Criminal Law Library BlogUnited States Supreme Court Decision: April 28, 2009
A Service from the ABA Criminal Justice Section, http://www.abanet.org/crimjust
SYNOPSIS.
Articles Posted in Criminal Law and Justice
New York Appellate Criminal Cases Originating from the New York Supreme Court NY County – LexisNexis. April 29, 2009.
Update from the Lexis Alert Service,
April 29, 2009.
1. People v. Jackson, 195, 3988/04, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2450; 874 N.Y.S.2d 908; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2503, March 31, 2009, Decided, March 31, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie G. Wittner, …
2. People v. Orta, 138, 2762/07, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2239; 874 N.Y.S.2d 856; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2416, March 24, 2009, Decided, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Rena K. Uviller, …
3. People v. Anonymous, 61, 1831/05, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1855; 874 N.Y.S.2d 856; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1850, March 17, 2009, Decided, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Anthony Ferrara, J.), …
4. People v. Goodson, 87, 2590/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 1870; 874 N.Y.S.2d 856; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1860, March 17, 2009, Decided, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Charles H. Solomon, …
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Legal Memoranda and Commentary On Issues Related to Interrogation and Torture
In response to litigation brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Obama administration authorized the Justice Department to release four secret legal memoranda used by the Bush administration to justify torture. The memoranda were releasd on April 16, 2009. President Obama also issued a statement, emphasizing that “this is a time of reflection, not retribution”.
Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who was involved in the interrogations being discussed and who questioned Abu Zubaydah in 2002 has written an important Op Ed article, “My Tortured Decision”, which is published in the April 23, 2009 New York Times. In his article Mr. Soufan says trhat Abu Zubaydah provided important intelligence under traditional methods. He writes: “…I questioned him [Zubaydah] from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced late in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence”. Mr. Soufan also writes that he believes that it was the “right decision” to release the memos because “we need the truth to come out” and that releaseing these memos “enables us to begin the tricky business of finally bringing these terrorists to justice”.
Since the events being discussed transpired during the administration of George W. Bush, we thought it might be interesting and instructive to also provide a link to: Reigning in the Imperial Presidency, Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush.; a report prepared by the majority staff of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
New York Appellate Criminal Cases Originating from the New York Supreme Court NY County – LexisNexis. Update from the Lexis Alert Service.
Update from the Lexis Alert Service,
1. People v. Hinton, 304, 2530/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2836; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2782, April 14, 2009, Decided, April 14, 2009, Entered, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
The People of the State …
Findlaw Case Summaries: U.S. Supreme Court. 04/21/2009
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ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, GOVERNMENT BENEFITS, MILITARY LAW Shinseki v. Sanders, No. 07-1209 In an application for veterans’ disability benefits, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s holding that the Department of Veterans Affairs erred in denying benefits is reversed, where the Federal Circuit’s “harmless-error” framework conflicts with 38 U.S.C. section 7261(b)(2)’s requirement that the Veterans Court take “due account of the rule of prejudicial error.”
CIVIL PROCEDURE, DISPUTE RESOLUTION & ARBITRATION, GOVERNMENT LAW, INJURY AND TORT LAW, INTERNATIONAL LAW, JUDGMENT ENFORCEMENT Ministry of Def. v. Elahi, No. 07-615 In an action seeking to attach a judgment obtained by Iran, the District Court’s order permitting the attachment is reversed, where Plaintiff could not attach the judgment because he waived his right to do so, as the U.S. paid Plaintiff as partial compensation for his judgment against Iran under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act
Findlaw Case Summaries: Criminal Law and Procedure 16
April 13 – April 17, 2009
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U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, April 17, 2009 US v. Vasco , No. 07-1520 Conviction and sentence for using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not err in declining to issue an entrapment instruction as defendant failed to produce the requisite evidence of government inducement; 2) there sufficient evidence to support a conviction on use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire based on defendant’s conditional intent to murder his daughter; and 3) the court did not commit sentencing error.
New York Legislation: Update to Legislation Regarding Rockefeller Drug Law Reform
On March 30, 2009 we posted information on this blawg about the historic agreement reached by New York lawmakers regarding reform of the Rockefeller drug law. Since that time there has been significant activity related to his effort including the signing of Chapter 56 of 2009 by the Governor on April 7, 2009. Although Chapter 56 is considered as primarily related to budget matters it contains significant material related to the Rockefeller Law reform initiatives.
For your information this posting includes links to those parts of the aforementioned legislation which appear to be relevant to the Rockefeller Drug Law reform issue. The links are to items I have posted on the New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library Blog:
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/PLL?id=12751 for Part AAA of Chapter 56 of 2009.
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April 12-18, 2009
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New York Appellate Criminal Cases Originating from the New York Supreme Court NY County. April 13, 2009.
Update from the Lexis Alert Service,
April 13, 2009.
1. People v. Gagot, 277, 6919/06, SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT, 2009 NY Slip Op 2724; 2009 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2591, April 9, 2009, Decided, April 9, 2009, Filed, THE LEXIS PAGINATION OF THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING RELEASE OF THE FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION., THIS OPINION IS UNCORRECTED AND SUBJECT TO REVISION BEFORE PUBLICATION IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.
Findlaw Case Summaries
To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw.
April 6-10, 2009:
U.S. Supreme Court, April 06, 2009 Corley v. US, No. 07-10441 Defendant’s bank robbery conviction is vacated, where the District Court erred by denying Defendant’s motion to suppress his confession under McNabb v. US, 318 U.S. 332 (1943), and Mallory v. US, 354 U.S. 449 (1957), based on the government’s delay in bringing him before a judge, where 18 U.S.C. section 3501 modified McNabb-Mallory but did not supplant it. …
U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, April 09, 2009 US v. González-Castillo , No. 07-2134 Sentence for unlawfully entering the U.S. after being previously deported is reversed and remanded where a clear and obvious error occurred when the court based defendant’s sentence on unsupported factual assertions, such that the error affected the defendant’s substantial rights and impaired the fairness of defendant’s sentence. .
U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, April 06, 2009 US v. Hertular, No. 07-1453 Conviction for drug and drug-related crimes is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and vacated and remanded where: 1) the evidence was insufficient to support defendant’s conviction for forcibly impeding or intimidating a federal officer under 18 U.S.C. sec. 111(a)(1) as the agents were not being threatened with immediate harm; 2) defendant’s sufficiency challenge to his obstruction of justice conviction was patently without merit; 3) there was no plain error in the district court’s jury instructions regarding the specific intent element of the obstruction of justice charge; and 4) although defendant’s sentence is vacated in light of the reversal of his sec. 111 conviction, there is still no merit to defendant’s procedural challenges to his sentence.
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