HELPFUL CASES JULY 2007

    U.S. Supreme Court
    1st Circuit Court of Appeals
    2nd Circuit Court of Appeals
    3rd Circuit Court of Appeals
    4th Circuit Court of Appeals [None this update]
    5th Circuit Court of Appeals [None this update]
    6th Circuit Court of Appeals
    7th Circuit Court of Appeals
    8th Circuit Court of Appeals 
    9th Circuit Court of Appeals
    10th Circuit Court of Appeals
    11th Circuit Court of Appeals 
    D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
    Supreme Court of Florida

Federal Courts (July 1, 2007-July 31, 2007)

U.S. Supreme Court

Panetti v. Quaterman (6/28/2007, No. 06-6407) ____ US ____ [168 LEd 2d 662: 127 SCt 2842]:

The Constitution bars the government from executing truly crazy people. (Ford v. Wainwright (1986) 477 US 399.) The U.S. Supreme Court reverse the Texas courts here. The Texas courts found that the def. was aware of the state's rationale for an execution. The USSC say that such an awareness isn't the same as a rational understanding of it, and reverse for a ruling on that point.

U.S. v. Carpenter (7/18/2007, 1st Cir. No. 06-1373, 06-1374, 06-1488) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17007: District court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the government's use of inflammatory language during its closing and rebuttal arguments prejudiced the jury and denied defendant a fair trial.

U.S. v. Santiago (7/18/2007, 2nd Cir. No. 06-5136) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 16993: Motion of court-appointed defense counsel to withdraw on the ground that there is no non-frivolous basis for appeal for illiterate client is properly denied where: 1) the Anders notice documents alone did not suffice without some additional effort to ensure that their contents are communicated to the defendant orally; and 2) counsel did not show reasonable efforts to convey the required notice to the defendant orally in a language that he understands.

U.S. v. Rodriguez (7/24/2007, 2nd Cir. No. 05-3069) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17508: Conviction for drug dealing in a multi-defendant trial is remanded to determine whether the prosecutor's failure to disclose the substance of witness's lies during police interviews, which lies were not recorded or memorialized, was material and prejudicial.

U.S. v. Shedrick (7/19/2007, 3rd Cir. No. 04-2329) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17154: Denial of habeas petition brought under 28 USC 2255 is reversed as to petitioner's claim that his counsel was ineffective under Roe-Ortega for failing to assist him in his right to appeal where petitioner was prevented from timely appealing.

U.S. v. Ricks, (7/20/2007, 3rd Cir. Nos. 05-4832, 05-4833) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17258: Sentences imposed on brothers based on their guilty pleas to drug-conspiracy-related charges are vacated where -- based on prosecution's appeal that district court's use of 20-to-1 crack/powder cocaine drug quantity ratio was unreasonable -- courts may not categorically reject the 100-to-1 ratio.

Haliym v. Mitchell (7/13/2007, 6th Cir. No. 04-3207) 492 F3d 680: Death sentence reversed because petitioner was denied the effective assistance of counsel during the mitigation phase of his sentencing.

U.S. v. Hamad (7/19/2007, 6th Cir. No. 05-4196) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17233: Sentence for weapons charges is vacated and remanded where, when a district court increases a sentence based on its own fact findings on the basis of evidence never fully disclosed to the defendant, the court must either disclose sufficient details about the evidence to give the defendant a reasonable opportunity to respond, or refrain from relying on the evidence.

U.S. v. Jones (7/23/2007, 6th Cir. No. 06-5328) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17440: Court was required to hold a competency hearing.

Vasquez v. Jones (7/24/2007, 6th Cir. No. 04-2274) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17507: 1) petitioner established that the state court violated his Confrontation Clause right to impeach a witness' credibility with his criminal record; 2) the state court's resolution of this claim represents an unreasonable application of Supreme Court Confrontation Clause jurisprudence; and 3) the error was not harmless under the Brecht standard.

U.S. v. Hi Bek (7/6/2007, 7th Cir. No. 05-4198) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 16011: Evidence was insufficient to support the drug conviction.

U.S. v. Luepke (7/24/2007, 7th Cir. No. 06-3285) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17520: Sentence remanded where the district court did not afford defendant a meaningful opportunity to address the court prior to the imposition of sentence.

Julian v. Bartley (7/25/2007, 7th Cir. No. 05-3835) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17629: The state court's application of the Strickland analysis for ineffective assistance of counsel was objectively unreasonable, and defendant was able to show prejudice as a result of his attorney's misinformation.

In re: Green Grand Jury Proceedings (7/6/2007, 8th Cir. No. 06-3938, 06-4030) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 16013 [Supplemental opinion filed 7/20/2007, 492 F3d 976]: An attorney who does not knowingly participate in the client's crime or fraud may assert the work product privilege as to his opinion work product.

U.S. v. Icaza (7/10/2007, 8th Cir. No. 06-2882, 06-2883, 06-3003) 42 F.3d 967: Sentences for conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and interstate transportation of stolen property, as well as illegal reentry, are vacated and remanded where, in circumstances in which the defendants shoplifted from 407 separate Walgreens drug stores, the district court erred in treating each store as a separate victim for purposes of a number-of-victims sentence enhancement.

