Finding that Hobbs Act robbery is never a “crime of violence” under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (USSG), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held on August 16, 2021, that an enhanced sentence based on a prior Hobbs Act robbery conviction wasn`t harmless and remanded for resentencing. Steven Prigan was convicted of being […]
A single federal drug offense involving both powder and crack cocaine is eligible for a reduced sentence under the First Step Act`s retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (FSA), even if the offense included a non-qualifying drug, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held on August 4, 2021. The […]
The art of withdrawing a guilty plea comes down to which phase of the criminal proceeding you`re in when the motion to withdraw is filed. Each phase requires meeting a different standard in order to withdraw a guilty plea. These phases are: (1) Prior to it being accepted by the court, (2) After acceptance but […]
Insider`s Guide: Getting Relief After Exposing Prosecutorial MisconductWe hear about errors by prosecutors all the time that are labeled “prosecutorial misconduct,” but what exactly is prosecutorial misconduct? In other words, when is a prosecutor`s error so bad that it rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct that relief is warranted? Let`s dive into the cesspool […]
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