News & Blog

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

The Eighth Circuit in United States v. Parker, 2017 WL 400282 (8th Cir. 2017) held that conduct that occurred after the offense of conviction and after  the trial does not constitute obstruction of justice. Bender, a defendant, was charged with cons… Read More

The Supreme Court has just made an important step towards protecting defendants in criminal forfeiture.  In Honeycutt v. United States, No 16-142 (June 5, 2017), the Court held that a defendant may not be held jointly and severally liable for proper… Read More

The Tenth Circuit recently found it was permissible to add a sentencing enhancement based on the number of victims, even if not all of those victims had suffered financial loss. In United States v. Gonzales, No 16-2022 (10th Cir. 2016), defendant Gon… Read More

The Supreme Court, by a 6-2 vote, held that a defendant who wishes to appeal an order imposing restitution in a deferred restitution case must file a separate notice of appeal from that order; if he/she fails to file such an appeal and the government… Read More

In United States v. Huggins, 844 F. 3d 118  (2d Cir. 2016) the Second Circuit found that merely withdrawing money from a bank’s ATM does not trigger a sentencing enhancement under § 2B.1(b)(16)(A), which generally adds a two-level enhancement for… Read More

In a very important case, the Seventh Circuit departed from the overwhelming majority of cases that with a broad brush, enhance defendants for the full amount of the fraud and order forfeiture and restitution in the full amount, regardless of a defen… Read More

On March 6, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court in Beckles v. United States unanimously held that defendants cannot challenge the federal Sentencing Guidelines as unconstitutionally vague because they are recommendations subject to a judge’s discretion, n… Read More