Jan

30

Collecting Judges, Past and Present

Posted by: | January 30, 2012 | 1 Comment

Tom Shriner’s recent remembrance of Judge Dale Ihlenfeldt said to law students and new lawyers that “you can—must—learn the lessons of the law (and life) from everyone, not just your professors, but your colleagues, your adversaries, your clients, and even from judges.” This last (neatly phrased) is the case, in my estimation, both of judges [...]

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Dec

27

A Visit From the Ghost of Jury Service Past

Posted by: | December 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment

What do you remember about November 29, 1995? That was the day when one of the jurors in Jesse Webster’s drug trafficking trial was out sick. The next day, with all twelve jurors again present, Webster was convicted. Many years later, Webster claimed in a petition for post-conviction relief that the eleven jurors who showed [...]

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Nov

29

No Harm, No Foul — But How Do You Know If There Was Harm?

Posted by: | November 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that gives the Court an opportunity to clarify a longstanding ambiguity in harmless error law.  Even if a defendant’s procedural rights have been violated at trial, a conviction will not be reversed on appeal if the error was harmless.  However, the Court has at different [...]

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Nov

19

Seventh Circuit Overturns Sentence for Lack of Explanation

Posted by: | November 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Henry and Elizabeth Robertson were involved in a mortgage fraud scheme in the 1990′s.  Many years later, they were charged with and pled guilty to wire fraud for their part in the scheme.  Despite an unusual and compelling story of self-motivated rehabilitation, they were sentenced to 63 and 41 months of imprisonment, with almost no [...]

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Oct

2

What Must a Defendant Do in Order to Go It Alone?

Posted by: | October 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment

While awaiting trial on criminal charges in federal court, Michael Campbell wrote the following in a letter to the judge: Your honor I am asking that John Taylor [Campbell's court-appointed lawyer] be removed from my case. I am requesting that you appoint another lawyer to complete the process. If not I would like to proceed pro se. [...]

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Sep

23

Seventh Circuit Clarifies Sentencing of Wholesale Drug Traffickers, Encourages Dose-Based Approach

Posted by: | September 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Wholesalers often sell drugs in relatively pure form, with the knowledge that retailers will dilute the drugs before reselling them on the street. Indeed, some powerful drugs, like the painkiller fentanyl, must be substantially diluted before they can be safely consumed. For that reason, wholesalers may end up selling much smaller quantities than retailers, at [...]

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Sep

22

Accommodation of Prisoners With Idiosyncratic Religious Beliefs

Posted by: | September 22, 2011 | 4 Comments

Under O’Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U.S. 342 (1987), prison officials may restrict inmates’ religious practices, but such restrictions are constitutionally limited to those that reasonably relate to legitimate penological objectives. The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act offers additional, statutory protections. But talk of a religious practice normally conjures up the image of an organized [...]

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Sep

20

Why Is This Guy Being Prosecuted? Seventh Circuit Orders New Trial for Forklift Operator Swept Up in Drug Sting

Posted by: | September 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment

As part of a drug sting, an undercover federal agent drove a truckload of marijuana to an industrial park in McHenry, Illinois, on March 18, 2008. The agent had arranged to deliver the drugs to Irineo Gonzalez, a target of the sting. Although Gonzalez showed up to meet the agents, there were some difficulties with [...]

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Sep

8

Dismissal for Failure to Prosecute Does Not Count as PLRA Strike, Seventh Circuit Rules

Posted by: | September 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

Choosing form over substance, the Seventh Circuit ruled earlier this week that dismissals of a prison inmate’s repeated “unintelligible” complaints do not count as strikes under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, even though the cases should have been dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim. Paul v. Marberry (No. 10-3670). The PLRA requires [...]

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Aug

30

DOJ Changes Its Mind, Seventh Circuit Does Not

Posted by: | August 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment

As I discussed in this post, the Seventh Circuit earlier this year rejected retroactivity for the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which softened the mandatory minimum penalties for crack cocaine offenses.  In the Seventh Circuit’s view, any crack offenses committed prior to August 3, 2010, when the FSA was signed into law, must still be sentenced [...]

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Aug

28

Seventh Circuit Rejects Retroactivity for Padilla

Posted by: | August 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment

In Padilla v. Kentucky, 130 S. Ct. 1473 (2010), the Supreme Court held that a lawyer provides ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to inform a client of the deportation risks that result from a guilty plea.  However, the Court did not clearly indicate whether its holding must be applied retroactively to cases on collateral review, [...]

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Aug

23

Gender Discrimination in Jury Selection as Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Posted by: | August 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment

A defendant’s right to reasonably competent legal representation is violated when the defendant’s lawyer discriminates on the basis of gender during jury selection, the Seventh Circuit ruled last week inWinston v. Boatwright (No. 10-1156).  The court’s reasoning would presumably apply equally to racial discrimination.  However, because of the peculiarities of federal habeas law, the particular defendant who [...]

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