In United States v. Watkins, No. 19-12951 (July 15, 2022) (Newsom, Tjoflat, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed the defendants’ fraud convictions. The defendants solicited millions of dollars in investments from wealthy and famous people, including Sir Charles Barkley, by misleading them about their ownership interest in the investment company, that the funds would be used [...]
In United States v. Lewis, No. 20-12997 (July 14, 2022) (Grant, Luck, Hull), the Court affirmed the defendant’s drug convictions. First, the Court upheld the denial of a motion to suppress. The argued that collateral estoppel prevented the federal government from re-litigating the legality of the traffic stop, which was already decided in state court. [...]
In United States v. Butler, No. 21-10659 (Wilson, Branch, Tjoflat), the Court affirmed the defendant’s life sentence for enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity and for production of child pornography. Although it was an upward variance from the guideline range of 292-365 months, the Court held that the life sentence was substantively reasonable. [...]
In Hesser v. United States, No. 19-13297 (July 13, 2022) (Lagoa, Brasher, Tjoflat), the Court reversed the partial denial of a federal prisoner’s 2255 motion. The movant alleged that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to move for a Rule 29 judgment of acquittal after the government’s case in chief. The district court granted the [...]
In United States v. Stapleton, No. 19-12708 (Newsom, Marcus, Covington) (July 12, 2022), the Court affirmed the defendant’s alien smuggling convictions. First, the Court rejected the defendant’s argument that the government’s four-year delay in extraditing him violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial. The district court did not clearly err in finding that the [...]
In United States v. Cohen, No. 21-10741 (Wilson, Branch, Tjoflat) (July 6, 2022), the Court affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress. The Court held that Cohen had Fourth Amendment to standing to challenge the search of the rental car he was driving, even though he was not an authorized driver of the rental [...]
In Riolo v. United States, No. 20-12206 (June 29, 2022) (Jordan, Jill Pryor, Marcus), the Court affirmed the denial of Mr. Riolo's 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion to vacate his 293-month prison sentence and convictions. Mr. Riolo argued that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel because she told him that if he pleaded guilty to [...]
FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT ASSISTANT FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER MIAMI OFFICE The Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida is accepting applications for the positions of Assistant Federal Public Defender in our Miami office. The Federal Public Defender, a branch of the United States Courts, an Equal Opportunity Employer, operates under the authority [...]
In United States v. Jackson, No. 21-13963 (June 10, 2022) (Rosenbaum, Jill Pryor, Ed Carnes), the Court vacated Mr. Jackson's ACCA-enhanced sentence and remanded for resentencing without the ACCA sentence enhancement. In this appeal, the Court considered which version of the Controlled Substance Act Schedules incorporated into ACCA’s definition of “serious drug offense” applies when a [...]
FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT ASSISTANT FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER FORT PIERCE OFFICE The Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida is accepting applications for the positions of Assistant Federal Public Defender in our Fort Pierce office. The Federal Public Defender, a branch of the United States Courts, an Equal Opportunity Employer, [...]