As we noted in a prior post entitled, “The Promise and Pitfalls of the Advice-of-Counsel Defense,” an individual accused of a federal crime may be able to take advantage of the good-faith reliance on advice-of-counsel defense. The Eleventh Circuit’s pattern jury instruction on point requires that an accused attempting to…
Earlier today, the Department of Justice issued a press release announcing that it reached an agreement with BP Oil in which BP agreed to plead guilty to a number of federal criminal violations. More specifically, according to the press release, BP has agreed to enter guilty pleas to violations 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…
Earlier today, I learned of the Federal Criminal Rules Advisory Committee’s decision to vote down (on a 6-5 vote) a proposed change to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that would have required prosecutors to turn over all favorable evidence to the accused. Apparently, the Department of Justice convinced the…
Today the Eleventh Circuit, which hears appeals from federal cases here in Atlanta, decided U.S. v. Fowler. The court took the government’s side in a circuit court split, holding that evidence is sufficient to establish the federal nexus of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(c) where any “possible or potential communication [may…
Last week the Supreme Court vacated and remanded Briscoe v. Virginia for proceedings consistent with the decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts. We discussed Melendez-Diaz last summer in this post. In Melendez-Diaz, the Supreme Court held that crime lab reports are testimonial statements covered by the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth…
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…
A couple of weeks ago, the federal Supreme Court decided a criminal case, Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, holding that the admission of crime lab reports requires the forensic analysts to testify in person. The Georgia Supreme Court adopted the same rule in 1996 for state criminal cases brought here in Georgia…
In a ruling that is all too rare in federal court, a federal district judge presiding here in Atlanta, Georgia declared the mandatory minimum portion of a federal criminal statute unconstitutional. At trial, the defendant was convicted of an offense that required the Court to impose a mandatory minimum sentence…
In a federal criminal case involving a sentencing issue, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a federal appellate court cannot increase a defendant’s sentence in the absence of a Government request to do so. In Greenlaw v. United States, the defendant was convicted of various drug and firearms offenses.…