United States v. Sanchez, No. 11-2429-CR (2d Cir. Dec. 4, 2013) (Cabranes, Straub, and Livingston), available hereDefendant pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 1 kilogram of heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A), an offense that carries a 10-year mandatory minimum. The government filed a prior felony information pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851, arguing that defendant’s prior Connecticut narcotics conviction increased his mandatory minimum to 20 years. Defendant did not object. Without making any reference to the mandatory minimum, the district court (D. Conn.; Nevas, J.) sentenced defendant to 288 months, a downward variance from the Guidelines range of 360-life.On appeal, the Circuit accepted the government’s concession that it was clear error to treat defendant’s prior as a qualifying predicate because the Connecticut and federal narcotics laws are not coterminous. …
Miscalculation Of Mandatory Minimum That “Has An Impact” On Sentence Is Plain Error
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Seventh Circuit affirms, over government complaints, way-below-guideline sentence for child porn producer
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Banned in Lexington
It seems that the Commonwealth's Attorney in Fayette County, Kentucky, Ray Larson, has taken some heat for posting some of our stuff and has taken the repost down. It started with an article in Time titled "Ferguson: In Defense of Rioting." Bill Otis wrote a post critical of this article. Bill says some pretty controversial things from time to time, but this one didn't strike me as one that would cause offense to rational people. C'mon, defense of rioting?! Of course such a preposterous thesis deserves to be skewered.Bill's post also says, "I want to make only one point -- that the Ferguson riot had next to nothing to do with the expression of dissent, about racial issues or any other." He didn't say the Ferguson protests had nothing to do with expression of dissent, he was specifically referring to the Ferguson riots. Again, that didn't seem all that controversial to…
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Faked Brain Cancer Will Bring Fraud Charges
In a move that surprised friends, family, and coworkers, a woman in Logan faked brain cancer in order to raise over $17,000. Police say she will be charged with fraud. Fraud Often Preys on the Sympathetic According to a report from KSL News, in early November 2014, Lesley Jensen claimed that she suffered from advanced […] The post Faked Brain Cancer Will Bring Fraud Charges appeared first on Salt Lake Criminal Defense.
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Gem County Teen Crashes into Payette River Sunday Night
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer DO NOT REPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE Teresa Baker Public Information Officer Headquarters 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642 (208) 884-7122 Fax (208) 884-7087 For Immediate Release: 12/8/2014 6:00 p.m. MERIDIAN - On Sunday, December 7, 2014 at 6:09 p.m., the Idaho State Police investigated a one vehicle crash on SH52 at milepost 49 at the Gem County and Boise County line. A 17 year-old female from Sweet was traveling westbound on SH52 in a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu when she drove too close to the edge of the roadway and the front tire of the vehicle drove off the shoulder of the highway. The driver then overcorrected, lost control of the vehicle and it went off the opposite side of the road and down a 42 foot embankment. The vehicle then struck some boulders along the embankment, overturned, the airbags deployed and…
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College Student Held on Bail in Fatal Dedham Pedestrian Accident
A college senior was ordered held on $5,000 cash bail following his arraignment where he was charged with striking and killing a pedestrian with his car in Dedham on Friday night. The Boston Globe reported that 21-year-old Nicholas Rivas-Vasquez, who is a student and plays soccer at Mount Ida College, was charged with leaving the scene of death. According to the Globe, Dedham police learned of the crash shortly before 11 p.m. on Friday. The victim, a 54-year-old woman, was walking across Washington Street near the intersection with Curve Street when she was struck. The defendant turned himself into the police today after learning that he was being sought. His attorney told the Globe that the defendant was driving on Washington Street Friday night during a rain and wind storm. At some point, something hit the right side of his car. The defendant believed the wind had blown the object into his car. When he looked in his rear view mirror,…
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Your Story is Your Only Hope - So start listening to Serial on PBS
“For the last year, I’ve spent every working day trying to figure out where a high school kid was for an hour after school one day in 1999. Or, if you want to get technical about it (and apparently I do), where a high school kid was for twenty-one minutes after school one day in 1999….” And so it begins. Serial, a podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. The true story is told a week at a time. It takes us through Koenig’s investigation into the disappearance and murder of Hae Min Lee, a high school senior. Her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed sits in prison today, fifteen years later, convicted of murdering Hae Min. He was seventeen years old when she disappeared and he had to answer that question: "so where were you on January 13, 1999?" Hae Min Lee was the daughter of immigrant Korean parents and he, the first generation son of immigrants from Pakistan. His family is Muslim. Hers is not. Their…
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Unregistered sex offenders displayed on billboards in Marion County
This makes no sense at all, statistically these folks are not committing crimes. And murderers are not so treated. Which is more important to the safety of society? Idiots make these decisions and they somehow get elected.. 12-8-2014 Indiana: Authorities are taking a new approach to get unregistered sex offenders off the streets of Marion County. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office, U.S.
