Category: Blog

Senate Judiciary leaders have reintroduced Criminal Justice Reform Bills into the Senate Judiciary Committee. These bills were previously introduced into the Senate where they went nowhere. It is unclear what will happen to these bills here, as the makeup of the Senate is almost the same as it was last year and the House of […]

United States v. Carter, No. 21-4689 (4th Cir. 2023) Carter pled guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft pursuant to a plea agreement. The district court sentenced carter to 87 months imprisonment and five years of supervised release. On appeal. Carter’s counsel filed a brief pursuant to Anders v. California, stating that there were […]

United States v. Flores-Nater, No. 21-1856, 21-1979 (1st Cir. 2023) Flores-Nater was charged with kidnapping resulting in death, use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence causing murder. He pled pursuant to a plea agreement to the one count of […]

United States v. Louis, No. 21-CR-20252 (S.D. Fla.) A district court in the Southern District of Florida granted a Louis’ motion to dismiss six 18 U.S.C. 924(c) counts based on the argument that the Eleventh Circuit’s Pattern Jury Instructions on Hobbs Act robbery is overbroad. Eleventh Circuit Jury Instruction 70.3 instructs the jury that a […]

United States v. Wright, No. 4:12-cr-197 (N.D. Okla.) In 2013, Wright pled guilty to conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1951; attempted Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1951 and 2; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 924(c); […]

Stubblefield's Case and Sentencing Stubblefield pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. At sentencing, when calculating the base offense level, the district court held Stubblefield responsible for all methamphetamine attributable to the conspiracy under U.S.S.G. 1B1.3. Stubblefield  appealed, arguing that the district court failed to make sufficient factual findings to support its relevant conduct findings. About […]

Munoz pled guilty to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. As a part of the plea agreement, the parties agreed to recommend a sentence between 96 and 120 months imprisonment. The aggregate Guideline Sentencing Range (“GSR”) for the offenses was 60 to 66 […]

Barfield pled guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of 27 years and 20 years on each conspiracy count. At sentencing, the parties disputed the total quantity of heroin sale attributed to Barfield. The PSR recommended that he be held accountable for 16 kilograms of heroin, which the […]

Queriapa Background Queriapa was sentenced to 46-months imprisonment following a guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry after deportation subsequent to a felony conviction, in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326(a), (b)(1). On appeal before the Fourth Circuit, Queriapa challenged the procedural reasonableness of his sentence, arguing that the district court improperly calculated his Guidelines […]

February 20th Update: Persons with Detainers No Longer Foreclosed From Application of FTC Credits The Bureau of Prisons has indicated that the following language has been removed from the program statement concerning the application of FSA Time Credits The highlighted text in has been changed (either added or struck through) in Section 10. APPLICATION OF […]