retroactive effect in cases on collateral review. You can read the opinion in Welch v. United States here.
No published opinions today, and only one notable summary order involving an SEC civil enforcement action. SEC v. DAVID SMITH, LYNN SMITH, et al., Nos. 15-1314-cv(L), 15-1317-cv(con), 15-1354-cv(con) (Summary Order of April 18, 2016) (Pooler, Park, and Livingston). This summary affirmance addressed multiple disgorgement orders by a district court in a civil enforcement action relating to … Read more
No decisions or orders out of the Second Circuit today. Two interesting notes: An attorney in Albany received a public reprimand and a two-year ban from practicing as a CJA lawyer before the Second Circuit for “engaging in conduct unbecoming a member of the bar.” The attorney had failed to file documents in a timely … Read more
In a summary order, the Court declined to reach as plain error whether Aggravated Identity Theft, under 18 U.S.C. § 1028(c)(5), requires the government to prove that the individuals did not consent to the unlawful use of their identities. The majority of circuits to consider the issue have rejected the argument. It is an open question in … Read more
No new criminal decisions out of the Second Circuit today. But there was one interesting argument that focused on prosecutorial overreach. The Second Circuit heard argument today in the case of former Connecticut governor, John Rowland, who was sentenced last year to 30 months for trying to conceal his role as a paid consultant in … Read more