Criminal Law Library Blog

March 2, 2009

Findlaw Case Summaries: Criminal Law. February 21 – February 27, 2009.

To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw.

February 21 – February 27, 2009
U.S. Supreme Court, February 24, 2009 US v. Hayes, No. 07-608 Defendant’s conviction for possessing a firearm under 18 U.S.C. section 921 is affirmed, where a domestic relationship between the offender and victim need not be an element of the defendant’s “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” to trigger Section 921’s possession ban. .

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 24, 2009 US v. Rodriguez-Lozada , No. 06-1988 Defendant’s convictions and sentences are vacated in part and otherwise affirmed where: 1) district court properly denied motion to suppress evidence for lack of standing as he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the area searched; 2) motion for severance was properly denied as untimely; and 3) although evidence was sufficient to uphold most counts of defendant’s conviction, there was insufficient evidence to uphold convictions for possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and aiding and abetting possession. Co-defendant Rivera’s sentence is affirmed where: 1) district court’s drug quantity calculation for sentencing purposes was well-supported by evidence and not clearly erroneous; 2) court correctly imposed statutory sentencing enhancement for co-defendant Rivera’s leadership role; and 3) the sentence was reasonable in light of his particular circumstances. .

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 26, 2009 US v. Glover , No. 07-1983
Conviction and sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm is affirmed where: 1) the prosecutor’s closing statements were not improper; 2) the court did not err in classifying defendant’s prior conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon as a crime of violence under the sentencing guidelines; and 3) the sentence imposed was reasonable.
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February 27, 2009

Selected Documents Regarding President Obama’s 2010 Fiscal Year Budget Submission

by David Badertscher

Yesterday President Barack Obama presented his proposed budget for fiscal year 2010. The $3.6 trillion budget as presented represents a significant change in nearly 30 years of governing philosophy. The following are links to the 134 page budget booklet and selected accompanying documents:

President Obama’s Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2010

Tables of Budget Line Items to Accompany President Obama’s FY 2020 Budget

February 27, 2009

ABA Journal Weekly Newsletter. February 27, 2009.

by David Badertscher

Top Ten Stories of the Week ending February 27, 2009:

Law Practice Management

Attorney Layoff Alternative: Temporary 10% Pay Cut at Much Shelist Feb 23, 2009, 04:42 pm CST

February 25, 2009

2008 Annual Report: Committee on Libraries and Education Technology, New York State Assembly

by David Badertscher

The following is from the Introduction to the 2008 Annual Report: Committee on Libraries and Education Technology, New York State Assembly.* A link to the entire Report follows.

I. COMMITTEE JURISDICTION The Libraries and Education Technology Committee was created in 1997 under the leadership of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The Committee has jurisdiction over legislation introduced concerning the many issues affecting public, academic, school and private libraries.

The Committee develops and reviews legislation affecting the administration and funding of libraries and library systems across New York State. As today’s explosion in information technology has placed new demands on libraries, we are mindful of our responsibility to ensure that New York’s libraries will be able to meet the challenges of the information age. The work done by the Committee assists libraries to sustain the infrastructure and staff resources necessary to allow all New Yorkers access to technological advances available through New York’s vast library community.

February 25, 2009

Adult Drug Court Research to Practice Initiative: FY 2009 Competition Grant Announcement

by David Badertscher

“The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the National Institute of Justice, is pleased to announce it is seeking applications for funding under the Adult Drug Court Research to Practice Initiative. This program furthers the Department’s efforts to assist communities to develop effective drug court strategies for nonviolent substance-abusing offenders.”:

Here is a link to the Announcement:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/09DrugCourtResearchSol.pdf

February 25, 2009

New, Powerful, State-Of-The-Art Learning Technology Coming to the American Association of Law Libraries

by David Badertscher

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is proud to announce it is adopting a new, powerful, state-of-the-art learning technology, which will provide a new learning gateway to all AALL members.

