The Supreme Court recently held that a guilty plea does not bar a federal criminal defendant from challenging the constitutionality of the statute of conviction on direct appeal. In Class v. United States, No. 16-424, _U.S._, 2018 WL 987347 (February…
Read More
In December, 2016, the United States Sentencing Commission proposed certain amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines that would be helpful for first offenders in that a 1-2 point reduction in the sentencing guidelines has been proposed. Part A…
Read More
The misuse of the power in the context of our criminal system can have a serious impact on individuals facing charges. Overzealous prosecutors may take a simple criminal statute and begin applying it in a much broader context, in essence creating cri…
Read More
A divide in the law on bank fraud may soon be resolved. The United States Supreme Court recently decided it would hear the case of Shaw v. United States in its upcoming October term.
The case presents the court with a question that has divided lower…
Read More
On October 20, 2014, the Third Circuit granted Dung Bui’s habeas petition in U.S. v. Bui, 2014 WL 5315061 (3d Cir, Oct. 20, 2014). Since Congress’ passing of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in 1996, successful habeas petitions a…
Read More
A financial adviser who made more than $250,000 trading on insider information he got from a fellow Alcoholics Anonymous member failed in his bid to overturn his conviction by challenging the validity of the rule he violated.
Timothy McGee, who was c…
Read More
Third Circuit Spring Recap
U.S. v. Velazquez, 749 F.3d 161 (3d Cir. 2014)
In U.S. v. Velazquez, the Third Circuit ruled that the government’s minimal efforts to apprehend Velazquez violated his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. In 200…
Read More
Last week, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from the Third Circuit about … Facebook! Surprisingly enough, this case is not about the company’s privacy policies or about its seemingly arbitrary removal of “offensive…
Read More
Last week was a busy week for the Fourth Amendment in the Courts of Appeal. On the same day that the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the Fourth Amendment covers data obtained from cell towers, the Third Circuit in U.S. v. Stanley ruled that the Fourth Am…
Read More
On June 11, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that obtaining data from a cell phone tower without “probable cause” violated the Fourth Amendment. In U.S. v. Quartavious Davis, the Court of Appeals ruled that individuals h…
Read More
