Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a drug trafficking conviction and sentence. The court rejected the defendant's challenge to a sentencing enhancement for being an organizer of a criminal enterprise involving five or more participants.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed a forty-one-month prison sentence for a dentist convicted of tax evasion. The court rejected arguments that the district court erred in calculating tax loss or applying a sophisticated means enhancement.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal by a federal prisoner seeking relief under a motion filed under Section twenty-eight U.S.C. Section two thousand two hundred fifty-five. The court concluded that the appellant failed to make the requisite showing to obtain a certificate of appealability.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the sentence imposed on Gabriel Ramos-Bernhard for illegal reentry. The court held that his constitutional challenge to the sentencing enhancement is foreclosed by existing Supreme Court precedent.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the conviction of a defendant charged with possessing a firearm as a felon. The defendant conceded that her Second Amendment challenge was foreclosed by existing circuit precedent.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal filed by a defendant seeking to challenge a district court order rescheduling his sentencing hearing. The court held that the order was neither a final judgment nor an appealable interlocutory order under federal law.
The Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal by a state prisoner seeking relief from a district court order denying his habeas corpus petition. The court found the prisoner failed to demonstrate a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right required to obtain a certificate of appealability.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed an appeal filed by a federal prisoner seeking compassionate release. The court found the appeal frivolous because the appellant failed to demonstrate a nonfrivolous issue regarding the district court's denial of his motion.
The Fifth Circuit vacated a supervised release condition that required a defendant to reside in a reentry center for up to one hundred twenty days. The court held that the written judgment conflicted with the oral sentencing pronouncement, which had limited that requirement to situations where the defendant lacked suitable housing.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of an emergency motion for compassionate release. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in weighing the nature of the offense and the defendant's criminal history against the request for sentence reduction.
