Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of Michael Monteith for conspiring to import cocaine. The court held that Monteith voluntarily waived his right to be present at trial and that his mid-trial absence warranted a sentencing enhancement for obstruction of justice.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress a firearm found in a vehicle. The court held that officers had probable cause to search the car under the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement.
The Eleventh Circuit dismissed an appeal filed by a defendant who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking offenses. The court held that a valid sentence-appeal waiver in the plea agreement barred the defendant's due process claim regarding a government witness at sentencing.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the bribery and fraud convictions of two men who bribed a tax official to reduce business tax liabilities. The court rejected arguments regarding insufficient evidence, jury instructions, ineffective assistance of counsel, and a trial penalty.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of a defendant who pleaded guilty to transporting child pornography. The court held that a valid appellate waiver barred challenges to the prison term and supervised release, and found no plain error in the restitution calculation.
The Fifth Circuit granted a motion to reform a judgment by striking a statutory reference. The court affirmed the sentence after determining that the defendant's constitutional challenge was foreclosed by existing Supreme Court precedent.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of summary judgment against police detectives and a prosecutor in a civil rights suit alleging a reckless investigation and evidence suppression. The court held that genuine disputes of material fact exist regarding whether the defendants violated clearly established law by ignoring exculpatory evidence and coercing witnesses.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed a drug trafficking sentence after finding any alleged errors in the district court's application of sentencing guidelines were harmless. The court held that the district judge would have imposed the same sentence regardless of the defendant's objections.
The Eighth Circuit vacated a federal sentence and remanded the case due to procedural errors regarding sentencing guidelines. The court found the district court failed to explicitly address whether a state robbery conviction constituted relevant conduct to the federal firearms charge.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress evidence obtained from a manual border search of a defendant's cell phones. The court held that brief manual searches of electronic devices at the border are routine and do not require a warrant or individualized suspicion.
