United States v. DiTomasso, No. 17-1699 (2d Cir. July 30, 2019), involves a defendant who was convicted after a jury trial of producing and distributing child pornography. On appeal, he argued that the district court should have granted his motion to suppress certain electronic communications found through searches conducted by two Internet service providers (AOL … Read more
The Second Circuit, like other federal circuits, has long held that the Due Process Clause permits a sentencing court to take into account conduct for which the defendant was acquitted (so-called “acquitted conduct”). See, e.g., United States v. Vaughn, 430 F.3d 518, 521 (2d Cir. 2005). But the Michigan Supreme Court just held otherwise: “Once … Read more
In United States v. Lebedev, No. 17-3691(L) (2d Cir. July 26, 2019), defendants Lebedev and Gross challenged their convictions, after a jury trial, of multiple counts arising from their roles in the operation of a Bitcoin exchange and a scheme to use a federal credit union for illegal purposes. Gross also challenged the application of … Read more
In the Second Circuit, a substantive Hobbs Act robbery qualifies as a “crime of violence” for purposes of § 924(c) under its elements (or force) clause, § 924(c)(3)(A). See United States v. Hill, 890 F.3d 51 (2d Cir. 2018). But a conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery does not qualify as a crime of violence … Read more
The Second Circuit’s decision in United States v. Barrett, 903 F.3d 166 ( 2d Cir. 2018), was vacated by the Supreme Court in a GVR order on June 28, 2019, in light of United States v. Davis, 588 U.S. __, 2019 WL 2649797. Davis held, contrary to Barrett, that the residual clause of 924(c)(3)(B) is … Read more
What is a “high-crime area” and what does that mean? It turns out, everything and nothing. And race has a lot to do with it. Professors Ben Grunwald, of Duke, and Jeffrey Fagan, of Columbia, examined two million NYPD stops from 2007-2012 and find that NYPD officers “call almost every block in the city high … Read more
In Flowers v. Mississippi, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that death-row inmate Curtis Flowers’ criminal trial was affected by racial discrimination. You can read more about the case here. Georgetown Professors Abbe Smith and Vida Johnson of Georgetown Law’s Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic, two career criminal defense attorneys, have recorded a video exploring the … Read more
The Supreme Court held in United States v. Davis that the so-called “residual clause” of 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3)(B) is void for vagueness. This means that the only way a crime can qualify as a “crime of violence” for purposes of Section 924(c) is under the “elements” (or “force”) clause of 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(A). That clause defines … Read more
In Hyman v. Brown, __ F.3d __ (2d Cir. June 24, 2019), the Court reversed a judgment granting habeas corpus relief from a state murder conviction under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Judge Raggi wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge Droney joined. Judge Jacobs concurred in a separate opinion. The Court held that the petitioner … Read more
Monday, in United States v. Sprull, 18 Cr. 665, Judge Castel ruled that a prior conviction under 21 U.S.C. 846 is not a controlled substance offense under U.S.S.G. 4B1.2(b). Judge Castel agreed with Judge Oetken’s analysis in United States v. Wilson, 18 Cr. 12, and ruled that under the categorical approach, 846 has no overt … Read more