This week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Abbott v. U.S. and Gould v. U.S. These criminal cases involve a deep circuit split among the federal courts that we addressed in this post in September, when the 11th Circuit decided U.S. v. Segarra. The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), drug…
Last week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits here in Atlanta, Georgia, decided U.S. v. Marquez, a federal criminal RICO case involving two extradition rules, the rule of specialty and the rule of dual criminality. The Court held that those rules concern the court’s personal jurisdiction over the…
The federal Department of Justice has announced its appointment of Andrew Goldsmith as the new national coordinator of criminal discovery initiatives in this press release. Earlier this month, the DOJ issued three memoranda regarding criminal discovery procedures. These memos set forth policies in an attempt to ensure that prosecutors meet…
Yesterday a jury found Georgia criminal defense attorney J. Mark Shelnutt not guilty on all counts. He was acquitted of money laundering, drug conspiracy, and attempted bribery. Three weeks ago, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from cases in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, decided U.S. v. Velez…
Yesterday, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its fourth opinion regarding the federal sentencing of Kenneth Livesay, former chief information officer for HealthSouth Corporation. The Court has insisted that Livesay must serve time in prison for his role in the accounting fraud at HealthSouth. We are disappointed in the…
Ed. Note: Last week, the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s 2009 Amendments to the federal Sentencing Guidelines went into effect. Once a week this month, we will post an analysis of some of the more important changes to the Guidelines. The Sentencing Commission’s reader-friendly guide to the 2009 amendments is available here.…
Ed. Note: This week, the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s 2009 Amendments to the federal Sentencing Guidelines went into effect. Once a week this month, we will post an analysis of some of the more important changes to the Guidelines. The Sentencing Commission’s reader-friendly guide to the 2009 amendments is available here.…
Ed. Note: Next week, the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s 2009 Amendments to the federal Sentencing Guidelines will go into effect. Once a week for the next month, we will post an analysis of some of the more important changes to the Guidelines. The Sentencing Commission’s reader-friendly guide to the 2009 amendments…
In this post earlier this month, we discussed U.S. v. Velez, a federal criminal case in which an attorney, Ben Kuehne, was charged with money laundering based upon payments of legal fees. On Monday, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the Southern District of Florida’s dismissal of the money laundering charges. Fabio…
Earlier this year, we discussed the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Chambers v. U.S. in this post. In that case, the Court held that a conviction for failure to report to a penal institution falls outside the scope of the Armed Career Criminal Act’s definition of “violent felony.” In…