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Criminal Practice
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November 21, 2024
4th Circ. Tells Judge To Try Again After 'Vindictive' Sentence
A federal judge has been given a third chance to impose a proper sentence on a man who pled guilty to a drug-trafficking conspiracy charge, with the Fourth Circuit finding the judge erred when, after the defendant successfully appealed his initial sentence, he handed down an even harsher one.
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October 31, 2024
3rd Circ Rejects Charter Co. Exec's Ineffective Counsel Claims
The co-founder and former executive of a now-defunct public air charter operator has lost a bid to escape a fraud conviction on the grounds her lawyers provided ineffective counsel in her criminal trial, with a unanimous Third Circuit panel determining the jury would not have been swayed by a different trial strategy.
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October 28, 2024
Mass. Court's Wiretap Ruling May Be Bad Omen For Plaintiffs
A ruling by the Massachusetts high court rejecting wiretap claims over website operators' use of tracking software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics shows the steep climb plaintiffs may continue to face as they try to apply older laws to modern technologies, experts told ¼«ËÙÈü³µ.
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October 03, 2024
NJ Panel Opens Door To Remote Testimony In Criminal Cases
Trial courts have the authority to hear requests for experts to testify remotely in criminal trials without the state's permission, a New Jersey state appellate panel found in a precedential ruling on Thursday, saying court rules and precedent that seemed at odds could be interpreted harmoniously.
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September 27, 2024
1st Circ. Drops Bribery, Reinstates Extortion In Casino Case
The First Circuit on Friday reversed both convictions and acquittals in a high-profile bribery and extortion case involving a Rhode Island architect and a Massachusetts tribal official who had been found guilty of a quid pro quo exchange of pricey gifts related to a valuable design contract on the tribe's $1 billion casino development.
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September 12, 2024
Calif. OTA Denies Refund For Criminal Restitution Payments
California's Office of Tax Appeals said it is unable to refund criminal restitution payments to a couple who operated 21 Subway franchises in the southern part of the state between 2003 and 2010 and pleaded guilty to tax fraud and evasion for some of those years.
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September 06, 2024
Baltimore, DC Legal Wins Help Curb Police Property Seizures
In a span of less than two weeks this summer, a coalition of nonprofit civil rights litigators and private pro bono counsel notched a pair of legal victories in cases over two mid-Atlantic city police departments’ property seizure. Lawyers have expressed hope the impact could reach past their communities.
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July 26, 2024
Illinois Cases To Watch In 2024: Midyear Report
Illinois attorneys say they are considering the path forward for Springfield corruption prosecutions following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, as well as paying attention to what comes next in Motorola Solutions' trade secret contempt fight and potential new guidelines for music copyright cases. Here are the cases to watch in Illinois for the rest of 2024.
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July 01, 2024
Court Tosses Constitutional Challenge To Pot Prohibition
A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday granted the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to dismiss a constitutional challenge to federal marijuana prohibition, delivering a blow to an effort brought by a group of cannabis companies represented by litigator David Boies.
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July 01, 2024
Supreme Court Gives Trump Immunity For Official Acts
Former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from prosecution related to an indefinite list of official acts, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, partially releasing Donald Trump from liability for allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election, but ultimately tasking lower courts with sussing out the full extent of his immunity.
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June 05, 2024
1st Circ. May Undo Tribal Casino Bribery Convictions
First Circuit judges hinted Wednesday that jurisdictional flaws and other issues could reverse the bribery convictions of an architect and tribal chairman in connection with a proposed $1 billion casino in southeastern Massachusetts.
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May 22, 2024
Boies Urges Judge To Rethink Precedential Cannabis Case
Attorney David Boies, representing a group of cannabis companies challenging federal marijuana prohibition, told a Massachusetts federal judge Wednesday that his clients' case should proceed because a U.S. Supreme Court case governing marijuana policy is out of date.
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May 03, 2024
3rd Circ. Clarifies Review Standard For Derivative Suits
In a precedential ruling Friday declining to revive Cognizant Technology investors' derivative claims over a bribery scandal, the full Third Circuit held that the best way to review such cases on appeal was from the beginning, not giving deference to the lower court's decision or considering whether there was an abuse of discretion.
