Earlier this week, the Federal Court of Appeals that sits here in Atlanta, Georgia heard arguments in the federal criminal case involving Alabama’s former Governor and former Health South executive Richard Scrushy. As I previously discussed here, there are a number of interesting issues presented in this federal criminal appeal,…
In an earlier post pertaining to a federal criminal statute, we discussed the efforts made by lawyers on both sides of a federal criminal case to convince the Supreme Court to take up the issue of precisely what the Government must prove in cases prosecuted under the federal aggravated identity…
Most of us that practice criminal law in federal court have become familiar with the federal identity fraud statute. In essence, this statute requires a federal judge to impose a two year mandatory minimum sentence on an individual who, in the context of committing a certain enumerated federal felony offense,…
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 previous posts on this blog, Paul Kish and I have both discussed the important federal criminal appeal that is currently pending here in Atlanta, Georgia before the Eleventh Circuit, the federal court that hears appeals from cases in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. As previously discussed here and here, later…
Although we do not normally report on decisions issued in federal criminal cases that do not directly apply to matters in Georgia, Florida, or Alabama, a case that was recently decided by a federal appellate court that sits in Louisiana (the Fifth Circuit) is certainly interesting and therefore worth mentioning.…
Recently, the Eleventh Circuit (which is headquartered here in Atlanta, Georgia) identified the issues that it will address in a federal criminal appeal involving the federal mail fraud statute. As both Paul Kish and I have discussed here and here, one of the main issues in the case is whether…
Over at the White Collar Crime Prof Blog, Ellen Pogdor discusses an interesting development in the federal criminal case of Alabama’s former governor, Don Siegelman, and Richard Scrushy. Governor Siegelman and Richard Scrushy were both convicted in a federal criminal trial that took place in Montgomery, Alabama. After the jury…
In an article published on law.com, Scott Horton raises the question of whether the chief federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Alabama “knowingly prosecuted innocent people?” Among other cases, Scott discusses the well known federal fraud prosecution of Richard Scrushy, who was acquitted of all charges. In addition, Scott…
In a case that is being closely watched by federal criminal defense attorneys, the Eleventh Circuit vacated its prior opinion in a federal fraud case. In the initial opinion, the Court concluded that the pattern jury instruction for federal mail fraud cases is deficient in that it fails to require…