Steve Statsinger United States v. Dorvee, No. 09-0648 (2d Cir. May 11, 2010) (Cabranes, Parker, CJJ, Underhill, DJ) In this first-of-a-kind opinion, the court (1) held that a within Guideline – albeit statutory maximum – sentence was substantively unreasonable and (2) found that an offense Guideline other than the crack Guideline was not the product of the … Read more
United States v. Torres, No. 09-1771-cr (2d Cir. May 5, 2010)(Kearse, Hall, CJJ, Rakoff, DJ) Every once in a while, when the judge and jury refuse to acquit an innocent defendant, the circuit steps in and sets things right. This is such a case. Finding that the evidence was insufficient to establish that Torres knew … Read more
United States v. Hernandez, No. 09-1421-cr (2d Cir. May 5, 2010) (Jacobs, Kearse, Calabresi, CJJ) Here, the circuit found that the defendant’s sentence was procedurally unreasonable because it took the district court fifteen years to get around to imposing it. Background In 1991, Hernandez was convicted after a jury trial of drug trafficking and associated … Read more
Here are two recent summary orders of interest and one from March that we missed at the time: In United States v. Pender, No. 08-5474-cr (2d Cir. May 6, 2010), there was a factual dispute as to whether the defendant was on parole when he committed the federal offense. Although the district court had concluded … Read more
United States v. Key, No. 08-3218-cr (2d Cir. April 28, 2010) (Miner, Cabranes, Wesley, CJJ) (per curiam) This interesting per curiam holds that a defendant’s appeal of the denial of his crack resentencing motion under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) was rendered moot by his release from prison. Although Key was still on supervised release, the … Read more
United States v. Cerna, No. 09-1170-cr (2d Cir. April 27, 2010) (Katzmann, Hall, CJJ, Rakoff, DJ) Against the backdrop of the circuit’s ongoing concern over the “exceptionally poor quality of representation often provided by attorneys retained by aliens as they attempt to negotiate the complexities of our immigration law,” here, the circuit reversed the district … Read more
There hasn’t been much action in the circuit in the past couple of weeks. This smattering of noteworthy summary orders will have to keep us occupied for the time being. In United States v. Givens, No. 09-0765-cr, and United States v. Blue, No. 09-0219-cr (2d Cir. April 26, 2010), related cases, the circuit vacated two … Read more
The circuit seemingly never tires of issuing summary orders of interest. Here are three more: In United States v. Grant, No. 09-1760-cr (2d Cir. April 8, 2010), the court ordered a Jacobson remand so that the district court could clarify an ambiguity in its decision on a motion to suppress that was material to the … Read more
United States v. Burden, No. 03-1727-cr (2d Cir. March 31, 2010) (Hall, Livingston, Gibson, CJJ) From 1997 to 2001, Kelvin Burden, ran a crack cocaine ring in Norwalk, Connecticut, with the help of several of his brothers, two of whom were named David, and a few of his friends. The gang’s activities grew increasingly violent. … Read more
Ramchair v. Conway, No. 08-2004-pr (2d Cir. April 2, 2010)(Winter, Calabresi, Sack, CJJ) It seems as if most Second Circuit habeas decisions deal only with the procedural hurdles faced by state prisoners. So it is indeed remarkable that the court has decided two cases less than one week apart in which it got through the … Read more