Federal Criminal Defense Victory Newsletter – Issue 2 of 2023

Dan Siegel’s Federal Criminal Defense Victory Newsletter is a weekly summary of the newly filed, defense-favorable, published federal decisions that is quite informative, interesting and worth sharing with you on our blog. This is issue 2 of 2023 which came out on Monday, January 9, 2023. DOWNLOAD Newsletter – Issue 2 CA11 grants new trial in prosecution for running a …

This Week’s Victory Newsletter

Please see attached this week’s Newsletter from Dan Siegel, with the following highlights: (1) DC disagrees with child porn guideline, sentences autistic defendant to home confinement; (2) CA7 holds evidence insufficient to support two-level enhancement for “possession of a gun during drug trafficking;” and (3) in prosecution for gang-related drug murders, DC precludes government from introducing rap video showing D …

Dan Siegel’s Victory Newsletters for December

Good morning/afternoon. Attached please find Dan Siegel’s Victory Newsletters for the month of December 2022. I hope you find them informative. Issue 50 contains two very relevant legal decisions: (i) the Eleventh Circuit en banc decision in United States v. Garcon (attached), which joins the Ninth Circuit panel opinion in Lopez on the issue of the FSA changes for safety-valve …

Newsletter from Dan Siegel

Attached please find this week’s Federal Criminal Defense Victory Newsletter from Dan Siegel. It contains several interesting cases of newly filed, defense-favorable, published federal decisions. Microsoft Word – 46 of 2022 Victory Newsletter.docx

Bruen Challenges

Just a note on Bruen challenges. Please be advised (yup, that’s police lingo) that I have been compiling Bruen materials (cases, challenges, some briefing). I hope to have a discussion on the status of Bruen challenges during a weekly brainstorming/Virtual Zoom in November. Note that there have been two Bruen challenges that have found statutes unconstitutional: (i) 922(n) (United States …

United States v. Morales-Lopez and Constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3)

The challenge in United States v. Morales-Lopez, 20-0027 (D. Utah 6/30/2022), was not based on the Second Amendment issues discussed in Bruen, but on vagueness concerns. The district found § 922(g)(3) to be constitutionally void for vagueness, vacating the trial conviction, holding the statute fails to give meaning to its prohibitions: (i) fails to define “user”; (ii) fails to define …

U.S. Supreme Case Regarding Guns

Today I would like to share with you the United States Supreme Court case regarding guns decided upon on June 23, 2022. You may read it in its entirety by clicking on the PDF link at the end of this post: NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, INC., ET AL. v. BRUEN, SUPERINTENDENT OF NEW YORK STATE POLICE, ET …

Thoughts On United States v. Begay

Please see the attached opinion in United States v. Begay, in which the Ninth Circuit held that second degree murder under 18 U.S.C. 1111(c) is a crime of violence under the elements clause of 924(c)(3)(A) because it is unlawful killing with malice aforethought, meaning deliberately or recklessly with extreme disregard for human life. Thus, the Circuit endorsed different degrees of …

New CJA Panel Attorney Resource

Written by: Franklin W. Draper Dear Defender Nation, Fall is upon us and October has begun.  So too has the next Supreme Court term, and back again is in-person argument. One Justice was absent in person due to a positive COVID test, and one Justice wore a mask while presiding. Three criminal cases were argued this week: Wooden v. United States, …

The Fight Continues Against Capital Punishment

Written by: Frank Draper Dear Defender Nation, The fight against capital punishment in the United States continues. Through our dauntless advocacy, we are seeing fewer defendants sentenced to death and even fewer executions than we have seen in a long time.  In 2020, the pandemic, racial justice movement, and election of reform minded prosecutors helped fuel a continuing decline in …

Autumn Legal News Update

Dear Defender Nation, Fall is upon us and October has begun.  So too has the next Supreme Court term, and back again is in-person argument. One Justice was absent in person due to a positive COVID test, and one Justice wore a mask while presiding. Three criminal cases were argued this week: Wooden v. United States, No-20-5279 (Arg. Oct. 4, …

Controlling The Pandemic In Our Jails

Mahalo to Civil Beat for the following article about the situation in our jails and prisons across Hawaii State when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic and the response plan. Title: Panel Will Oversee Efforts By Prisons And Jails To Manage Pandemic Threat Article written by: Kevin Dayton, Senior Reporter of the Civil Beat Date: September 3rd, 2021 Weeks after …

Ninth Circuit Opinion On US v. Asuncion

US v. Asuncion, No. 18-30130 (9-4-20)(Chhabria w/Fletcher & Rawlinson). This is a sad case, illustrating that timing can be everything. The 9th affirms a mandatory life sentence under 841(b)(1)(A) as the defendant was found to have two prior "felony drug sentences" under 802(44). The sentences of the defendant’s priors were under a year (!) under a state (Wash) guideline system. …

The Worsening COVID-19 Crisis in Federal Detention

COVID-19 is ripping through the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), infecting incarcerated individuals at a rate 5.95 times higher than the general population. This crisis is occurring in a system that, due to structural racism, is disproportionately populated by Black and Hispanic people. And Attorney General Barr and BOP are using a risk assessment tool (PATTERN)—that likely has an outsized …

OIG Report on Lompoc

OIG report on Lompoc–key findings: At least 32 staff members had tested positive for COVID-19 as of early May and, by mid-July, 4 inmates had died and over 1,000 inmates had tested positive. Preexisting shortages of medical staff members resulted in challenges for screening inmates and staff members for COVID-19 symptoms; and preexisting shortages of correctional staff members resulted in …

Ninth Circuit Opinion

US v. Magdirila, No. 18-50430 (6-23-20)(R. Nelson w/Lee; concurrence by Berzon). The 9th upholds an inventory search, where the property inventoried was not recorded on the inventory form, but the items were referenced elsewhere. The 9th found the failure to list certain incriminating items (air gun, credit card, flash drive, etc.) was not material, as the items were cross-referenced to …

First Thoughts on Ramos v. Louisiana

Much ink has been spilt, and I have no doubt, that Ramos v. Louisiana, No. 18-5924, 2020 WL 1906545 (Apr. 20, 2020), is really not about unanimous juries, but about stare decisis and more specifically Roe v. Wade. But everyone knows I have a one-track mind, and after all, we are Sentencing Resource Counsel, not Stare Decisis Resource Counsel. So, …

Kahler v. Kansas: Insanity Defense / Due Process

Yesterday the Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Kagan, decided Kahler v. Kansas, 589 U.S. ___, No. 18-6135 (2020) in favor of Kansas. The question presented was whether the Due Process Clause requires a state to acquit a defendant who, because of mental illness, could not tell right from wrong when committing the offense. In Kansas, the insanity defense …

Supreme Court decides Holguin-Hernandez

The Supreme Court decided Holguin-Hernandez v. United States, No. 18-7739, 589 U.S. ___ (Feb. 26, 2020), and ruled unanimously in favor of the defense. Mr. Holguin-Hernandez violated his term of supervised release and was subject to a violation guidelines range of 12-18 months. At his VOSR sentencing, his attorney argued for no prison time, or at least a term of …