Watson v. U.S. (7/18/2007, 8th Cir. No. 06-3104) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 16994: Matter remanded to provide defendant with a hearing on the issue of whether he asked his trial counsel to file a notice of appeal after he was sentenced.

U.S. v. Johnson (7/30/2007, 8th Cir. No. 06-1001) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 18059:Convictions and capital sentences for aiding and abetting murder during a drug conspiracy are vacated where the charges were multiplicitous.

U.S. v. Forrester (7/6/2007, 9th Cir. No. 05-50410, 05-50493) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS: Due to district court's omission and misstatement with regard to the charge and potential prison term defendant's waiver of his right to counsel was not knowing and intelligent, and that the Sixth Amendment was violated when he was allowed to proceed pro se.

U.S. v. Jernigan (7/9/2007, 9th Cir. No. 05-10086) 492 F3d 1050: Conviction reversed based on Brady claim that, while defendant was in custody, other nearby banks had been robbed by a Hispanic female with a physical resemblance to defendant.

U.S. v. Snellenberger (7/10/2007, 9th Cir. No. 06-50169) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 16257: In the context of criminal sentencing, a minute order is "not a judicial record that can be relied upon" to establish the nature of a prior conviction. (Amended opinion)

U.S. v. Horvath (7/10/2007, 9th Cir. No. 06-30447) 492 F3d 1075: In a prosecution for knowingly and willfully makes a materially false statement to the federal government, denial of defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment is reversed as: 1) defendant's false statement to a probation officer was submitted, as required by law, to the district court in a presentence report (PSR), in connection with a judicial proceeding to which he was a party; and 2) such statement fell within the exemption from criminal liability codified in 18 U.S.C. section 1001(b).

U.S. v. Jenkins (7/17/2007, 9th Cir. No. 06-50049) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 16938: Dismissal of defendant's indictment for alien smuggling based on the appearance of vindictive prosecution is affirmed where: 1) because the government could have prosecuted defendant for alien smuggling well before she presented her theory of defense at a marijuana smuggling trial, the timing of the charges created the appearance of vindictiveness; and 2) an assertion that the government's case against defendant was much stronger after her in-court admission of alien smuggling did not suffice to dispel the appearance of vindictiveness.

Winzer v. Hall (7/23/2007, 9th Cir. No. 06-55327) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17462: State courts unreasonably applied federal law by declaring that a hearsay statement was a spontaneous declaration or excited utterance, and the admission of the statement prejudiced the jury.

U.S. v. Flanders (7/3/2007, 10th Cir. No. 05-6379) 491 F3d 1197: Bank CEO and supermajority shareholder's conviction and sentence for willful misapplication of bank funds, scheming to defraud a bank, and related counts is reversed in part and remanded for resentencing where: 1) insufficient evidence supported defendant's conviction for willful misapplication in connection with an automobile loan; 2) the district court incorrectly applied a 2-level sentencing enhancement for violating an administrative order; and 3) the district court failed to adequately notify defendant of its intention to vary upward.

U.S. v. VanDam (7/10/2007, 10th Cir. No. 06-4104) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 16271: A sentence for a drug trafficking offense is vacated and remanded where: 1) the government breached its duty under defendant's plea agreement by failing to recommend a term of imprisonment at the bottom of the applicable range under the sentencing guidelines; 2) under applicable precedent, it was inappropriate to apply a harmless-error analysis; and 3) defendant was entitled to specific performance before the same judge.

U.S. v. Lopez-Vanegas (7/26/2007, 11th Cir. No. 05-15021) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 17792: Because 21 USC 841 and 21 USC 846 do not apply extraterritorially to discussions occurring in the United States related to possession of controlled substances outside of the United States do not violate those statutes.

U.S. v. Weathers (7/17/2007, No. 06-3022) 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 16919: Trial counsel provided constitutionally inadequate assistance by failing to challenge two counts of the indictment related to defendant's threats to injure the prosecutor as multiplicitous and in violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause.

State Courts (July 1, 2007-July 31, 2007)

Cuervo v. State of Florida (7/12/2007, No. SC06-1156) 2007 Fla. LEXIS 1229: If a suspect indicates in any manner that he or she does not want to be interrogated, interrogation must immediately stop. Once a suspect has invoked the right against self-incrimination, a potentially misleading elaboration of the right by police renders a resulting waiver invalid.

Jones v. State of Florida (7/12/2007, No. SC04-2231) 2007 Fla. LEXIS 1232: Death sentence reversed where: 1) there was insufficient evidence to maintain an avoid arrest aggravator as the proof was lacking that the dominant or only motive for the killing was to avoid arrest; and 2) the imposition of the death sentence would not be proportionate based on the existence of the single aggravator that remained.

Sims v. State of Florida (7/12/2007, No. SC04-18790) 2007 Fla. LEXIS 1226: Trial counsel was ineffective for failing to properly challenge a detective's canine-alert evidence, and he was prejudiced by the deficient performance.