Federal Defenders of New York Second Circuit Blog

UNITED STATES V. FAILING, NO. 10-3330-cr (2D CIR. FEB. 3, 2014) (KATZMANN, WESLEY, AND LOHIER) (SUMMARY ORDER), AVAILABLE HERE In this case, the defendant was convicted after trial of conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute.  He received 77 months’ custody.  On appeal he challenged the district court’s admission of out-of-court statements by a … Read more

UNITED STATES V. JOHNSON, NO. 12-3328-cr (2D CIR. FEB. 3, 2014) (POOLER, RAGGI, AND SCHOFIELD) (SUMMARY ORDER), AVAILABLE HERE Post-conviction for wire fraud and bank fraud, the defendant in this appeal challenged his sentence as procedurally unreasonable and challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to his intent to commit bank fraud pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1344.  … Read more

United States v. Krasniqi, Nos. 12-2788-cr and 12-2789-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 28, 2014) (Newman, Hall, and Lynch) (summary order), available here Bruno Krasniqi (“Bruno”) and Saimir Krasniqi (“Saimir”) were convicted of a substantive RICO count, RICO conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, and other offenses. On appeal, they argued that the … Read more

United States v. DeMizio, No. 12-1293 (2d Cir. Jan. 28, 2014) (Newman, Kearse, and Livingston), available here Darin DeMizio was convicted in 2009 of conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud and securities fraud and of making a false statement. The government’s theory on the conspiracy count was that DeMizio caused his employer, Morgan Stanley, to conduct … Read more

United States v. Moreno-Montenegro, No. 12-3040-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 27, 2014) (Katzmann, Winter, and Calabresi) (summary order), available here The defendant pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to import heroin into the United States and one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin intending that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States. He … Read more

United States v. Melendez, No. 12-4181-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 24, 2014) (Wesley, Hall, and Chin) (summary order), available here Convicted of one count of receiving child pornography, the defendant was sentenced to 168 months of imprisonment, the bottom of the 168-to-210 month Guidelines range. This summary order affirms the sentence as substantively reasonable. The Court  … Read more

United States v. Needham, No. 12-5130-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 24, 2014) (Jacobs, Chin, and Droney) (summary order), available here Convicted of 11 Hobbs Act robberies and other crimes, Needham challenged her 30-year prison term as procedurally and substantively unreasonable. This summary order affirms the sentence. The Circuit noted that the sentencing court properly calculated the Guidelines range … Read more

Jordan v. United States Parole Commission, No. 12-5021-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 21, 2014) (Winter, Calabresi, and Raggi) (summary order), available here Jordan, a treaty transfer prisoner under 18 U.S.C. § 4106A, was convicted by a Hungarian court of the rape of a woman and the attempted murder of another woman. The Hungarian tribunal sentenced him to a 14-year prison … Read more

United States v. Paquin, No. 13-253-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 23, 2014) (Kearse, Raggi, and Korman) (summary order), available here This summary was prepared by noted criminal defense attorney Francisco Celedonio, Esq., who is also a member of the Board of Directors of Federal Defenders of New York, Inc.: After Paquin violated the terms of supervised … Read more

United States v. Thavaraja, No. 12-4330-cr (2d Cir. Jan. 23, 2014) (Walker, Livingston, and Chin), available here This summary was prepared by noted criminal defense attorney Francisco Celedonio, Esq., who is also a member of the Board of Directors of Federal Defenders of New York, Inc.: The government appealed a prison sentence of 108 months, … Read more