Recently in Criminal Law Category

Police officers executed a search warrant for Jared Cardoza’s apartment and seized more than 200 grams of cocaine, more than 300 grams of marijuana, a Beretta 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol, a Colt .357 revolver, more than $100,000 in cash, and a variety of drug paraphernalia.

Yikes. You don’t want to be that guy, right?

After the government obtained a grand jury indictment against Cardoza for federal drug trafficking and firearm offenses, he moved to suppress the evidence found in his apartment. According to Cardoza, the police officer who prepared the search warrant affidavit made false statements in the affidavit with reckless disregard for the truth.

The safety valve authorizes a sentencing judge to impose a term of imprisonment lower than a statutory minimum if the defendant meets five specified qualifications. One of those qualifications is cooperating with the government. A defendant who qualifies for the safety valve is also entitled to a two-point reduction in his offense level.

While the courts adhere to a "no cooperation, no reduction" policy, an uncooperative defendant can get a second shot at sentencing if his lawyer never bothered telling him about the sentencing safety valve, according to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The legal system incentivizes plea bargaining. A defendant typically gets a lighter sentence for accepting responsibility for his actions.

But a recent decision from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals could make plea bargains much more specific.

Marijuana needs a good PR campaign. Perhaps something to the effect of "Pot: It's Not as Dangerous as Heroin."

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) tried to give medical marijuana that much-needed public relations boost. Last fall, the group told the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that the Drug Enforcement Administration's most recent classification of marijuana as a Schedule I substance was arbitrary and capricious because a number of studies support the use of medical marijuana. This week, the appellate court ruled against the ASA, concluding that the feds didn't act improperly in refusing to loosen restrictions on pot.

Andrew Warren was once a “rising star” in the Central Intelligence Agency. In 2007 and 2008, the CIA assigned Warren to work as a high-level official for the United States Embassy in Algeria. During that time, he allegedly roofied and sexually-abused two women.

In 2009, the CIA terminated Warren. Later that year, he was indicted on one count of sexual abuse. When he failed to appear for a status hearing in 2010, the district court issued a bench warrant for his arrest. While searching for Warren, the government discovered that Warren’s neighbor in Norfolk, Virginia had filed a complaint that Warren had exposed himself to her.

In 2009, Gregory Fair pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement and mail fraud after selling more than $1 million in pirated copies of Adobe Systems programs on eBay. In addition to a 41-month prison sentence, the court ordered Fair to pay Adobe $743,098 in restitution, The Washington Post reports.

Last week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the restitution order.

Guantanamo Bay detainees' lawyers could once again be fighting for their clients' constitutional rights before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

You may recall the Boumedienne v. Bush — the landmark Supreme Court decision holding that Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas corpus — matriculated from the D.C. Circuit. The latest issue to evolve from that decision is whether a detainee has a continued right to access counsel after a habeas petition is denied.

The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines are just that. Guidelines. Suggestions. They're non-binding. In the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, they're not even presumptively reasonable.

Judges are permitted to deviate from the Guidelines when sentencing criminal defendants, and an appellate court will typically uphold a lesser sentence as long as the judge explains her reasoning for deviating from the Guidelines.

On Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments regarding whether marijuana should be removed from the Schedule I drug list.

Perhaps arguments didn’t give the judges quite enough to think about. Hours after arguments concluded, the appellate court ordered supplemental briefing on whether plaintiff Michael Krawitz has individual standing to challenge the classification.

The D.C. Circuit has overturned Osama bin Laden's driver's conviction for material support of terrorism.

The appellate court announced on Tuesday that material support of terrorism — a terrorism-related charge in civilian courts — is not a war crime under international law, Politico reports. That means that federal courts can convict a defendant on a material support charge, but military commissions cannot.