Anyone trying to convince a judge or a jury that a police officer is lying, have hope! Kwame Garnett always asserted that an undercover officer was lying about his involvement in a drug buy and bust. Unlike many defendants, however, Mr. Garnett was able to convince the judge and jury that he proved that the … Read more
The Office of the Inspector General released an audit of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s management and oversight of its confidential source program. The report contains a lot of useful information about the way the DEA confidential source program is supposed to work and provides counsel with potentially fruitful avenues of cross examination and specific Brady requests. … Read more
Supreme Court to Decide Whether Johnson Applies to 18 U.S.C. 924(c) The Supreme Court granted certiorari today in Lynch v. Dimaya, 15-1498, 2016 WL 3232911 (U.S., Sep. 29, 2016). The issue is whether the residual clause in 18 U.S.C. § 16(b), which has the same wording as the residual clause in 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), … Read more
Today SUNY voted to remove questions from applications about the applicant’s criminal record. This is an important step towards making access to education easier for people who have been convicted of crimes. As explained in a detailed report from the New York City Bar Association*, over the past decade, colleges and universities have increasingly included … Read more
Defense attorneys in Chicago have moved to dismiss cases on the basis that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (the ATF) violated the equal protection clause by targeting people of color for its fake stash house sting cases. The Federal Defenders, CJA Panel attorneys, and the Federal Criminal Justice Clinic at the University … Read more
In today’s United States v. Sheehan, the Second Circuit (Winter, Wesley, Lynch) affirmed a conviction for using a “destructive device” during a “crime of violence,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(B)(ii). Wearing a wig, an arm sling and makeup, Sheehan planted an almost-complete pipe bomb in a Home Depot on Long Island. He sent a letter … Read more
In today’s United States v. Harris, the Second Circuit (Newman, Calabresi, Raggi) decided two things with respect to supervised release. First, “18 U.S.C. § 3583(e) does not preclude revocation of supervised release on the basis of conduct that earlier prompted a modification of supervision conditions.” Here, the district court first modified Harris’s terms of supervision — based on … Read more
The single opinion the Circuit issued today is United States v. Daugerdas, No. 14-2437-cr (Circuit Judges: Kearse, Walker, and Cabranes). The defendant was a Certified Public Accountant and tax attorney. He and others designed tax shelters (for wealthy clients) in which the transactions underlying the shelters focused on the transactions tax consequences, not on their profitability. … Read more
Last week, SDNY Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald suppressed a gun that was obtained following a stop based on an anonymous tip. You can read the decision in United States v. Oden here. In suppressing the gun, the Court held that the information conveyed by an anonymous caller “neither explained how [the 911 Caller] knew about … Read more
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology today released a report entitled “Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature Comparison Methods.” You can access the report here. According to a White House press release, “the study aims to help close the gaps for a number of ‘feature-comparison’ methods — specifically, … Read more