HELPFUL CASES MARCH 2009

    United States Supreme Court [None this update]
    1st Circuit Court of Appeals 
    2nd Circuit Court of Appeals 
    3rd Circuit Court of Appeals 
    4th Circuit Court of Appeals 
    5th Circuit Court of Appeals 
    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 Delaware [None this update]
    Supreme Court of Florida [None this update]
    New York Court of Appeals 
    Illinois Supreme Court [None this update]
    Texas Criminal Court of Appeals 

Federal Courts (March 1-31, 2009)

Selected Decisions:

U.S. v. Rivera-Maldonado (3/12/2009, 1st Cir. No. 07-1426) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5160: Magistrate judge erroneously told defendant that the maximum possible period of supervised release was three years, and did not inform defendant that he could be sentenced to lifetime supervised release.

U.S. v. Morales (3/18/2009, 2nd Cir. No. 07-4202) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5512: Government misled defendant as to the minimum penalty he would face after a jury's conviction.

Siehl v. Grace (3/25/2009, 3rd Cir. No. 07-1568) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6392: Denial of habeas relief following conviction for first degree murder reversed where trial court's application of Strickland to plaintiff's ineffective assistance of counsel claim was not objectively reasonable.

Gov't of the Virgin Islands v. Davis (3/27/2009, 3rd Cir. No. 07-2136) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6409: Doyle: Preferences to to defendant's post-arrest, post-Miranda silence violated his right to due process under Doyle.

U.S. v. Hatcher (3/13/2009, 4th Cir. No. 07-4839) 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 27430: Sex Offender Registration: Convictions for failing to register or update registration as sex offenders under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) reversed where SORNA's registration requirements did not apply to Defendants at the time they committed the acts giving rise to their indictments.

U.S. v. Thompson-Riviere (3/26/2009, 4th Cir. No. 07-4793) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6431: Brady: Motion to withdraw his guilty plea on the ground that newly discovered evidence showed that he was a citizen had merit because he credibly asserted his legal innocence.

U.S. v. Long (3/5/2009, 5th Cir. No. 07-31131) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 4544: Insanity: Defendant presented sufficient evidence to entitle him to insanity instruction.

U.S. v. Munoz-Ortenza (3/18/2009, 5th Cir. No. 07-51344) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6166: Oral copulation of a minor per California PC 288(b)(1) prohibited conduct that would not have been criminalized under the generic meaning of sexual abuse of a minor and thus was not a "crime of violence."

U.S. v. Hunter (3/9/2009, 6th Cir. No. 07-3698) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 4450: Instruction On Non-Existent Charge: District Court incorrectly instructed the jury on a nonexistent "possession of a firearm during a drug offense" charge.

Awkal v. Mitchell (3/16/2009, 6th Cir. No. 01-4278) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5357: IAC – Calling Expert Witness Who Contradicted The Defense: Petitioner's counsel provided ineffective assistance at the guilt phase of Petitioner's trial by calling an expert witness who testified that Petitioner was sane at the time of the murders, an opinion that contradicted Petitioner's only defense.

U.S. v. Baker (3/16/2009, 6th Cir. No. 07-5412) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5351: Reckless Endangerment As Crime Of Violence: Insufficient evidence that Defendant's prior reckless endangerment conviction was a "crime of violence."

U.S. v. Lee (3/11/2009, 7th Cir. No. 06-3029) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 4937: Evidence was insufficient to support a conviction of money laundering because the disputed costs were essential regular expenses that did not constitute proceeds within the meaning of the statute and the jury received inadequate instructions.

U.S. v. Hodge (3/11/2009, 7th Cir. No. 06-3458) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5131: Money laundering conviction reversed where the evidence was insufficient to show what defendant did with the business's net revenues and the jury received erroneous instructions.

