Seventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: Of Lifelines and Waiver

seventh circuit

When a lawyer is making what is clearly a losing argument, a judge will sometimes throw the lawyer a lifeline, using a question to suggest a more fruitful line of attack.  An astute lawyer will follow the judge’s cue and adapt his or her argument accordingly.

Such does not seem to be the case with the lawyer in United States v. Foster (No. 08-1914).

Last year, in United States v. Smith, 544 F.3d 781 (7th Cir. 2008), the Seventh Circuit held that a conviction for criminal recklessness in Indiana does not count as a prior “crime of violence” for purposes of triggering the fifteen-year mandatory minimum of the Armed Career Criminal Act.  Darryl Foster, however, was given the ACCA sentence enhancement based on a prior conviction for criminal recklessness in Indiana.  Looks like a slam-dunk issue on appeal, right? 

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Seventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: Experience and Confidence Count

seventh-circuit51Once a person comes under police suspicion for dealing drugs, does that person retain any constitutionally protected right to privacy in his own home?  Of course, the answer is “not much” if the police have some specific reason to believe that the house has been used for storing or selling drugs.  But what if the police have only general information that the home-owner is dealing drugs, without any specific information connecting the house to drug trafficking?  Even then, the Seventh Circuit indicated last week, the police may have probable cause to search the house for evidence of drug transactions.

John Orozco was convicted of drug and gun offenses based, in part, on evidence found in his home while police executed a search warrant.  On appeal, he argued that the evidence should have been suppressed because the warrant was issued without probable cause. 

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