Supreme Court issues opinions on sentence enhancement under ACCA

    The U.S. Supreme Court issued two recent opinions on sentence enhancements under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) for illegal possession of firearms.   18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e)(2)(B) imposes an enhanced, 15-year minimum prison term for illegal possession […]

Supreme Court Concludes October 2017 Term

The Supreme Court concluded its October 2017 Term with some last opinions relating to criminal law and civil rights.   In Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, decided June 14, the Court held that, even though a State may impose reasonable […]

Carpenter v. U.S.: Obtaining Cell Phone-Site Information from Third-Party Service Providers is a Search that Requires a Warrant

The Government’s obtaining of cell phone-site information from third-party service provides is a “search” under the Fourth Amendment, and requires a warrant based on probable cause, the U.S. Supreme Court held June 22 in Carpenter v. U.S..   Facts   […]

Pereira v. Sessions and Trump v. Hawaii SCOTUS Recaps

Nonpermanent residents who are subject to removal but who have had 10-years of continuous physical presence in the U.S. may seek discretionary relief known as cancellation of removal.   Under the “stop-time” rule, the 10-year physical presence is deemed to […]

Currier v Virginia: Not so straightfoward

Currier v. Virginia:  Defendant who consented to severance cannot claim double jeopardy bars the second trial after the first trial ended in acquittal, but plurality raises questions about issue preclusion             A defendant who requests severance of his charges […]

Sexton v Beaudreaux

The Supreme Court, in Sexton v. Beaudreaux, issued June 28, again chastised the Ninth Circuit for not giving sufficient deference to state court rulings on federal habeas review.             Nicholas Beaudreaux claimed his trial counsel had been ineffective in […]

Supreme Court Decides Federal Sentencing Guidelines Cases

When is a sentence “based on” a Guidelines range so as to require resentencing when the range is lowered?             In Koons v. United States, decided June 4, the Court held that where defendants were sentenced below a mandatory […]

Collins v. Virginia: Police cannot enter curtilage of home to search vehicle without a warrant

The Fourth Amendment prohibits police from entering the curtilage of a home to search a vehicle without a warrant, the U.S. Supreme Court held May 29 in Collins v. Virginia.   The Court rejected the claim that the “automobile exception” […]

Lagos v. United States: Mandatory Victims Restitution Act does not require defendants to reimburse victims for expenses incurred in private investigations or civil proceedings

The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) does not require defendants to reimburse victims for expenses incurred in private investigations or civil proceedings arising out of the criminal offense, the U.S. Supreme Court held May 29 in Lagos v. United States. […]

U.S. v. Sanchez-Gomez: Challenge to pretrial shackling policy became moot in individual criminal cases once those cases were concluded

Individual criminal defendants’ claims that a pretrial shackling policy was unconstitutional became moot when the defendants’ criminal cases were concluded, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 14 in U.S. v. Sanchez-Gomez.    The defendants’ claims were not saved from mootness […]