Another crop of three:
In United States v. Reed, No. 09-2093-cr (2d Cir. May 5, 2011), the court vacated special conditions of supervised release requiring the defendant to participate in drug and alcohol treatment. He committed the offense of conviction while in prison, without access to drugs or alcohol, and there was no evidence that alcohol or drugs had any relation to its commission.
In United States v. Cedeno, No. 09-1857-cr (2d Cir. May 2, 2011), the district court erroneously charged the jury that, in prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), “as a matter of law, a gun is a firearm.” Not all guns are firearms “because, for instance, a BB gun is not a ‘firearm.'” But, here, the error was harmless.
In United States v. Stroman, No. 10-0962-cr (2d Cir. April 26, 2011), the court considered whether a police officer conducted an “interrogation” of the defendant, for Miranda purposes, by telling him not to speak then showing him video surveillance footage. The court noted that this conduct “raises concerns that the police may be able to sidestep Miranda’s safeguards” but did not conclusively rule on whether there was a Miranda violation, instead holding that any error in admitting the defendant’s statements was harmless.
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