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December 29, 2008 – January 3, 2009
U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, December 31, 2008 US v. Andrade, No. 081175 In a prosecution for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 922(g)(1), denial of a motion to suppress the firearms and ammunition seized by police officer is affirmed where police officer’s actions were reasonable under the totality of circumstances.
U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, December 31, 2008 US v. Spinelli, No. 99-1344, 99-1394 Conviction for conspiracy to commit murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, both for the purpose of increasing and maintaining a position in a racketeering enterprise, and related offenses are affirmed. Although the prosecutor erred by vouching to the jury that the government’s cooperating accomplices had never perjured themselves or falsely implicated anybody in a crime, her improper remarks did not justify disturbing the verdict.
U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, December 30, 2008 US v. Dews, No. 086458 In prosecutions for distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base and money laundering, denial of defendants’ motions for reductions of sentence is reversed and remanded where: 1) defendants agreed to plead guilty if the district court would sentence them to a guidelines term of imprisonment of 168 months, and the district court did so; and 2) defendants did not agree that they would not seek relief under section 3582(c)(2) in the event the Sentencing Commission retroactively amended a relevant guideline.
U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, December 29, 2008 US v. Elashyi, No. 06-10176 Convictions of illegally exporting computer equipment, money laundering, dealing in property of a designated terrorist, and related offenses are affirmed for 4 of 5 co-defendants over their various unmeritorious challenges, including insufficiency of the evidence, improper admission of hearsay evidence, and improper jury instructions. One defendant’s conviction was reversed, however, on certain of the charges where the government’s prosecution of him breached an unambiguous plea agreement stemming from earlier charges involving the very same facts and circumstances.
U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, December 23, 2008 US v. Percel, No. 07-20236 Convictions arising from a conspiracy to possess and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine are affirmed. Judge did not commit plain error by omitting the word “not” when reciting the requested “no-adverse-influence” instruction, given that the written jury instructions contained the correct wording. Testimony made by two witnesses pursuant to a plea agreement was properly admitted and was sufficient for the jury to convict, where the jury was properly instructed to weigh the credibility of these witnesses with great care. (Revised opinion) .
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