Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The Sixth Circuit vacated a restitution order because the district court calculated losses based on a time period broader than the charged conduct. The court held that mandatory restitution must be confined to losses caused within the specific period identified in the charging document.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of Michelle Lee Marr for second-degree murder and tampering with proceedings. The court found that the defendant was not in custody during police interviews and voluntarily consented to a search of her cell phone.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court's decision to revoke supervised release and impose consecutive sentences for a defendant who absconded from a halfway house. The court held that the district court did not plainly err by considering the seriousness of the violation conduct as a breach of trust, even though it used language referencing punitive goals.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision to revoke supervised release and impose sentences in two consolidated cases. The court rejected the defendant's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and substantive unreasonableness.
The Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of a motion for early termination of supervised release. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion despite the defendant's stable employment and housing.
The Eighth Circuit denied an application for authorization to file a second or successive habeas motion. The court held that the petitioner's claim regarding his career-offender sentence was not successive because it arose from a recent expungement of prior convictions.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed an eighty-month prison sentence for a convicted felon found in possession of a firearm. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in upwardly departing from the Sentencing Guidelines based on the defendant's serious uncounted criminal history.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court sentence following the revocation of supervised release. The court also granted the defendant's counsel motion to withdraw from the case.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed a defendant's sentence after determining that a high-speed car chase constituted violence under the federal sentencing safety valve. The court held that fleeing at speeds exceeding one hundred thirty-five miles per hour and striking another vehicle satisfied the statutory bar to relief.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the criminal convictions of two executives for willfully failing to pay over withheld employee taxes to the federal government.
