In United States v. Phillips, No. 18-11737 (July 13, 2021) (Jill Pryor, Grant, Royal (MD Ga)), the Court affirmed in part and vacated in part defendant's convictions relating to child pornography. Defendant was charged with, and convicted of: (1) knowingly and intentionally using, persuading, inducing, and enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the [...]
In United States v. Leonard, No. 19-14142 (July 8, 2021) (Martin, Grant, Brasher), the Court held that an indictment's failure to set out an element of the offense does not warrant an automatic presumption of prejudice to the defendant. Any such error is subject to the harmless-error inquiry. Defendant was indicted for being a felon in possession [...]
In United States v. Matthews, No. 20-10554 (July 6, 2021) (Wilson, Rosenbaum, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed the defendant's 57-month sentence for making false statements to a firearms dealer. Defendant objected to the application of enhancements for (1) an offense involving a semiautomatic firearm that is capable of accepting a large capacity magazine, and (2) having [...]
In Pitts v. United States, No. 18-12096 (July 6, 2021) (Luck, Ed Carnes, Marcus), the Court affirmed the denial of Pitts's Johnson-based second or successive § 2255 motion. Pitts was sentenced as an armed career criminal based upon the following prior convictions: (1) a 1978 California conviction for robbery with a firearm; (2) a 1982 California conviction for robbery [...]
In In re Grand Jury Subpoena, No. 21-11596 (June 25, 2021) (Jordan, Newsom, Lagoa), the Court upheld an order granting the government’s motion to compel an attorney’s testimony to a grand jury. The attorney was the lawyer in charge of the campaign of a political candidate who was under criminal investigation. While the attorney claimed [...]
In United States v. Henry, No. 18-15251 (June 21, 2021) (William Pryor, Grant, Antoon (MD Fla)), the Court vacated the panel opinion upon a petition for rehearing by the government and affirmed the defendant’s sentence. Contrary to the panel’s original opinion, the panel now held that USSG 5G1.3 is advisory, not mandatory. After Booker, all [...]
In United States v. Nunez et al., No. 19-14181 (June 17, 2021) (William Pryor, Grant, Tjoflat), the Court affirmed the defendants’ MDLEA convictions. First, the Court held that there was jurisdiction because the vessel was one without nationality. The “vessel without nationality” definitions in the statute were not exclusive, and the vessel here lacked nationality [...]
In United States v. Anderson, No. 18-13947 (June 15, 2021) (Wilson, Branch, Julie Carnes), the Court affirmed the defendant’s mail fraud, false statements, and money laundering convictions. First, the Court held that the district court did not err by asking the defendant whether he knew that he had a right to testify and whether he [...]
In In re Garrett, No. 18-1380 (Nov. 2, 2018) (Wiliam Pryor, Hul, Julie Carnes), the Court denied an application for authorization to file a second or successive 2255 motion based on Johnson and Dimaya. Given the en banc Court's decision in Ovalles that 924(c)(3)(B) is not unconstitutionally vague after Dimaya, the Court held that [...]
In United States v. Jones, No. 17-12240 (Oct. 25, 2018) (Marcus, Tjoflat, Newsom), the Court held that Florida second-degree murder is a violent felony under the elements clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act. The Court rejected the defendant's primary argument that the use of poison did not constitute the use of physical force. Prior [...]