Category: Appeals

Failure to inform a defendant that knowledge of his status of a prohibited person when he possessed the weapon was structural error.

In United States vs. Alam, the 6th Circuit upheld a dismissal of a compassionate release case for failure to wait 30 days.

Young was sentenced to 60 months of incarceration for a heroin case in 2019. In 2020 he filed a motion for compassionate release stating that he is at high risk of death if he catches COVID-19.

All, the Fourth Circuit made an important decision regarding sentencing in Chambers. This will be important to those of you who are still engaged in post-conviction sentencing litigation.

In US v. Huntley, the District of Columbia granted 3582 Compassionate Release relief to a COVID-19 Positive Inmate.

Gravatt allows a person’s claim to go forward when their conspiracy includes a “covered offense” under the Fair Sentencing Act as well as an offense that was not covered by the FIRST STEP Act.

In United States vs. Eason, the Eleventh Circuit Determined that Hobbs Act Robbery was not a sufficient Career Offender Predicate. Read more.

The Federal Defenders website has several examples of cases where an inmate was able to show what was necessary to receive a reduction in sentence under 18 USC 3582(c)(1)(A).

Garza vs. Idaho is an important Supreme Court case from 2019 that dealt with an attorney’s duties to inform the client of the right to appeal a criminal conviction.  This decision had not previously been listed on our blog so we are doing it now.   Garza signed two plea agreements in the State of Idaho.  […]

As part of the First Step Act (FSA) implementation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) system is required to perform assessments on all BOP inmates using the DOJ’s risk and needs assessment tool known as the Prisoner Assessment Tool targeting Estimated Risk and Need (PATTERN). The tool was released in […]