In United States v. Pate, No. 20-10545 (Oct. 11, 2023), the en banc Court--in an opinion authored by Judge Newsom--vacated Mr. Pate's § 1521 convictions and remanded for resentencing. Mr. Pate filed liens against property owned by a number of people he thought wronged him, including a former Commissioner of the IRS and a former Secretary [...]
In United States v. Dunn, No. 22-11731 (Oct. 10, 2023) (Jordan, Rosenbaum, Hull), the Court affirmed the denial of Mr. Dunn's motion to dismiss his indictment. Mr. Dunn was arrested on a criminal complaint at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic--on March 10, 2020--but was not formally indicted until December 1, 2020. He argued that the district [...]
In United States v. Steiger, No. 22-10742 (Oct. 3, 2023) (William Pryor, Jill Pryor, Coogler (N.D. Ala.)), the Court vacated Mr. Steiger's sentence and remanded for resentencing. Mr. Steiger appealed his sentence of 20 years' imprisonment following the revocation of his probation. The Guidelines recommended a sentence of 12 to 18 months imprisonment. The Court vacated and remanded [...]
In United States v. Robinson, No. 22-10949 (Sept. 28, 2023) (Jordan, Rosenbaum, Newsom), the Court vacated the defendant’s contempt conviction for violating a civil injunction against a stun-gun company. The Court concluded that the evidence was insufficient that the defendant was bound by the injunction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65. Most notably, the [...]
In Jones v. United States, No. 20-13365 (Sept. 14, 2023) (Wilson, Luck, Lagoa), the Court directed the district court to dismiss a second 2255 motion for lack of jurisdiction. Jones filed a 2255 motion to vacate his mandatory life sentence under 3559, arguing that its residual clause was unconstitutionally vague in light of the Supreme [...]
In United States v. Graham, No. 22-11809 (Grant, Tjoflat, Ed Carnes) (Sept. 8, 2023), the Court affirmed the defendant’s conviction (and granted the government’s motion to publish this previously-unpublished opinion). The defendant moved to dismiss the indictment because, pursuant to the Southern District of Georgia’s covid protocols in place during the summer of 2020, the [...]
In United States v. Talley, No. 22-13921 (Sept. 7, 2023) (Wilson, Grant, Brasher), the Court vacated the district court’s judgment revoking supervised release. The defendant committed the supervised release violation after the term of supervision had lapsed but while he was a fugitive from justice. The Court held that the district court erred in tolling [...]
In United States v. Beach, No. 21-11342 (Aug. 30, 2023) (Luck, Lagoa, Tjoflat), the Court affirmed Mr. Beach's conviction. Mr. Beach was convicted of tampering with a witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(2)(A). He appealed his conviction on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of the offense in 3 respects: (1) the alleged [...]
In United States v. Wiley, No. 22-10179 (Aug. 29, 2023) (Jill Pryor, Grant, Maze (N.D. Ala.)), the Court affirmed Mr. Wiley's convictions. Mr. Wiley was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a); five counts of aiding and abetting Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. [...]
In United States v. Curtin, No. 22-10509 (Aug. 28, 2023) (Wilson, Newsom, Luck), the Court affirmed Mr. Curtin's convictions and 60-month sentence. Mr. Curtin was convicted of (1) mailing a threatening communication, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 876(c), and (2) threatening a federal official, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(B). First, Mr. Curtin challenged the sufficiency of [...]