Whether here in Atlanta or other places, Carl and I represent a lot of folks who eventually face a sentencing hearing at the end of a federal criminal case. Anyone whose spare time has brought them here knows that we chat about federal sentencing a lot, whether to analyze or…
Articles Posted in U.S. Supreme Court
Exactly What is “Honest Services Fraud” in Federal Court? Supreme Court Again Will Try to Answer in Case Involving Former VA Governor.
One version of “white collar crime” that often winds in federal court is called “honest services fraud”. The basic version of the crime is when someone (usually a person who works either for some large organization, like a business or government) engages in a “scheme to defraud” that is intended to…
Hooray for privacy! Unanimous Supreme Court Holds That Police Need Search Warrant to Access Data in Cell Phones After an Arrest
Federal criminal cases, State criminal case, here in Atlanta, throughout Georgia and the rest of the country, are all impacted by this morning’s blockbuster ruling from the Supreme Court. The Court held that when a person is arrested, law enforcement cannot simply look through all the data in the arrested…
Federal Criminal Appeal Explores Extent of “Aiding and Abetting” Liability
We do lots of federal criminal appeals, and one such case was argued earlier this week in the United States Supreme Court. The case is Rosemond v. United States, and it involves a question that comes up frequently in federal criminal cases. Federal prosecutors often try to hold one person…
Challenges to Whether Something is Even a Federal Crime: My 15-Year Battle Against the “Straw Purchase” Theory Might Bear Fruit in the Supreme Court
I am always harping about how lawyers defending against federal crimes need to be creative, and need to challenge whether their clients even committed a crime. About 15 years ago, I raised a series of challenges against what is called the “straw purchase” theory of liability when a person buys…
Federal Gun Laws: Supreme Court Will Decide if Anyone Convicted of Misdemeanor Family Battery Crimes is Always Prohibited from Having a Firearm
The United States Supreme Court recently announced that it will take on the case of U.S. v. Castleman. In that case, the federal court of appeals decided that Mr. Castleman’s prior conviction in Tennessee for “misdemeanor domestic assault” did not fall within the federal crime that prohibits gun possession by…
Good Lawyers Are Persistent, and Continuous Arguments Result in Supreme Court Victory
As any reader of this blog knows, I am a big fan of good, aggressive and persistent criminal defense lawyers. I have had the chance to practice and observe many great criminal defense lawyers, here in Atlanta, throughout Georgia, and in other parts of the country when my work takes…
Criminal Law Case in the Supreme Court Says That Police Can Take DNA when Person is Merely Arrested for Serious Crime
In a case that criminal defense lawyers here in Atlanta and around the country need to all read, yesterday the United States Supreme Court ruled that the police can take DNA samples from people who are merely arrested for serious crimes, and that the Fourth Amendment to the United States…
“You Have the Right to Counsel, But We Are Going to Take Away Any Money You Have to Hire the Type of Lawyers Who Specialize in Federal Cases”: Contrasting Gideon v. Wainwright With Federal Pretrial Forfeiture Laws
As I noted in this post, on Tuesday the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Kaley v. United States, a case calling on the Justices to answer the question of whether the Sixth and Fifth Amendments afford a Defendant the right to a pretrial hearing to challenge the seizure of her…
U.S. Supreme Court says that Double Jeopardy Clause prevents retrial when trial judge erroneously granted acquittal at Defendant’s first trial
Both in federal criminal cases here in Atlanta and around the country, as well as in the state court proceedings we handle throughout Georgia, we occasionally deal with issues relating to “Double Jeopardy,” the portion of the Fifth Amendment that says prosecutors only get one bite at the apple. Yesterday,…