Welcome to the Blog’s periodic roundup of summary orders of interest. In United States v. Rodriguez, No. 06-1681 (November 29, 2007), the court vacated a restitution order for further factfinding in a case involving the filing of fraudulent tax returns. In United States v. Perez, No. 06-1040 (2d Cir. November 27, 2007), the court, yet … Read more
United States v. Ganim, No. 03-1448-cr (2d Cir. December 4, 2007) (Jacobs, Sotomayor, Wesley, CJJ) Until his downfall, Joe Ganim was the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 2003, he was convicted of racketeering, bribery and other offenses arising out of a bribery and kickback scheme. In essence, he had a fee-splitting arrangement with public relations … Read more
United States v. Richter, No. 06-1930-cr (2d Cir. December 4, 2007) (per curiam) Richter was sentenced in 1992 and did not appeal. In 2006, he petitioned pro se for a writ of audita querela to make a collateral Booker challenge to his sentence. The court rejected the claim, because Booker does not apply retroactively on … Read more
United States v. Juwa, No. 06-2716-cr (2d Cir. November 28, 2007) (Walker, Calabresi, Sack, CJJ) United States v. Baker, No. 05-4693-cr (2d Cir. November 16, 2007) (Summary Order) The circuit has. Twice, but only once in a published opinion. In Juwa, the court found that a 90-month sentence was procedurally unreasonable because it might have … Read more
United States v. Shellef, No. 06-1495-cr (2d Cir. November 8, 2007) (Pooler, Sack, Wesley, CJJ) In this decision applying Fed.R.Cr.P 8, the court held that counts were improperly joined against two separate defendants, and that the misjoinders were not harmless. The decision also has an interesting discussion of some unusual wire fraud theories. Defendants Shellef … Read more
United States v. Carlo, No. 06-2420-cr (2d Cir. November 19, 2007) (Kearse, Katzmann, CJJ, Rakoff, DJ) This short per curiam opinion discusses the sufficiency of the evidence in a wire fraud prosecution, where the prosecution proceeded on an unusual theory. The defendant Carlo and others defrauded real estate developers by making misrepresentations about Carlo’s efforts … Read more
United States v. Freeman, No. 05-5529-cr (2d Cir. November 14, 2007) (Straub, Katzmann, Parker, CJJ) Michael Freeman was convicted of drug trafficking, robbery and gun possession, but acquitted of two homicide counts. The district court nevertheless imposed a life sentence, based on its preponderance finding that Freeman committed the murders of which he was acquitted. … Read more
United States v. Rommy, No. 06-0520 (2d Cir. November 6, 2007) (Jacobs, Walker, Raggi, CJJ). Henk Rommy, a Dutch national, was tried in this district on charges that he managed a vast ecstasy importation scheme from Europe. The scheme’s ties to this district were quite thin – although the goal was to get the drugs … Read more
The Summary Summary is our periodic round-up of summary orders of interest. So, here we go: United States v. Zavala, No. 05-7001-cr (2d Cir. November 1, 2007). Here, the district court applied cumulative aggravating role enhancements under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1, giving both the 4-point enhancement under subsection (a) and the 2-point bump under subsection (c). … Read more
United States v. Rosa, No. 05-3621-cr (2d Cir. October 30, 2007) (Kearse, Sack, CJJ, Mills, DJ) The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) requires increased penalties for defendants in federal gun possession cases who have three prior convictions for serious drug offenses or “violent felonies.” This case concerns the “categorical approach” to determining whether a prior … Read more