The Second Circuit issued three summary orders in criminal cases today. In United States v. Clare, 15-1601, the Court affirmed the defendant’s conviction on marijuana and gun charges. Clare argued that the evidence at trial was insufficient to sustain the convictions, primarily because the cooperating witnesses were not credible. The Court rejected this argument, explaining … Read more
There were no published opinions today. In an unpublished opinion, United States v. Fernandini, No. 14-2203, the Second Circuit affirmed a within-Guidelines life sentence for the leader of a violent drug trafficking organization over procedural and substantive reasonableness challenges. Fernandini pleaded guilty to (i) conspiracy to traffic narcotics; (ii) using a firearm to commit murder … Read more
“Serious nonhomicide crimes may be devastating in their harm[,] but in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public, they cannot be compared to murder in their severity and irreovocability.” So said the Second Circuit today in United States v. Brown, No. 13-1706-cr (June 14, 2016) (quoting the … Read more
Not much to report today, just one summary order, which reminds us of the importance of due dates! In United States v. Russow, 15-1768, the district court extended the defendant’s time to file an appeal. When the defendant failed to file by that date and the government objected, the 2nd Circuit precluded an appeal. … Read more
Today, the Fourth Circuit held that Johnson is substantive and retroactive as applied to the Guidelines. You can read the decision in Hubbard here.
No criminal cases were decided by the Circuit today. But there is an interesting civil case resulting from the plaintiff’s arrest by NYPD detectives, on charges that were later dismissed. The plaintiff brought a civil suit against the defendants — several named NYPD detectives — under 42 U.S.C.§ 1983 . The case is Figueroa v. … Read more
In United States v. Leroy Derry, Docket No. 15-1829-cr, which was issued yesterday but amended today, the Circuit (by Judge Parker, joined by Judges Pooler and Livingston) ruled as a matter of statutory interpretation that Derry was ineligible for a second sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) because the new 2015 amendment (under which … Read more
Today there was a big decision (both metaphorically and literally – the decision runs 104-pages) from the Second Circuit in United States v. Ganias about search warrants in an age of digital data. In Ganias, the government seized and made identical copies of three hard drives that belonged to an accountant, Stavros Ganias, pursuant to … Read more
Today the Second Circuit issued a 104-page en banc opinion in United States v. Ganias, 12-240-cr. In Ganias, the Court affirmed the judgment of the district court, holding that the government had relied on a search warrant in good faith and declining to reach the Fourth Amendment question raised by the defendant. The case involved … Read more
The Court issued two summary orders in criminal cases today. Neither Appellant prevailed. United States v. Humphries, No. 14-985-cr (2d Cir. May 26, 2016) (Cabranes, Straub, and Lohier) Humphries was convicted after a jury trial of interstate travel in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud to defeat Canadian tax revenue, conspiracy to manufacture … Read more