Ninth Circuit Grants Stay and Abeyance of Federal Habeas Petition to Allow Petitioner to Exhaust State Remedies by Sagi Schwartzberg by Sagi Schwartzberg The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Eugene Allen Doerr satisfied the criteria set forth in Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269 …

First Circuit Vacates Sentence Containing 20-Year Upward Variance Because District Court Failed to Provide Case-Specific Factors or Rationale for Such a Large Variance by Richard Resch by Richard Resch The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacated Jadnel Flores-Nater’s 30-year prison sentence containing a 20-year upward variance because …

Tenth Circuit: Unreasonable Determination of Downward Variance of Guidelines Resulted in Plain Error by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming committed plain error in applying the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“Guidelines”) …