Allen v. Buss (3/11/2009, 7th Cir. No. 07-2486) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5132: Death Penalty Atkins: Ruling that defendant could not relitigate his claims in light of the Supreme Court ruling in Atkins, which categorically banned the execution of the mentally retarded, because the lower courts had already considered evidence of defendant's mental retardation as a mitigating factor, was contrary to the holding in Atkins recognizing that there is a difference between using mental retardation as a mitigating factor and excluding mentally retarded persons from the death penalty altogether.

U.S. v. Farinella (3/12/2009, 7th Cir. No. 08-1839) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5105: Misbranding Foods: Convictions for introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce with intent to defraud and wire fraud are reversed where the government presented insufficient evidence that the defendant engaged in misbranding food.

U.S. v. Shah (3/18/2009, 7th Cir. No. 07-1306) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6095: Conviction for multiple counts of fraud is reversed where the evidence did not support defendant's conviction under 18 USC 2314.

U.S. v. Boaz (3/16/2009, 8th Cir. No. 07-3918) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5349: (1) Arizona conviction for conspiring to commit auto theft is not a predicate violent felony. 2) Hearing necessary as to whether defendant's prior Arizona conviction for exhibiting a deadly weapon qualified as a predicate violent felony.

U.S. v. Clinkscale (3/17/2009, 8th Cir. No. 08-1163) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5818: Conviction for motor vehicle theft is not a violent felony, making defendant's mandatory minimum sentence for three prior violent felony convictions in error.

U.S. v. Brown (3/20/2009, 8th Cir. No. 08-1378) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5820: Instruction On Possession OF Firearm: Conviction reversed due to erroneous jury instructions concerning possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

U.S. v. Erenas-Luna (3/23/2009, No. 08-1855) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6091: Speedy Trial – Post Indictment Delay: District court erred in failing to apply a presumption in defendant's favor when it analyzed whether defendant suffered any prejudice as a result of the delay.

U.S. v. McFall (3/9/2009, 9thCir. No. 07-10034) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5448: Hobbs Act: Decreasing a competitor's chance of winning a contract does not amount to obtaining a transferable asset for oneself within the meaning of the Hobbs Act.

U.S. v. Christensen (3/23/2009, 9thCir. No. 06-30402) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6480: ACCA: Statutory rape is not a "violent felony" under the Armed Career Criminal Act, because that offense may involve consensual sexual intercourse.

U.S. v. Ferguson (3/27/2009, 9thCir. No. 07-50096) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6860: Child pornography conviction vacated due to Supreme Court decision [Indiana v. Edwards (2008) 128 SCt 2379] which prescribed a different standard for evaluating a defendant's mental competency than the one used by the district court.

Douglas v. Workman (3/26/2009, 10th Cir. No. 01-6094) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6602: Brady; Davis v. Alaska: Federal habeas petition granted where there was a reasonable probability that the outcome of Petitioner's trial would have been different had the prosecution not suppressed evidence of a deal made with a prosecution witness.

U.S. v. Siegelman (3/6/2009, 11th Cir. No. 07-13163) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 5369: (1) The jury was properly instructed that a quid pro quo was required to convict Defendants of bribery and mail fraud. (2) There was insufficient evidence that one Defendant agreed to the alleged mail fraud scheme.

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals

U.S. v. Mouling (3/6/2009, DC Cir. No. 05-3206) 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 4535: IAC – Failure To Advise Defendant Of Plea Offer: Counsel Ineffective for failing to advise defendant of the government's plea offer.

New York Court of Appeals

People v. Bauman (3/26/2009, NY No. 38) 2009 N.Y. LEXIS 41: The dismissal of an indictment for depraved indifference assault affirmed, where indictment violated New York statutory requirement that each count of an indictment charge only one offense.

Schmidt v. State (3/11/2009, TX No. PD-0076-08) 2009 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 320: Assault Offenses As LIO’s Of Retaliation By Threat Charge: Retaliation by threat conviction reversed due to erroneous failure to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of assault causing bodily injury and assault by threatening to cause imminent bodily injury.