Findlaw Case Summaries: Criminal Law and Procedure March 21-25, 2011

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March 21-25, 2011.

United States First Circuit, 03/22/2011
US v. Werra, No. 09-1593
Conviction and sentencing of defendant is reversed because stop-and-frisk conducted on him after law enforcement officers forced their way into a house occupied by a group of unrelated individuals to execute an arrest warrant violated the Fourth Amendment rights of defendant, where he was not the subject of the warrant.

United States Fourth Circuit, 03/25/2011
US v. Masciandaro, No. 09-4839
Conviction and sentencing of defendant for carrying or possessing a loaded handgun in a motor vehicle, under 36 C.F.R. section 2.4(b), is affirmed where the general federal savings statute, 1 U.S.C. Section 109, denies defendants an automatic entitlement to the benefit of post-arrest changes in the law.

United States Ninth Circuit, 03/21/2011
Smith v. Almada, No. 09-55334
In an appeals arising out of the arrest and trial of the appellant for arson, summary judgment in favor of the appellee is affirmed where failure to disclose evidence during criminal trial did not prejudice appellant.

United States Ninth Circuit, 03/23/2011
US v. Buenrostro, No. 08-16185
Conviction and sentencing of defendant on drug-related charges is upheld where district court denied a Rule 60(b) motion after an unsuccessful section 2255 motion because district court lacked jurisdiction as the Rule 60(b) motion was, in substance a second, barred section 2255 application. Read more…

California Court of Appeal, 03/22/2011
People v. Kim, No. H035561
Conviction and sentencing of defendant is modified and affirmed where as conditions to a suspended sentence, defendant: 1) forfeited his challenge to employment as a condition; 2) trial court improperly imposed fee and assessment ; and 3) firearm and ammunition conditions contained an implicit knowledge requirement.

California Court of Appeal, 03/22/2011
People v. McCullough, No. C064982
Conviction and sentencing of defendant for being a felon in possession of a fire arm, PC section 12021(a)(1), is affirmed where defendant forfeited his challenge to the booking fee by failing to object in the trial court.

California Court of Appeal, 03/23/2011
People v. Sanchez, No. H035075
Conviction and sentencing of defendant for carrying a concealed firearm, PC section 12025 (a)(1), is reversed where trial court prejudicially erred in admitting into evidence a certificate stating that there was no record that defendant was the registered owner of any firearm.

California Court of Appeal, 03/23/2011
People v. Yarbrough, No. B222399
Conviction and sentence of defendant for burglary is reversed because an unenclosed balcony is not part of a building for purposes of the state burglary statute.

California Court of Appeal, 03/24/2011
People v. Gann, No. D055431
Conviction and sentencing of defendants is affirmed as modified where trial court committed no reversible error in admission of evidence but erred in imposing a parole restitution fine for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. ..

California Court of Appeal, 03/24/2011
People v. Superior Court, No. B229701
In petition for a writ of mandate, order of trial court granting defendant a separate penalty jury in a capital murder case is granted where court abused its discretion. .

California Court of Appeal, 03/24/2011
People v. Meneses, No. G043037
Conviction and sentencing of defendant for a lewd act with a minor, PC section 288(a), and inflicting great bodily injury is upheld where the trial evidence was sufficient to support the great bodily injury allegation and a 15 years to life sentence was not cruel and unusual. .

Court of Appeals of New York, 03/25/2011
The People v. Cornell, No. 119 SSM 61
Conviction and plea of defendant are vacated in the absence of a postallocution motion where the record is unclear that at the time defendant entered his plea, he was aware that the terms of his sentence included a period of postrelease supervision.

Court of Appeals of New York, 03/25/2011
The People v. Beasley, No. 53
Conviction and sentencing of defendant for possession of a controlled substance in the second degree and other, lesser offenses is upheld where ground for appeal was not properly preserved at trial.

Court of Appeals of New York, 03/25/2011
The People v. Kelly, No. 58
Conviction and sentencing of defendant for robbery in the first degree and burglary in the first degree are upheld where a brief, momentary separation of a juror from deliberations was not the type of violation contemplated by the continuously kept together language of CPL 310.10.

Court of Appeals of New York, 03/25/2011
The People v. Rodriguez, No. 44
Conviction and sentencing of defendant on charges of manslaughter is upheld where a justification charge was not warranted under the particular facts and circumstances of the case, but warranted on less serious offenses.

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