Federal Defenders of New York Second Circuit Blog

Yuanchung Lee

Circuit overturns Nassau County Executive’s bribery convictions, but affirms his honest-services fraud convictions

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In United States v. Linda Mangano and Edward Mangano, 2d Cir. No. 22-861 (L) (Feb. 13, 2025), the Court upheld the defendants’ convictions for honest-services fraud and obstruction of justice, but vacates Edward Mangano’s bribery-related convictions. We focus on that aspect of Judge Livingston’s thorough opinion. Edward Mangano was the County Executive of Nassau County … Read more

Panel affirms R. Kelly’s RICO and Mann Act convictions and 30-year prison sentence; Judge Sullivan objects to “windfall” restitution of brand-name medication for herpes-infected victim.

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Judge Chin’s opinion in United-States-v.-Robert-Sylvester-Kelly, 2d Cir. No. 22-1481 (L) (Feb. 12, 2025), joined almost entirely by Judges Carney and Sullivan, affirms the singer R. Kelly’s conviction for RICO and Mann Act offenses, as well as his 30-year prison sentence and a restitution award of $300,668 to “Jane,” a minor whom Kelly infected with herpes … Read more

District court erred in allowing eleven-person jury to convict the defendant, but the error is (1) not structural and (2) harmless under harmless-error analysis.

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Judge Menashi’s opinion for the majority in United States v. Ricky Johnson, 2d Cir. No. 22-1289 (Sep. 6, 2024) (Menashi, joined by Englemayer, D.J.) affirms Johnson’s conviction for making threats, but creates a circuit split –and provokes a strong dissent from Judge Chin – in the process. Johnson (represented by this Office) challenged his conviction … Read more

IAC claim rejected on direct appeal because lack of prejudice to defendant is “beyond doubt” and district court sufficiently explained its sentence given “the lesser specificity required for a [revocation] sentence”

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Not sure why United States v. Antonio Ortiz, 2d Cir. No. 22-1775-cr (April 30, 2024), is a published opinion rather than a summary order. Judge Menashi’s opinion for the panel (Calabresi, Menashi, Perez) rejects Ortiz’s challenge to his five-year sentence, imposed upon revocation of supervised release after the district court found that he raped his … Read more

Defendant’s complaint concerning scope of prior appellate mandate is barred by appellate waiver in new plea agreement, and the district court did not err in considering his sectarian motivation at sentencing

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In United States v. Maalik Alim Jones, 2d Cir. No. 22-2958-cr (April 29, 2024), the panel (Walker, Park, Perez) in a per curiam opinion rejects Jones’s challenge to his 25-year sentence, imposed on remand after a prior appeal and following Jones’s guilty plea under a new plea agreement in which he waived the right to … Read more

A post-sentencing examination of previously seized electronic data does not violate the Fourth Amendment. And the subsequent prosecution of the defendant for producing child pornography – based on evidence discovered in that examination – is not barred by the prior plea agreement concerning his conviction for possessing child pornography.

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In United States v. Cory Johnson, 2d Cir. No. 22-1086-cr (February 27, 2024), the panel (Livingston, Carney, Bianco) rejects Johnson’s claims and affirms his conviction and 20-year sentence for producing child pornography (CP) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a). The opinion, by Chief Judge Livingston, concludes that the instant prosecution for CP production – … Read more

De novo resentencing required after district court imposed a supervised-release term, following revocation, that exceeded the statutory maximum

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In United States v. Sire Gaye, 2d Cir. No. 22-251-cr (August 4, 2023), the panel (Judges Park, Nardini, and Nathan) issued a per curiam opinion vacating the district court’s revocation sentence and remanded for de novo resentencing. Although only the supervised-release portion of the revocation sentence was unlawful – the five-year term exceeded the statutory … Read more

Circuit construes supervised-release conditions (restricting or monitoring computer and Internet use) in the defendant’s favor in order to avoid constitutional, statutory, or delegation problems

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In United States v. Victor Kunz, 2d Cir. No. 21-2577-cr (May 23, 2023), Judge Lynch (joined by Judges Livingston and Calabresi) upheld (with one exception) several potentially problematic conditions of supervised release restricting or monitoring Kunz’s computer and Internet usage. Kunz was convicted of CP possession in 2005 and has been on supervised release since … Read more

Davis (2019), voiding the residual clause at § 924(c)(3)(B) for vagueness, is retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review

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Benjamin Hall v. United States, 2d Cir. No. 17-1513 (Jan. 19, 2023), decides a question most of us thought had been answered already – that United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019), striking the residual clause of § 924(c) as unconstitutionally vague, rendered a substantive rule retroactive to cases on collateral review. As … Read more

Court must provide habeas petitioner with notice and an opportunity to respond before sua sponte dismissing the petition on procedural grounds

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In Ethridge v. Bell, 2d Cir. No. 20-1685-pr (Sep. 20, 2022), a Panel of the Court (Lynch, Bianco, and Nardini), in an opinion by Judge Bianco, ruled that the district court erred when it sua sponte dismissed Ethridge’s § 2254 petition, challenging his New York drug and weapons conviction on the ground that state courts … Read more