BLOG BULLETS: The Ninth Circuit recently invalidated a probation search of a cell phone, in part because of the far greater intrusion on privacy when a cell phone is searched that was recognized in Riley v. California. The Ninth Circuit also put weight on the fact that the probation search condition didn’t unambigously identify cell […]
Read/Write CommentsBLOG BULLETS: The Ninth Circuit has recently held – in Ramirez v. Lynch, 810 F.3d 1127 (9th Cir. 2016) – that the California child abuse statute doesn’t qualify as a crime of violence under the categorical approach and can’t be subjected to the modified categorical approach because it’s nondivisible. Ramirez also reminds us of several […]
Read/Write CommentsBLOG BULLETS: Remember the § 5G1.3 guideline rules on running sentences concurrently with already existing sentences for relevant conduct and also reducing the guideline range by the time already served on the existing sentence. Case law has extended this principle to statutory mandatory minimum sentences, so mandatory minimums are also reduced by time already served […]
Read/Write CommentsBLOG BULLETS: A recent concurring opinion by Judge Fisher, along with a district court Judge Pregerson opinion he cites with approval, provides support for a broader application of the rule of completeness. First, the rule of completeness applies to oral statements just as much as it applies to written statements, albeit through a different rule […]
Read/Write CommentsBLOG BULLETS: The government can waive its right to contest standing by making contrary assertions in court proceedings, acquiescing in contrary findings, and/or failing to raise the question in a timely fashion. The “contrary assertions” may be in other proceedings in the case; several Ninth Circuit cases recognize that the government can’t make inconsistent arguments […]
Read/Write CommentsBLOG BULLETS: While case law says a defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a motion to suppress if he makes a sufficiently definite and detailed offer of proof, the Ninth Circuit has upheld local rules requiring the offer of proof be in a declaration by a witness with personal knowledge. Such rules are […]
Read/Write CommentsBLOG BULLETS: Another district judge has ruled that prior drug possession convictions redesignated as misdemeanors under Prop 47 can’t be used to support an 851 enhancement. The same judge also appears to have treated such a redesignated conviction as a misdemeanor for purposes of the Rule 609 limits on use of prior convictions for impeachment. […]
Read/Write CommentsBLOG BULLETS: United States v. Garcia-Jimenez, 807 F.3d 1079 (9th Cir. 2015), provides a nice summary of the sources to look to in establishing the federal generic definition of a crime for purposes of the categorical approach. Garcia-Jimenez and United States v. Dixon, 805 F.3d 1193 (9th Cir. 2015), also nicely illustrate the sort of […]
Read/Write CommentsBLOG BULLETS: A recent Ninth Circuit case recognizes generic definitions of aggravated assault and attempt and finds the New Jersey statutes at issue there don’t come within those definitions. Another recent Ninth Circuit case recognizes that California robbery doesn’t satisfy the “force” clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act and so doesn’t qualify as a […]
Read/Write CommentsLA City Council Approves $24.3 Million Payout For Wrongful Murder Convictions LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles City Council agreed today to pay a total of $24.3 million to settle a pair of wrongful conviction cases filed by two men who each served more than two dozen years in prison for murders they did not […]
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