Recently in Criminal Law Category

In plaintiff's civil rights case against the state of Rhode Island and a State Police representative and other police officers who had executed a search warrant of his workplace at the Narrangansett Indian Tribe "smoke shop", jury's verdict in favor of the defendant in the second trial is affirmed as: 1) there was no abuse of discretion in the district court's grant of a new trial based on the second ground, that even if the jury verdict had unambiguously rested on the increased force theory, that theory would have been contrary to the weight of the evidence; and 2) plaintiff's argument that the district court erred in granting a new trial because defendant failed to press the district court for a ruling on this motion after it initially and erroneously ruled the motion was moot is rejected.   

Read Jennings v. Jones, No. 08-2117

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island

Decided November 19, 2009

Judges

Before:  Lynch, Chief Judge, and Gajarsa and Lipez, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Lynch, Chief Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:     Charles M. Bradley

For Appellee:   Rebecca Tedford Partington, Deputy Chief, Civil Division, John Moreira, Special Assistant Attorney General

District court's denial of defendant's request for habeas relief arising from his conviction for armed assault with intent to murder and assault and batter by means of a dangerous weapon is affirmed where: 1) appeals court's analysis of the sufficiency of the evidence was not an unreasonable application of the Supreme Court's standard announced in Jackson given the sufficiently suggestive circumstantial evidence presented; and 2) defendant was not deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury.  

Read DeBurgo v. Amand, No. 09-1145

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Decided November 19, 2009

Judges

Before: Lipez, Howard, and Stahl, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Stahl, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:    Elizabeth Doherty

For Appellee:   Argie K. Shapiro, Assistant Attorney General, Martha Coakley, Attorney General

District court's denial of defendant's request for habeas relief is affirmed as, even with plenary review, defendant's subordination of perjury claim fails as the victim had identified him multiple time before he was ever even arguably pressed to testify by one of the police officers.   

Read Perkins v. Russo, No. 08-1150

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Decided November 18, 2009

Judges

Before:  Lynch, Chief Judge, and Boudin and Stahl, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Boudin, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:    Robert Perkins

For Appellee:   Argie K. Shapiro, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Bureau, James J. Arguin, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Bureau, and Martha Coakley, Attorney General

District court's conviction and sentence of defendant for possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute and carrying a firearm is affirmed where: 1) district court did not err in admitting the testimony of the Massachusetts State Troopers regarding the fingerprint evidence and numerous courts have found expert testimony on fingerprint identification based on the ACE-V method to be sufficiently reliable under Daubert; and 2) the totality of the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict. 

Read US v. Pena, No. 08-1407

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Decided November 17, 2009

Judges

Before:  Boudin, Lipez and Stahl, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Stahl, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:   Mary A. Davis, and Tisdale & Davis, PA

For Appellee:   Mark T. Quinlivan, Assistant US Attorney, Michael K. Loucks, Acting US Attorney

In proceedings arising after defense counsel in a criminal matter received an e-mail from a juror containing ethnically-biased statements, an order denying defendant's motion to make an inquiry into the validity of the verdict is reversed and the matter remanded where: 1) although the trial court correctly found that Rule of Evidence 606(b) precludes inquiry into juror prejudice; 2) a court has the discretion to conduct such an inquiry under the Sixth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. 

Read US v. Villar, No. 08-1154

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire

Decided November 10, 2009

Judges

Before:  Torruella and Boudin, Circuit Judges, and Saris, District Judge

Opinion by Saris, District Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Mark L. Stevens

For Appellee:  Aixa Maldonado-Quiñones, Assistant United States Attorney, Michael J. Gunnison, Acting United States Attorney

District court's imposition of a sentence based on calculation of the guideline range to include, as relevant conduct, amounts of drugs and cash independently seized from defendant in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation is affirmed as the defendant waived any objection to the sentencing determination, and the determination was not clearly erroneous. 

Read US v. Eisom, No. 08-1893

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maine

Decided November 5, 2009

Judges

Before:  Boudin, Seyla and Lipez, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Seyla, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Christine M. Charles

For Appellee:  Paula D. Silsby, United States Attorney

District court's decision revoking supervised release and sentencing defendant to a further term in prison following his arrest for allegedly shooting at an officer, is set aside and remanded where, given the relatively weak evidence, district court's decision is undermined by reliance on guesswork regarding the event.     

Read US v. Oquendo-Rivera, No. 08-2481

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Decided November 5, 2009

Judges

Before:  Lynch, Chief Judge, and Torruella and Boudin, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Boudin, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Hector L. Ramos-Vega, Assistant Federal Public Defender

For Appellee:  Julia M. Meconiates, Assistant United States Attorney

District court's denial of a petition for habeas relief of a defendant convicted of first degree murder is affirmed where: 1) defendant's jury instruction claim was procedurally defaulted; and 2) defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel rejected as futile.   

Read Glacken v. Dickhaut, No. 09-1491

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Decided November 3, 2009

Judges

Before:  Lipez, Stahl, and Howard, Circuit Judges

Opinion by Howard, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Joseph J. Balliro, Jr. , and Balliro & Mondano

For Appellee:  Martha Coakley, Attorney General and Anne M. Thomas, Assistant Attorney General

Defendants' convictions and sentences for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute certain narcotics is affirmed where: 1) there is clear record support for the district court's finding that one of the defendants was accountable for more than 4.5 kg of cocaine base during the charged conspiracy; 2) district court's error in not handling a defendant's expert request on an ex parte basis was harmless; 3) district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to order production of a pretrial photograph; and 4) there was no abuse of discretion in the court's ruling that the government's failure to produce an audio recording did not result in prejudice.     

Read US v. Correa-Alicea, No. 08-1124

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Decided October 27, 2009

Judges

Before:  Torruella, Howard, and Lipez, Circuit Judges

Opinion by: Lipez, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Vivianne M. Marrero, Joseph C. Laws, Jr., Federal Public Defender, and Patricia A. Garrity, Assistant Federal Public Defender

For Appellee: Luke Cass, Assistant United States Attorney, Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney, and Nelson Pérez-Sosa, Assistant United States Attorney, Chief, Appellate Division

Defendants convictions for crimes relating to a conspiracy to rob armored vehicles and the shooting death of an armored vehicle guard during a robbery committed in furtherance of the conspiracy is affirmed and most of defendants' challenges are rejected, except with respect to the government's concession that the convictions on counts eight and nine violated double jeopardy and that one of the defendants must be resentenced on a count because he was not allowed the opportunity to allocute for that count. 

Read US v. Catalan-Roman, No. 06-1182

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

Decided October 23, 2009

Judges

Before:  Stahl, Boudin, and Lipez, Circuit Judges

Opinion by:  Lipez, Circuit Judge

Counsel

For Appellant:  Steven M. Potolsky, David Abraham Silva

For Appellee:  Maria A. Dominguez-Victoniano, Thomas Klumper, Assistant United States Attorneys, Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez, United States Attorney, Nelson Perez-Sosa, Assistant United States Attorney