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Obama's Race Interview on BET
BET aired its interview with President Obama on race tonight. (Warning: video plays automatically.) It's called "BET News Presents: A Conversation with President Barack Obama." More Ferguson grand jury documents were released today. The... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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Heightened Alerts for Release of Torture Report
The U.S. is preparing for security risks with tomorrow's long-waited release of the summary of the Senate's Torture Report, a history of the Bush Administration and CIA's "Rendition, Detention and Interrogation" program. The Obama... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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John Lennon: 34 Years Ago Tonight
Tonight is the 34th anniversary of the killing of John Lennon. Here's one reason his passing has a special meaning for me and my son. I particularly like the post I wrote in 2010. And from my post in 2005 There are millions of people... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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A Question of Ethics: The Year in Government Ethics
Roll Call | December 9, 2014 As long as there are governments, there will be government corruption. The temptations to abuse power are never going away, and neither is human frailty, which means government ethics will remain an important issue for, well, forever. A look back on 2014 reveals yet another year of explosive government ethics stories, scandals and legal developments. As has been the custom for the year’s final column, I asked several of the top practitioners in the field to name the biggest government ethics stories of the year. Before turning to those, I have one of my own to mention for its impact on the actual day-to-day operations of the practice of congressional ethics. Last month, John Sassaman stepped down as chief counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, a position he held for more than six years. Sassaman presided over many high-profile investigations during his tenure and, perhaps more importantly, led a staff that was invariably prompt and…
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REFUSING CONSENT TO DRAW BLOOD IN DWI INVESTIGATION
In a 1966 decision, Schmerber v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision extending a limited exception to the Fourth Amendment “warrant requirement” to […]
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Belynda Goff is ‘Deserving of Clemency’
A recent column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette called Belynda Goff's case "appalling" and urged incoming Governor Asa Hutchinson to strongly consider granting clemency to Goff. Goff was convicted of murdering her husband Stephen Goff in their home in 1996, but has always maintained her innocence. There is strong evidence that Stephen was killed by people involved in an arson-for-hire group, from whom he may have stolen money. Belynda was convicted because of shoddy police work, as well as ineptitude and possible misconduct on the part of the prosecution. The evidence supporting Belynda's evidence has been ignored by authorities for decades. The Innocence Project is currently conducting DNA testing of crime scene evidence that could prove Belynda's innocence, but because pieces of crucial evidence have gone missing, testing may not be enough to vindicate Belynda. Subseuqently, the Innocence Project sent a letter to outgoing Arkansas Gov. Mike…
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Claremont Teleforum on SCOTUS December Cases
The Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence will sponsor a teleforum on Friday at 1:00 p.m. EST on three cases argued before the Supreme Court this month. The criminal case in the group is Elonis v. United States, the Facebook threats case, to be discussed by yours truly.Also on the case will be Prof. Anthony Caso of Chapman University (formerly with Pacific Legal Foundation) discussing the Amtrak regulatory delegation case, and Karen Harned of the National Federation of Independent Business, discussing the notice and comment requirements for an administrative agency to change its interpretative regulations. Because of these two cases, the forum is titled, "Will The Court Rein In The Out Of Control Bureaucracy?" Dr. John Eastman will lead the discussion.You can register your phone number here, and they will call you, or you can point your browser here, and listen via webcast.
