What’s the real story about a federal judge in Mississippi declaring the federal felon in possession of a firearm statute unconstitutional? As always, there’s more to the the story than what’s being reported. Here’s the real story about United States v. Bullock, No. 3:18-CR-165-CWR-FKB, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112397 (S.D. Miss. June 28, 2023). I’ve…
So, I was sitting in a courtroom waiting for a case to be called and I noticed something disturbing. A guy standing at the podium, which happened to be next to my chair, was pleading guilty to a felony when the judge asked him, “Do you understand the terms of your plea agreement?” The guy…
In the realm of civil procedure, seeking relief from a judgment denying a § 2255 or § 2254 petitionis not a straightforward process. Litigants must navigate the intricacies of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, most commonly Rule 60(b), to reopen their habeas case. Let’s delve into the key distinctions between two provisions of Rule…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held on February 17, 2023, that a district court’s misinterpretation of a collateral attack waiver, which led to the dismissal of a motion for relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, amounted to plain error that required remand to the district court to determine the merits of…
Prosecutor`s Exhortation to `Send a Message` with Guilty Verdict Rendered Sexual Assault Conviction Unconstitutional A prosecutor in West Virginia who urged the jury to “send a message to the community” with a guilty verdict in a sexual assault case crossed the line and rendered the conviction unconstitutional, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth…
If Congress wants to complain that federal judges are “too lenient” on child pornography offenders, it may want to take a look at a recent report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) for some answers. The Report, titled Federal Sentencing of Child Pornography Non-Production Offenses, was released in June 2021 and is nearly identical to…
Is the BOP sending people in halfway houses back to prison because of calculation error in time credits awarded to prisoner for taking certain programs? Not right now. While the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) continues to make a disastrous mess of the First Step Act enacted by Congress in 2018 to help get non-violent…
In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified that the “in-custody” requirement of federal habeas corpus, which is a jurisdictional hurdle, depends on which “judgment” the petitioner is in custody for, not whether the challenged judgment had played a role in the current judgment. Let me explain what this means. Sean Wright moved from Alaska…
The slam dunk for federal habeas claims, if there exists such a thing, would be a claim that successfully challenges the evidence in a criminal case. By tossing the illegally-obtained evidence, not only would the conviction be overturned but the prosecution wouldn`t have a case for a new trial. The prisoner walks free. But reality…
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) held on June 21, 2022, that a federal court`s authority to invoke the All Writs Act in aid of a habeas case was limited by the restrictions under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), further hampering the ability of the federal courts in granting habeas…
In yet another case further limiting the federal habeas corpus remedy, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) held on May 23, 2022, that post-conviction counsel`s failure to develop a meritorious claim in state court did not excuse the bar to an evidentiary hearing in the federal court, regardless of how egregious trial counsel`s…
