Campusano v. United States, Docket No. 04-5134-pr (2d Cir. March 23, 2006) (Pooler, Sotomayor, Korman (by desig’n)): A fine opinion that reaches the right result and contains enough praise of the importance of a criminal defendant’s right to appeal to warm the heart of even the most jaded appellate counsel. The issue is simply whether … Read more
United States v. Roberts, Docket No. 04-6610-cr (2d Cir. March 23, 2006) (Sotomayor, Raggi, Cedarbaum (by desig’n)) (per curiam): This is an odd one: The Circuit affirms a sentence that included an enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(5), calling for an enhanced base offense level of 18 when the offense “involved a firearm described in 26 … Read more
United States v. Paul Williams, Docket No. 05-0458-cr (2d Cir. March 22, 2006) (Kearse, Miner, Hall): This interesting opinion affirms a judgment revoking Williams’s supervised release and imprisoning him for three years (the statutory maximum). The district court found that Williams violated supervised release by committing a new crime — i.e., by shooting and then … Read more
United States v. Skelly and Gross, Docket No. 05-4261-cr (L) (2d Cir. March 21, 2006) (Newman, Katzmann, Rakoff (by desig’n)): A rather rambling opinion by one SDNY judge affirming a judgment of conviction rendered by another SDNY judge following a jury trial convicting the two defendants of various counts of securities fraud. The Government’s primary … Read more
United States v. Frank Quattrone, Docket No. 04-5007 (2d Cir. March 20, 2006) (Wesley, Hall, Scullin (by designation)): We have not yet had time to read the decision and will do a full summary later. Even a quick look, though, confirms a big (though not total) victory for the defense: The Circuit (1) vacates Quattrone’s … Read more
United States v. DeFonte, Docket No. 06-1046-cr (March 14, 2006) (before Jacobs, Wesley, C.J.J., Koeltl, D.J.) This interesting per curiam decision holds that a prison inmate retains her attorney-client prvilege with respect to a diary that she maintained while incarcerated. Facts: Defendant DeFonte, a (former, presumably) correction officer at the MCC, was on trial for … Read more
Jackson v. Attorney General, Docket No. 05-2766-pr (2d Cir. Feb. 8, 2006) (Walker, Winter, Jacobs): This short habeas-related decision was rendered on February 8, 2006, but not posted on the Circuit’s website until March 10th. No harm — the Court simply holds that a Certificate of Appealability (“COA”) is required to appeal a district court’s … Read more
United States v. Philip Giordano, Docket No. 03-1394 (2d Cir. March 3, 2006) (Jacobs, Sotomayor, Hall): Giordano is the former mayor of Waterbury, Connecticut. He was convicted by a jury of (1) two counts of 18 U.S.C. § 242 (violating someone’s civil rights “under color of [] law”) (the “civil rights counts”); (2) fourteen counts … Read more
United States v. Fairclough, Docket No. 05-2799-cr (2d Cir. Feb. 17, 2006) (Jacobs, Leval, Straub) (per curiam): The Circuit holds in this short opinion that (1) there is no Ex Post Facto problem when the Booker remedy (i.e., the advisory Guidelines regime) is used to sentence a defendant who committed his offense before Booker was … Read more
U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York v. Darnyl Parker, Docket No. 04-5175-cr (2d Cir. Feb. 21, 2006) (Walker, Wesley, Hall): In a lengthy opinion touching on rarely encountered issues, the Court concludes that (1) the district court did not err in denying the defendant’s mid-case request that his retained counsel be … Read more