Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a sixty-three-month prison sentence for a defendant convicted of money laundering conspiracy. The court held that the district court correctly denied adjustments for minor role and attempted offense under the Sentencing Guidelines.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part the sentences imposed on defendants involved in a Target gift card money laundering scheme, remanding for adjustment of the sophisticated laundering enhancement.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of Charay Lamont Trent for drug trafficking and firearm offenses. The court found no plain error in the district court's handling of the Second Amendment challenge to the firearm conviction.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentence of Booker Tyrell Henley. The court found no reversible error regarding jury instructions, sufficiency of evidence, or the district court's sentencing decision.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to two supervisory correctional officers who failed to act on repeated warnings about a detainee's severe medical condition. The court held that the right to adequate medical care for pretrial detainees was clearly established, even when non-medical officers initially deferred to medical staff.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction requiring intelligence agencies to follow their own termination regulations. The court held that career officers facing reduction-in-force terminations possess a property interest in reassignment and internal appeal procedures.
The Fifth Circuit held that an appeal from a supervised release revocation is not moot when the challenged conditions formed the basis for a subsequent revocation. The court vacated two conditions that were not orally pronounced at sentencing and dismissed the remainder of the appeal as moot.
The Fourth Circuit vacated Shronda Covington's conviction for violating a prisoner's constitutional rights due to an erroneous jury instruction on causation. The court also remanded Tonya Farley's sentence because the district court improperly considered acquitted conduct when calculating her sentencing guidelines range.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion by appointed counsel to withdraw from representing the defendant. The court dismissed the appeal after finding no nonfrivolous issues for appellate review.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction of Montique Oshay Hall for possession of a firearm by a felon. The court rejected Hall's facial constitutional challenge to the federal statute as foreclosed by prior precedent.