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April 25, 2024
Justices Skeptical Of Trump's Absolute Immunity Bid
A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared open Thursday to the idea of limited immunity for former presidents related to the office's core constitutional powers, but divisions emerged among the justices over how to determine when acts outside of that narrow category are potentially subject to criminal prosecution.
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April 19, 2024
Up Next At High Court: Abortions & Presidential Immunity
The U.S. Supreme Court will return Monday for the term's final week of oral arguments, during which it will consider several high-stakes disputes, including whether a federal healthcare law can preempt state abortion bans and whether former President Donald Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal charges related to official acts.
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April 16, 2024
Ousted Fla. Atty To Seek Reelection Amid DeSantis Fight
Suspended Florida state attorney Andrew Warren announced Tuesday he's running for reelection as the top prosecutor in Hillsborough County, while he pursues an ongoing federal lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis over his suspension.
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April 10, 2024
1st Circ. Says Appellant's Death Erases Conviction
The First Circuit has vacated the stock fraud conviction of a biotech executive who died in prison, aligning itself with all the other federal circuits in adopting the longstanding principle that a defendant's death during a direct appeal of a conviction wipes out all the criminal proceedings from their inception.
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April 04, 2024
Real Estate Fraudster Wins 3rd Circ. Bid To Testify
The real estate agent who helped ex-NFL player Irving Fryar in a scheme to defraud several banks out of $1 million in mortgages was wrongly denied the ability to testify on his own behalf at a hearing over alleged violations of his supervised release, the Third Circuit ruled in a precedential opinion Thursday.
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March 29, 2024
Petition Watch: Off-Label Ads, Retiree Discrimination & PPE
A Utah attorney has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether allegedly retaliatory IRS summonses can be quashed, and two former pharmaceutical executives are challenging the constitutionality of their convictions for marketing the off-label use of a drug. Here, ¼«ËÙÈü³µ looks at recently filed petitions that you might've missed.
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March 25, 2024
NC Justices Deadlock On Reviving Investors' $9M Fraud Suit
The North Carolina Supreme Court has deadlocked on deciding whether to revive negligence claims against a hedge fund administrator for failing to flag what turned out to be a $9 million Ponzi scheme, meaning a lower court ruling favoring the administrator will stand.
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March 22, 2024
5 Things To Know As SEC Takes Terraform Fraud Case To Trial
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit against collapsed cryptocurrency project Terraform and its creator Do Kwon takes center stage next week in U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff's courtroom in Manhattan, and at its heart is a question of whether the business deceived investors in the lead-up to the collapse that helped set off the so-called crypto winter.
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March 13, 2024
Ga. Judge Tosses 6 Counts In Trump Indictment
A Georgia judge on Wednesday threw out six counts of the indictment charging former President Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants with solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, saying the state didn't provide enough detail in the charges to allow the defendants to properly defend themselves.
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March 01, 2024
DC Circ. Strikes Down Sentencing Add-On For Jan. 6 Rioter
A former U.S. Air Force officer who participated in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has had his two-year prison sentence vacated, the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday, finding in a precedential ruling that rioters involved should not face an "administration of justice" enhancement because the process they disrupted was legislative, not judicial.
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February 27, 2024
Ousted Fla. Atty Eyeing Potential Run After 11th Circ. Ruling
Suspended state prosecutor Andrew Warren said Monday he may revisit his decision not to seek reelection in light of the Eleventh Circuit ruling reviving his lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, asking the appeals court to speed up the appeal.
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January 26, 2024
DeSantis Seeks 11th Circ. Rethink In Ousted Prosecutor Fight
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants an en banc panel of the Eleventh Circuit to rehear a recent decision to revive ousted state prosecutor Andrew Warren's bid for reinstatement, arguing the three-judge panel's ruling transformed "the First Amendment from a shield against government oppression into a sword against a governor's disciplinary decisions."