Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the conviction of Albert Cole for drug distribution. The court rejected Cole's challenges regarding the nondisclosure of a confidential informant and the admission of recorded conversations and expert testimony on drug code words.
The Third Circuit affirmed the appellant's drug trafficking and firearm convictions but vacated his mandatory life sentence for remand.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentence of Michael Christopher Rowser for conspiracy to commit bribery and fraud. The court held that circumstantial evidence was sufficient to prove the defendant's guilt and that the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of a federal prisoner's motion to correct plain errors. The court held that Rule fifty-two, subsection b does not apply to district courts and that the motion was untimely or barred as a successive habeas petition.
The Third Circuit affirmed the conviction of a taxpayer who submitted false financial disclosure forms to the IRS. The court held that intentionally omitting bank accounts from these forms constitutes an affirmative act of tax evasion within the statute of limitations.
The Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal by a state prisoner challenging the timeliness of his habeas corpus petition. The court found the petitioner failed to demonstrate a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right required for a certificate of appealability.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction of Jose Leonel Beltran-Nino for illegal reentry. The court rejected the defendant's constitutional challenge to a statutory sentencing enhancement as foreclosed by binding precedent.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court's decision to revoke supervised release and impose a nine-month prison term after a defendant traveled to an unauthorized district. The court held that the district court acted within its broad discretion in weighing statutory factors to determine the sentence was substantively reasonable.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of Gustavo Salas-Romero for illegal reentry. The court held that Salas-Romero's constitutional challenge to the sentencing enhancement is foreclosed by existing Supreme Court precedent.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit dismissed an appeal filed by a federal prisoner seeking relief under Section twenty-eight U.S.C. Section two thousand two hundred fifty-five. The court denied a certificate of appealability because the appellant failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.
