BOP Enacts New Compassionate Release Reduction in Sentence Guidelines
A motion for a modification of a sentence will be made to the sentencing court only in particularly extraordinary or compelling circumstances that could not reasonably have been foreseen by the court at...
USSG 3C1.1 OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE ENHANCEMENT: Requires False Testimony, Materiality and Willful Intent By Defendant
Ruby Parker, a former teller at LaSalle Bank, N.A., in Chicago, Illinois, was charged with and convicted of three counts of bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1344, and one count of embezzlement by a bank employee, 18 U.S.C. § 656. She was sentenced...
FRE 901: Boilerplate Foundational Requirements for Tape Recordings
Ron “Ron Ron” Collins participated in a drug-distribution conspiracy stretching from Mexico to Milwaukee that involved mass amounts of cocaine. For his role, Collins was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute five kilograms...
FRE 404(b): Hamilton Dissent Explains Proper District Court FRE 404(b) Analysis
Editor’s Note. Chicago Criminal Defense Attorney represented Mr. Gomez at trial and on appeal. Mr. Gomez’s case is currently pending a Petition for Rehearing En Banc in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
A jury found Nicolas Gomez...
FRCP 32: U. S. Probation Officer’s Confidential Recommendation to the District Court Passes Constitutional Scrutiny
Defendant Ollie Peterson pled guilty to one count of bank robbery in violation of
18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) after robbing a bank to pay off a debt with a drug dealer. During Peterson’s sentencing hearing, the district court read from a portion...
4th Amendment Terry Stop and Frisk Explained. Boilerplate Analysis
After a Ruger nine-millimeter pistol was discovered in the waistband of his pants in the course of a stop and frisk, Robert W. Patton was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Patton moved to...
Judge Posner Weighs In on the Costs and Benefits of Long Prison Sentences
PER CURIAM
The defendant pleaded guilty to four counts of producing child pornography. 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a). Because his total offense level was 43, his guidelines sentence for each count was life. U.S.S.G. ch. 5, pt. A (Sentencing Table)....
FRCP 8 and 14 Joinder of Offenses: Boilerplate Rules
KANNE, Circuit Judge. As Darrick and Geraldine Anderson were returning home from a birthday party, two men—Jeffery Carter and Kentrell Willis—appeared and robbed the couple at gunpoint. Carter and Willis made off with the couple’s vehicle and their belongings, but,...
Illinois Eavesdropping Statute Explained
On Thanksgiving Day at about 9:00 PM, Mary Carroll telephoned one of her co-workers, Jim Kelliher. Hearing Ms. Carroll loudly yelling at her husband over the phone, Jim Kelliher’s wife Pat Kelliher began listening in on the call and decided...
18 USC 3501(c) and the Six Hour Rule: Boilerplate Rules
Sykes, Circuit Judge.
Dhawndric McDowell occasionally worked for the Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) as a confidential informant, but his primary job was selling cocaine for a Mexican drug cartel. One of his suppliers, known to him...