Federal Defenders of New York Second Circuit Blog

Johnson Win in WD Va – Court Holds New York First Degree Robbery is Divisible and Does not Satisfy the Force Clause; Sessions Memo Replaces Holder Memo on Charging Decisions

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In U.S. v Batista, a Western District of Virginia  judge hold that New York first degree robbery is divisible, that defendant does not have the burden to produce Shepard documents, and the offense does not satisfy the force clause. In less uplifting news, say goodbye to the Holder Memo.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent this memo … Read more

Second Circuit Holds that Beckles does not Foreclose Johnson Claims Challenging Pre-Booker Sentences

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In Nelson Vargas v. United States, No. 16-2112, the Second Circuit granted a motion for leave to file a second or successive Johnson-based 2255 petition challenging a 480- month pre-Booker career offender sentence.  The Court wrote: “Although the Supreme Court held in Beckles v. United States that ‘[b]ecause they merely guide the district courts’ discretion, … Read more

Second Circuit Vacates 225-month Sentence in Child Pornography Case as Substantively Unreasonable

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Today, in United States v. Jenkins, the Second Circuit concluded that a 225-month sentence for the possession and transportation of child pornography was substantively unreasonable and vacated and remanded for resentencing, concluding that the district court’s sentence “went far overboard” and was “shockingly high”  Opinion at 11, 12. Jenkins was convicted after trial of one count … Read more

Sessions Announces “Renewed Commitment to Criminal Immigration Enforcement” and the End of the National Commission on Forensic Science

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued this  statement regarding a “Renewed Commitment to Criminal Immigration Enforcement” yesterday.  It’s unclear how much it will change enforcement priorities in the ED and SDNY, but it does encourage the piling on of additional charges, such as aggravated identity theft and document fraud, in immigration cases.  If you get assigned to … Read more

Sessions Establishes Task Force on “Crime Reduction and Public Safety”

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued another memo to US Attorneys this week.  You can access the memo here. In it, he establishes a “Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety” to identify ways federal prosecutors “can more effectively combat illegal immigration and violent crime, such as gun crime, drug trafficking, and gang violence.”  The … Read more

Unanimous Supreme Court: District Court Can Consider Length of Consecutive Sentence in Imposing Sentence on the Underlying Offense

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Today in Dean v. United States, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a district court may consider the consecutive mandatory sentence required under 18 U.S.C. 924(c) when imposing the sentence to be served on the underlying offense.  You can access the opinion here.  The length of the mandatory consecutive sentence bears on the factors to … Read more

Racial Discrimination in Stash House Sting Cases

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Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune ran a piece on the ND IL litigation challenging the disparate racial impact in stash house sting cases.  We blogged here about the report by Columbia Professor Jeffrey Fagan.  You can access Professor Fagan’s report, and other filings in the litigation, here. If you have a case involving a stash … Read more

Challenging Government Hacking

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The ACLU has come out with a new report outlining legal arguments and strategies for defense attorneys seeking to challenge evidence seized by government-installed computer malware.  The government has increasingly used controversial and constitutionally-questionable hacking to obtain evidence and the report sets out Fourth Amendments challenging this practice. You can access the report here.