The new Ed2Go @AALLNET site will provide members with:

Online access to the AALL Annual Meeting program recordings, as well as archived Webinars, audio recordings, and video recordings

February 25, 2009

Special Libraries Association Board of Directors Candidates for 2010 Announced

by David Badertscher

Special Libraries Association (SLA) has announced the slate of candidates for the 2010 Board of Directors. Two of the board candidates are members of the Legal Division Their names appear in bold type in list below:

2010 Board of Directors Candidates Announced

Alexandria, Virginia, February 18, 2009 – SLA has nominated eight candidates to run for election to the 2010 SLA Board of Directors. The candidates were identified by the SLA Nominating Committee, which annually solicits names of potential candidates from the membership, and is responsible for putting together a slate of candidates that has exceptional talent, is professionally diverse, and provides regionally balanced representation.

February 24, 2009

Findlaw Case Summaries: Criminal Law. February 16 – February 20, 2009.

by David Badertscher

To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw.

February 16 – February 20, 2009
U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, February 19, 2009 Yeboah-Sefah v. Ficco, No. 07-2585
Denial of habeus corpus relief by district court is affirmed where the state court reasonably concluded: 1) plaintiff’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel was not violated because he made a knowing and intelligent waiver of counsel’s conflict of interest; 2) plaintiff cannot satisfy standards set forth in Strickland and adequately prove constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel; and 3) plaintiff right to due process was not violated as he was determined to be competent a week before the trial and no evidence was brought to light indicating the competency determination needed to be revisited.

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, February 17, 2009 Sledge v. Kooi, No. 07-1547 In a suit brought pro se by plaintiff alleging defendant violated his Eighth Amendment rights while incarcerated, grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment is affirmed. When facing pro se litigants who are repeat filers, absent a strong showing that the pro se litigant has acquired adequate experience more generally, a district court should limit the withdrawal of pro se litigant’s special status to specific contexts in which the litigant’s experiences indicates that he may fairly be deemed knowledgeable and experienced.
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February 24, 2009

CLLB Information Security Newsletter. February 2009 Volume 2 Number 2.

by David Badertscher

February 2009 Volume 2 Number 2.

CLLB Information Security Newsletter

Monthly Cyber Security Tips NEWSLETTER

February 24, 2009

Findlaw Case Summaries: Constitutional Law 8

by David Badertscher

To view the full-text of cases you must sign in to FindLaw.com. All summaries are produced by Findlaw.

February 16 – February 20, 2009

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, February 17, 2009 Sledge v. Kooi, No. 07-1547 In a suit brought pro se by plaintiff alleging defendant violated his Eighth Amendment rights while incarcerated, grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment is affirmed. When facing pro se litigants who are repeat filers, absent a strong showing that the pro se litigant has acquired adequate experience more generally, a district court should limit the withdrawal of pro se litigant’s special status to specific contexts in which the litigant’s experiences indicates that he may fairly be deemed knowledgeable and experienced. .

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, February 17, 2009 New York State Restaurant Ass’n v. New York City Bd. of Health , No. 08-1892 In an action challenging the constitutionality of a law requiring restaurants to post caloric information on menus, the District Court’s denial of plaintiff’s motions for preliminary injunction, declaratory relief, and summary judgment, and grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment, are affirmed where New York Health Code 81.50: 1) is not expressly preempted by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990; and 2) does not infringe on plaintiff’s member restaurants’ First Amendment rights. ..

U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, February 20, 2009 Ponta-Garcia v. Att’y Gen. of the US, No. 07-2551 Petition for review of reinstatement of removal order is granted and the reinstatement determination is vacated and remanded where plaintiff contested the bases for the reinstatement order and offered support for his claims. ICE must then consider the evidence and attempt to verify the claim. The regulation governing the reinstatement of orders of removal is upheld as a valid construction of 8 U.S.C. section 1231(a)(5) and is not found to violate due process.
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