Raymond Baker was convicted in December 2015 in U.S. district court in the Northern District of New York for conspiracy to distribute drugs. Several weeks after the conviction a juror sent Baker’s attorney an email making two allegations of misconduct…
Author: John Floyd
2018
Category: Constitutional Law | Criminal Justice Reform | Criminal Law
Earlier this year we posted an article about a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that upheld much of a federal district court ruling that dismantled the antiquated Harris County bail system. We made this observation in that post:
…
2018
Category: Illegal Pornography | Sex Crimes | Sex Crimes Against Children
In a disturbing turn of events, a college-aged anti-sexual violence activist was recently arrested in New York on child sexual abuse charges.
The founder of an organization known as “Youth to End Sexual Violence,” the activist has waged a…
2018
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has classified or scheduled drugs, as well as some of their precursors, into categories depending on the drug’s potential for abuse and accepted medical use. In theory, this effort is made to keep potentially dangerous…
2018
Category: Child Abuse
Mothers who use drugs during pregnancy, and give birth to helpless babies addicted to opiates, are not high on the social ladder and are often viewed with disdain by those inexperienced with drug addiction. The knee-jerk reaction is to punish…
2018
Category: federal Sentencing | Illegal Pornography
Child pornography evokes intense feelings of contempt and bias against those whom such charges are leveled.
Illustrative of this contempt is the 50-year prison term imposed on a Rockwall, Texas man by U.S. District Court Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater,…
2018
Category: Drug Trafficking | Federal Criminal Law
The core federal drug statute is 21 U.S.C. § 841. This statute focuses exclusively on the manufacture, distribution, dispensation, or possession of a “controlled substance.” The statute has little, if any, interest in the personal use of narcotics. It is…
2018
Category: Drug Trafficking | Federal Criminal Law
Two years ago the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said that a prosecutor’s role “is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done.”
In their too often misguided zeal to secure convictions, prosecutors will…
2018
Category: Embezzlement | Fraud | White Collar Crime
A principal at San Antonio Cash Networks was recently charged with four counts of embezzlement for allegedly stealing from company ATMs.
The defendant allegedly stole $145,000 from four company ATMs in late 2016. The courts are seeking a monetary…
2018
Category: Appeals | Federal Criminal Law
Ten years ago John Edward Schostag pled guilty in a U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minnesota to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 120 months in a federal penal facility and to five…