Since the 1970s, the number of federal criminal statutes has exponentially increased. So too has the number of federal regulations, many of which carry criminal penalties. Though there is disagreement among DOJ lawyers, academics, and private lawyers about the precise number of criminal laws codified in federal statutes and regulations,…
Lawyers that specialize in defending federal criminal cases may be interested to know that the federal sentencing commission recently released a document entitled: “Selected Post-Booker and Guideline Application Decisions for the Eleventh Circuit”. According to the Commission, “[t]he document is not a substitute for reading and interpreting the actual Guidelines…
Last week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions of Larry Langford, the former mayor of Birmingham, Alabama who was convicted last year on various federal white collar offenses, including mail and wire fraud, bribery, money laundering, and federal tax offenses. To me, the most interesting aspect of…
Earlier today, the Eleventh Circuit reversed a federal conviction of a pain management doctor prosecuted in federal court. The case originated out of the Southern District of Georgia, and after a lengthy trial, the jury convicted the pain management doctor on 129 counts of unlawfully dispensing certain controlled substances by…
Michael Diaz was charged with armed robbery and gun offenses nearly seven years ago. Since the age of 13, he has “changed identities” five times and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychosis. He represented himself during a bench trial in 2006, but the Eleventh Circuit vacated his convictions, holding…
Last Monday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided United States v. Gowdy, an unbelievable case in which the Eleventh Circuit joined several other circuits in holding that one need not actually be in federal custody to escape from federal custody under 18 U.S.C. § 751(a). Gowdy was convicted in…
In this post in August, we reported that the Eleventh Circuit had held that a trial court abused its discretion in failing to instruct the jury on good faith reliance. In that opinion, the Court vacated convictions on three counts, but affirmed a conspiracy conviction. Last week, in United States…
Last week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided United States v. Forey-Quintero. The Court held that Mr. Forey-Quintero, whose mother became a naturalized U.S. citizen while he was a minor, did not obtain derivative citizenship because he was not a lawful permanent resident before he turned 18. Mr. Forey-Quintero…
Last Wednesday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from Georgia, Alabama, and Florida federal cases, voted to rehear Childers v. Floyd en banc. The Court vacated a panel opinion holding that Childers’s Confrontation Clause rights had been violated when the trial court refused to allow certain credibility…
As we discussed in this post last year, federal judges have increasingly spoken out against the unreasonable sentencing guidelines regarding child pornography. In the last week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in U.S. v. Grober, upholding a dramatic downward departure in a child pornography case, and…