Current News

Case Summaries

Criminal Law & Procedure

[06/28] McDonald v. City of Chicago
In an action against the City of Chicago alleging that the City's handgun ban left plaintiffs vulnerable to criminals, judgment for defendants is reversed where the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment right, recognized in Heller, to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense.

[06/25] People v. Bloom
Conviction of defendant for resisting arrest and other related charges, arising from making more than 40 harassing calls to 911 in a single evening, is affirmed over a challenge to a denial of a motion to suppress as a dispatcher lawfully arrested defendant for making the calls and she was not required to physically restrain him or to be present at the time of the arrest.

[06/24] People v. Int'l Fid. Ins., Co.
In a prosecution of defendant for attempted murder and other crimes, trial court's denial of a motion to vacate a forfeiture and exonerate bail is affirmed where: 1) the trial court did not err in denying the motion as, although defendant was subject to a greater potential maximum penalty under the first amended information than he had been under the original complaint, the charges in the first amended information were based on the same acts alleged in the complaint; and 2) the certificate of mailing of the notice of forfeiture which was signed by a deputy clerk on behalf of the clerk of the court was properly executed.

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Sentencing

[06/25] US v. Williams
In a case involving a defendant's transport of 74 unlawful aliens, and the death of 19 of them after he left the aliens locked in the trailer of his tractor?trailer without activating the trailer's air conditioning unit, defendant's murder convictions are affirmed where: 1) the Government's articulated reasons for striking a veniremember were supported by the voir dire transcripts; and 2) it was not clear error for the district court to include defendant's first trip, during which he transported approximately 60 unlawful aliens, as part of the relevant conduct. However, his sentence is vacated where the district court erred in its definition of "act of violence" under the Federal Death Penalty Act and, under the correct definition, the evidence at trial cannot support a finding that the requisite threshold intent was met.

[06/25] US v. Womack
In a prosecution of defendant for distributing cocaine base, district court's application of a career offender enhancement when imposing a sentence of 360 months is vacated and remanded as, although the district court did not err by applying the career offender enhancement in defendant's guidelines calculation and the sentence imposed was within a correctly calculated guidelines range, the district court erred in stating that it could not consider the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses under the guidelines because district courts may disagree with the career offender enhancement on policy grounds related to the crack/powder disparity and impose sentences accordingly.

[06/25] US v. Alexander
Defendant's sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm is affirmed where: 1) a conviction under Fla. Stat. section 790.15(2) involved conduct that was "similar in kind and degree of risk posed" to burglary, arson, extortion, and crimes involving the use of explosives -- the crimes enumerated in the Guidelines' definition of crime of violence; and 2) the district court did not have authority to award credit for time served in state custody.

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