The Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984 (“ACCA”) is the federal equivalent of the “three strikes” or “repeat offender” laws now in place in at least 28 states in this country. The ACCA was enacted during the Reagan administration which…
Category: Federal Criminal Law
2016
Category: Federal Criminal Law | federal Sentencing | Immigration Crimes
Federal sentencing is a complex process.
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 20, 2016 was forced to confront a conflict among the federal circuits in their review of federal sentences. Their decision was handed down in the case of…
2016
Category: Federal Criminal Law
There are two types of crimes in the United States: federal and state law violations.
State crimes are a defined by statutes enacted by state legislatures. They apply to residents and visitors to the state. Each criminal statute proscribes…
2016
Category: Federal Criminal Law | Murder
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is the federal appellate court with jurisdiction over U.S. District Courts in Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky, and Ohio.
In 2015, a total of 52,698 federal appeals were filed in the 12 regional Courts of…
2016
Category: Drug Trafficking | Federal Criminal Law
On April 8, 2016, the D.C. Court of Appeals in United States v. Scurry issued a significant clarification of wiretaps obtained by federal law enforcement agencies under Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968…
2016
Category: Corporate Fraud | Federal Criminal Law
Historically, federal prosecutors have three ways to handle criminal cases: decline to prosecute, secure a plea agreement, or try the case before a judge or jury.
Deferred Prosecutions
The Speedy Trial Act of 1974, which is found in…
2016
Category: Federal Criminal Law | Healthcare Fraud
The Sixth Amendment right to counsel in this country is constitutionally sacrosanct.
It has long been popularly believed that every person in America has an undeniable right to retain the counsel of their choice; that the Government does not…
2016
Category: Appeals | Federal Criminal Law | Sex Crimes
For many sex offenders, the prospect of registration for life is actually worse than imprisonment. Many offenders complain they can never pay their debt to society or be free of their past crimes, no matter how successful their rehabilitation. May…
2016
Category: Drug Crime | Drug Trafficking | Federal Criminal Law
U.S. Sentencing Guideline § 2D1.1(a)(2) applies a base “base offense level” of 38 in certain drug cases when “the offense of conviction establishes that death or serious bodily injury resulted from the use of the substance …”
On March…
2016
Category: Drug Crime | Federal Criminal Law | Methamphetamines
Ralph Gene Carloss lived in Tahlequah, Oklahoma—a city in Cherokee County located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. He is an ex-felon who lived in a single-family dwelling located in what was described as a “pretty old area” in…