United States v. Chin, Docket No. 06-1048-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 30, 2007) (McLaughlin, Sack, Rakoff): This is yet another instance in which the Court scolds a prosecutor for sleazy misconduct at trial, but then renders its bite toothless by deeming harmless the misdeed. I suppose this is better than simply overlooking the misconduct, as the … Read more
United States v. Taylor, Docket No. 05-6764-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 23, 2007) (Calabresi, Wesley, Rakoff) (per curiam): The Court affirms Taylor’s sentence, rejecting his claim that remand for resentencing was required because the district judge denied him acceptance-of-responsibility credit on the basis of an erroneous legal ruling that Taylor’s assertion of an entrapment defense at … Read more
United States v. Trupin, Docket No. 05-2934-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 23, 2007) (Wesley, Hall, Jones): The real sentencing action is occurring elsewhere, of course, but someone has to report the news from the provinces. This opinion is bad news indeed, but may become irrelevant by June. Keep your fingers crossed. Here, on a Government appeal … Read more
LoCascio v. United States, Docket No. 05-6761-pr (2d Cir. Jan. 9, 2007) (Cardamone, Straub, Koeltl) (per curiam): There is little of interest in this fact-specific opinion, which principally rejects LoCascio’s (the co-defendant of the senior John Gotti, RIP) motion to recuse Judge Glasser from deciding his § 2255 petition (based principally on a claim that … Read more
United States v. McGriff, Docket No. 06-2014-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 5, 2007) (Parker, Wesley, Hall): In a matter of first impression in this Circuit, the Court holds here that a district court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to strike the Government’s death notice for untimeliness under 18 U.S.C. § 3593(a) is not immediately appealable under … Read more
United States v. Moreno-Rivera, Docket No. 05-5760-cr (2d Cir. Dec. 22, 2006) (Cabranes, Sack, Hall) (per curiam): In United States v. Fuller, 332 F.3d 60 (2d Cir. 2003), the defendant claimed, as Moreno-Rivera does in this appeal, that his attorney failed to follow his explicit instruction to file a notice of appeal, resulting in the … Read more
United States v. Daidone, Docket No. 04-3784-cr (2d Cir. Dec. 15, 2006) (Newman, McLaughlin, Hall) (per curiam): This opinion does not appear to break new ground, but simply confirms that in a RICO prosecution, proof of “horizontal relatedness” between the alleged predicate acts — i.e., proof that the predicates are related to each other — … Read more
United States v. Gilmore, Docket No. 05-6195-cr (2d Cir. Dec. 8, 2006) (Miner, Pooler, Katzmann) (per curiam): In United States v. Anati, 457 F.3d 233 (2d Cir. 2006), the Circuit held that a district court must give reasonable notice of its intent to exceed the advisory Guidelines range (via consideration of the § 3553(a) factors) … Read more
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday in Lopez v. Gonzales that a state felony conviction for simple drug possession does not qualify as an “aggravated felony” for purposes of the Immigration and Nationality Act. And although the Court had granted cert. in a companion case involving the same interpretive question but in the Sentencing Guidelines context, … Read more
United States v. Acosta, Docket No. 05-3346-cr (L) (2d Cir. Nov. 30, 2006) (Jacobs, Parker, Oberdorfer) (per curiam): This short opinion holds that convictions under (1) the second clause of 18 U.S.C. § 242 (violating someone’s civil rights when either “bodily injury results” or involved “the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous … Read more