Legal News

Case Summaries

Criminal Law & Procedure

[02/03] US v. Mahin
In a prosecution on two counts of possessing a firearm or ammunition while subject to a domestic violence protective order in violation of 18 USC section 922(g)(8), the judgment of conviction is: 1) affirmed in part, where the statute and its application to the defendant's firearm use the same day he was served with a protective order did not violate the Second Amendment under the intermediate scrutiny standard; and 2) reversed in part and remanded for resentencing, where it was plain error to convict and sentence the defendant on two separate counts for the simultaneous possession of a firearm and ammunition under section 922(g)(8).

[02/03] US v. Culbertson
In a prosecution in which the defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to import 100 grams or more of heroin and five kilograms or more of cocaine, the case is remanded to the district court with instructions to vacate the judgment of conviction, where: 1) there was an inadequate factual basis for the defendant's guilty plea with respect to the quantity of drugs for which he was responsible; and 2) the district court's error in accepting the defendant's plea was not harmless.

[02/03] US v. Leahy
In a sentencing challenge brought by a defendant convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the district court's 10-year sentence is affirmed, where: 1) the district court's application of enhancements under the sentencing guidelines and its inclusion of criminal history points was procedurally reasonable; and 2) the sentence, although the maximum possible, was substantively reasonable, as the district court articulated a plausible sentencing rationale and imposed a sentence within the range of reasonable outcomes.

[02/02] US v. Rivera-Santana
In a sentencing challenge after the appellant was convicted of illegal reentry into the United States after being removed for a conviction of an aggravated felony, the sentencing court's judgment order is affirmed, where: 1) two upward departures in the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range, augmented by an upward variance of 90 months therefrom, were not procedurally unreasonable; and 2) the resulting sentence, which was the statutory maximum, was not substantively unreasonable.

[02/02] People v. Brents
In a prosecution for first-degree murder and other crimes which resulted in a conviction and death sentence, the judgment is reversed as to the sentence of death, and the jury's true finding on the kidnapping special circumstance allegation is stricken, where the jury was not properly instructed regarding the need to find an independent felonious purpose to kidnap the victim, but the convictions are otherwise upheld where: 1) hearsay statements were admissible under Evidence Code section 791(b) as prior consistent statements; 2) there was no abuse of discretion in the admission of a photograph of the victim's body; 3) the trial court did not violate Penal Code section 654's prohibition against multiple sentences for a single act or course of conduct by imposing a death sentence for the murder conviction and a consecutive 25-years-to-life term for the felony assault conviction; and 4) the trial court did not make multiple errors, so that the defendant's claim of cumulative prejudice necessarily failed.

[02/02] People v. Elliott
On appeal of the death sentence after conviction for crimes including first-degree murder with the special circumstance of murder during the commission of a robbery, the sentence is affirmed against numerous and various challenges on issues relating to: 1) pretrial procedures and jury selection; 2) the defendant's guilt; 3) the penalty imposed; and 4) the adequacy of the appellate record.

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White Collar Crime

[02/01] US v. Lyttle
In a prosecution for numerous offenses relating to the defendant's involvement in a fraudulent high-yield investment program, before which the district court had granted a government application to suspend the statute of limitations pursuant to 18 USC section 3292 while the government sought the assistance of the Hungarian government in recovering records relating to transfers of the scheme’s proceeds into Hungarian bank accounts, the district court's denial of a motion to dismiss the indictment on statute of limitations grounds is affirmed, where: 1) the evidence was sufficient to support the district court’s order; 2) section 3292 does not require that the foreign evidence sought be necessary for an indictment, nor that it be obtainable only through an official request to a foreign government; and 3) district courts may rely on ex parte proceedings when deciding to issue section 3292 orders.

[01/10] Capital Management Select Fund Ltd. v. Bennett
In a securities fraud action stemming from a broker's rehypothecation or other use of securities and other property held in customer brokerage accounts, the district court's dismissal of all claims is affirmed, where the plaintiffs failed to make sufficient allegations that their agreements with the broker misled them or that the broker did not intend to comply with those agreements at the time of contracting.

[01/04] US v. Wright
Convictions and sentencing of defendants for honest services fraud and mail fraud are vacated where Skilling v. US, 130 S. Ct. 2896 (2010), requires a new trial on the honest services fraud convictions and that prejudicial spillover tainted defendants' mail fraud convictions.

[12/19] US v. Ferguson
Judgments of conviction of insurance company executives for conspiracy, mail fraud, securities fraud, and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission are vacated and cases are remanded for a new trial where the district court abused its discretion by admitting prejudicial stock-price data to prove the materiality of misstatements to a reasonable investor.

[12/09] Bennett v. US
Denial of 28 U.S.C. section 2255 motion to set aside convictions for securities fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering is affirmed where: 1) defense counsel did not render constitutionally ineffective assistance by overriding petitioner's desire to exercise his constitutional right to testify at trial; and 2) petitioner's right to testify was not prejudiced in connection with the lack of objection by counsel to the district court's instructions on mens rea.

[10/13] US v. Reyes
In an appeal from a judgment of the district court convicting defendant, the former CEO of Brocade Communications, of Securities fraud and other related offenses, conviction and sentencing are affirmed over defendant's challenge on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, insufficiency of the evidence, and various evidentiary and instructional errors at trial.

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