Articles Posted in Criminal Law and Justice

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February 21 – February 27, 2009
U.S. Supreme Court, February 24, 2009 US v. Hayes, No. 07-608 Defendant’s conviction for possessing a firearm under 18 U.S.C. section 921 is affirmed, where a domestic relationship between the offender and victim need not be an element of the defendant’s “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” to trigger Section 921’s possession ban. .

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 24, 2009 US v. Rodriguez-Lozada , No. 06-1988 Defendant’s convictions and sentences are vacated in part and otherwise affirmed where: 1) district court properly denied motion to suppress evidence for lack of standing as he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the area searched; 2) motion for severance was properly denied as untimely; and 3) although evidence was sufficient to uphold most counts of defendant’s conviction, there was insufficient evidence to uphold convictions for possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and aiding and abetting possession. Co-defendant Rivera’s sentence is affirmed where: 1) district court’s drug quantity calculation for sentencing purposes was well-supported by evidence and not clearly erroneous; 2) court correctly imposed statutory sentencing enhancement for co-defendant Rivera’s leadership role; and 3) the sentence was reasonable in light of his particular circumstances. .

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 26, 2009 US v. Glover , No. 07-1983
Conviction and sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm is affirmed where: 1) the prosecutor’s closing statements were not improper; 2) the court did not err in classifying defendant’s prior conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon as a crime of violence under the sentencing guidelines; and 3) the sentence imposed was reasonable.
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February 16 – February 20, 2009
U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 19, 2009 Yeboah-Sefah v. Ficco, No. 07-2585
Denial of habeus corpus relief by district court is affirmed where the state court reasonably concluded: 1) plaintiff’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel was not violated because he made a knowing and intelligent waiver of counsel’s conflict of interest; 2) plaintiff cannot satisfy standards set forth in Strickland and adequately prove constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel; and 3) plaintiff right to due process was not violated as he was determined to be competent a week before the trial and no evidence was brought to light indicating the competency determination needed to be revisited.

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, February 17, 2009 Sledge v. Kooi, No. 07-1547 In a suit brought pro se by plaintiff alleging defendant violated his Eighth Amendment rights while incarcerated, grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment is affirmed. When facing pro se litigants who are repeat filers, absent a strong showing that the pro se litigant has acquired adequate experience more generally, a district court should limit the withdrawal of pro se litigant’s special status to specific contexts in which the litigant’s experiences indicates that he may fairly be deemed knowledgeable and experienced.
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Update from the Lexis Alert Service,

February 23, 2009

1. People v. Jackson, 5272, 2369/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1289; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1218, February 19, 2009, Decided, February 19, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.