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Political deal in works for Congress to deal with DC marijuana legalization issues
The Huffington Post has this notable new report on recent Capitol Hill activity to deal with the District of Columbia's recently-passed marijuana legalization initiative. The piece is headlined "Congress Looking To Block D.C.'s Marijuana Legalization Initiative," and here are excerpts: Congress is looking to stifle the District of Columbia's marijuana...<img src="//feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MarijuanaLaw/~4/DNU0VQQpdnE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>
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2 Former Bank Officials Admit Concealing Loan Delinquencies
Mortgage Fraud Blog. Martin E. Schmidt, Jr., 57, Beecher, Illinois, and Donna M. Barber, 53, also of Beecher, have pleaded guilty to federal charges for fraudulently creating false reports that made it appear that the bank’s loan portfolio was in better shape than it actually was. The defendants together concealed delinquent loan payments on behalf of two customers whose multiple loans totaled approximately $2.8 million, and together caused the bank to lose more than $1.1 million, according to their guilty pleas. Schmidt was senior vice president for lending and a member of the board of directors of First Community Bank and Trust, which operates in Beecher and Peotone in Will County. Co-defendant, Barber was vice president for mortgage lending. First Community Bank and Trust cooperated with the federal investigation. Schmidt pleaded guilty on Nov. 13 to making false bank reports and is free on his own recognizance pending sentencing on Feb. 26, 2015. …
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News Scan
Death Penalty for Cop Killer: Prosecutors in Sacramento will seek the death penalty for the illegal alien accused of murdering two sheriff's deputies, seriously injuring a third and shooting a carjack victim during a multi-county crime spree in October 2014. Sam Cohen of Fox 40 reports that Luis Bracamontes, who had a criminal record and had been twice deported, was the focus of a manhunt after he was identified for for the murders, carjacking and shootings. Bracamontes' wife, who accompanied him during the crime spree, is also facing several felony charges including murder, attempted murder, and carjacking. St. Louis Attack May be Hate Crime: Authorities in St. Louis, Missouri are asking for the FBI's help in investigating what they believe to be a hate crime against a Bosnian woman in the same neighborhood that a Bosnian man was beaten to death just days prior. Fox News reports that the 26-year-old woman told police a group of…
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Putting Aside Differences for the Holidays
Colby Itkowitz at the WaPo's In the Loop posts these pictures from a tweet by Michelle Bachmann, who is leaving Congress at the end of the session. Ms. Itkowitz says, The expression on Vice President Joe Biden's face is priceless. But his look of slight bewilderment is only matched by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's forced smile. But Bachmann looks positively merry.These pictures are begging to be captioned. The comments section awaits.But why shouldn't the Veep be smiling? He is, after all, a man being embraced by an attractive woman, whatever he may think of her politics. Even in Washington, even at 72, guys are still guys.Ms. Pelosi's forced smile is much funnier, IMHO. "OMG, do I really have to have my picture taken with this ____." She could have smiled for real if she had thought of the old Roy Clark song, "Thank God and Greyhound You're Gone," but Ms. Pelosi (D-San Francisco)…
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Freispruch für Karl Dall vom Vorwurf der Vergewaltigung
Der deutsche Komiker wurde bereits am ersten Verhandlungstag freigesprochen. Die Beweislage reichte für eine Verurteilung nicht aus. Der Komiker und Fernsehmoderator Karl Dall stand heute in Zürich wegen des Vorwurfs der Vergewaltigung vor Gericht. Der 73-Jährige sollte eine Schweizer Journalistin auf einem Hotelzimmer vergewaltigt haben. Das Gericht sprach Karl Dall schon am ersten Verhandlungstag frei. Der Richter betonte in der Begründung seines Freispruchs, dass die Beweislage bei Weitem nicht für eine Verurteilung ausreiche. Vielmehr stellte er die Ungereimtheiten in den Aussagen der Hauptbelastungszeugin dar. Außer der Aussage des mutmaßlichen Opfers gab es keine weiteren Beweise. Während die Journalistin von einer Vergewaltigung in der Nacht vom 5. auf den 6. September berichtete, wies Karl Dall alle Vorwürfe zurück. Die Frau habe versucht, sich ihm zu nähern und er habe sie aus falscher Höflichkeit in seine…
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