by Douglas Ankney
The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas held that possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is a “circumstances offense;” consequently, simultaneously possessing multiple firearms is one offense.
Floyd Woods was charged by two indictments with the offense of unlawful possession of a firearm by a ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit remanded to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois for resentencing where that court’s inoculating statement regarding a potential Sentencing Guidelines miscalculation failed to satisfy the conditions enunciated in United States v. Abbas, 560 ...
by Douglas Ankney
The Supreme Court of Michigan announced that a forfeited structural error automatically satisfies the third prong of the plain error standard without a showing of prejudice and creates a rebuttable presumption that the error seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.
On the ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that coram nobis relief is the appropriate remedy to achieve justice where the petitioner had completed service of the sentence imposed on conviction of offense for which he was actually innocent.
In November 2011, Brooks Prentice Lesane ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit clarified the framework for application of the minor-role adjustment of U.S. Sentencing Guideline (“U.S.S.G.”) § 3B1.2(b).
A man identified as “Gordo” overheard Jesus Ezequiel Rodriguez complaining that employment was hard to find during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gordo offered ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit clarified its uniform procedure for disposition of cases in which a plea agreement includes an appeal waiver and the defendant nevertheless files a notice of appeal.
Dinish Watson pleaded guilty to federal charges pursuant to the terms of ...
by Douglas Ankney
During the 13-year period from 2001 to 2014, Lyndon McLellan worked hard, expanding his small, roadside convenience store to include a restaurant and lunch counter. He’d managed to save a little over $107,000. But in less than 13 seconds, the IRS took all of McLellan’s savings — ...
by Douglas Ankney
On June 6, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that made New York the second state to require microstamping of semiautomatic pistols. It took ten years from its proposal to be enacted, but the new law requires semiautomatic pistols manufactured and sold in the state to be ...
by Douglas Ankney
Commerce City, Colorado, paid $175,000 to settle a suit alleging police officer Chris Dickey tased Joshua Condiotti-Wade because Dickey was angered by Condiotti-Wade’s placards that read “Fuck Bad Cops” and “Blue Lives Murder.”
Dickey’s bodycam showed him approaching Condiotti-Wade and another man holding the placards while protesting ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee’s denial of Dominique Cordell Wallace’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion because his convictions for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act robbery are not qualifying predicates after United ...
