United States v. Sierra, No,. 08-2761-cr (2d Cir. March 29, 2010) (Jacobs, Miner, Livingston, CJJ) Gustavo Sierra pled guilty to one count of drug trafficking and one count of money laundering. The drug count involved 21 kilograms of heroin, while the money laundering count involved the proceeds of the sale of between 2 and 3.5 … Read more
United States v. Williams, No. 05-4416-cr (2d Cir. April 25, 2008) (Calabresi, Cabranes, CJJ, Korman, DJ) Here, the court vacated two below-guideline sentences that seemed to have been imposed largely in order to minimize a perceived disparity between the sentence recommended by the guidelines and the sentence that would have been meted out in state … Read more
United States v. Cavera, No. 05-4591-cr (2d Cir. October 11, 2007) (Cardamone, Calabresi, Pooler, CJJ) Gerard Cavera received an above-Guidelines sentence based on the district court’s view that gun offenses were more serious in densely populated areas like New York city. This opinion is the court’s second attempt to deal with a location-specific reason for … Read more
United States v. Johnson, No. 05-3811-cr (2d Cir. October 10, 2007) (Meskill, Cabranes, Wesley, CJJ) This is pretty much a case about nothing. The only real nugget is in footnote 4. Johnson appealed his 120-month gun sentence – the statutory maximum – on several grounds. As is often true, his case had begun in state … Read more