Appeals

Fifth Circuit: "Ann Sheperd, the owner of a home-health agency, lawyered up after being indicted for Medicare fraud. But there was a tiny problem: Unbeknownst to Sheperd, her pretrial lawyer—who represented her until days before trial—also represented one of the Government's star witnesses. Oops." Remand for a hearing to determine whether lawyer's conflict of interest affected representation.

The case is United States v. Sheperd, 19-20073 (5th Cir. Mar. 8, 2022).

Today the Supreme Court decided Wooden v. United States, No. 20-5279 (S. Ct. March 7, 2022) soundly tossing out a sentencing enhancement for a Georgia man who was designated a “career criminal” based on his burglary convictions for breaking into a single mini-storage facility and stealing items from 10 separate storage units. Previous coverage available here and here.

Two Richmond, Va. police approached a man walking on the street whom they believe match the description of a suspect. Cops: "Yo! Let me talk to you real quick" and motioned man to come over. Man: "Nah" and kept walking. Cop: Yo! Hey! And continued towards man. Man: about to take off running but immediately trips and fall. Cops tackle and arrest man, then searched the bag the man had on him, which contained a gun and box of ammunition. Man: firearm and un-Mirandized statements made after gun found should be suppressed. District court: no, cops had reasonable suspicion.

In a 6 to 3 opinion written by Justice Thomas, the Court held that the First Circuit improperly vacated Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence. See United States v. Tsarnaev, No. 20-443 (Mar. 4, 2022) (view opinion).  Breyer dissents with an opinion joined by Justices Kagan and Sotomayor.  

For nearly 90 minutes on Tuesday, the high court grappled with the question of whether good faith is a defense for doctors criminally prosecuted for unlawful distribution of controlled substances (view coverage).

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of United States v. Merle Denezpi, a Navajo man hit with a 30-year prison sentence after a Colorado federal jury found him guilty of aggravated sexual abuse in Indian Country.

Sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenges to a criminal conviction are notoriously difficult to win. California man and alleged gang member charged with drug conspiracy. Man: I left gang and bought drugs for my use. Contacts with gang is for friendship purpose. Jury: we believe defense and prosecution. Acquits on some distribution charges; convicts on drug distribution conspiracy and gun charges. Man appeals.

The Ninth Circuit invalidated the subsection of a law that makes it a crime to encourage unlawful immigration, ruling Thursday it is overbroad and covers speech that is protected by the First Amendment (view full article).

A law allowing U.S. authorities to arrest and prosecute certain foreign nationals for drug crimes committed in international waters unconstitutionally extends U.S. jurisdiction beyond the limits of international law, the First Circuit held.

A judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is facing fallout over his insistence that a lawyer remove his mask during in-person oral arguments (access full article).