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 ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) § 2K2.1 does not apply to conspiracy to commit a crime of violence.
Junior Abreu pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed an order of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida that construed a letter from Tydearain Smith asking whether he was eligible for relief under the First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”) and requesting ...
by Douglas Ankney
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1) (“ACCA”) cannot be preserved on collateral review by treating as four separate qualifying predicate offenses stemming from a drug arrest that was identified ...
