11th Circuit Court of Appeals
New 11th Circuit Interpretation of a Portion of the Sentencing Guidelines
One of the hats I wear is that of the Federal opinions editor for a caselaw update that the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers publishes monthly. It has been a slow month for Eleventh Circuit Opinions. But there is one that I will be writing up. And this blog post will pull double duty…
Read MoreJudge Beverly Martin Provides Picture of the Perfect Oral Argument
Judge Beverly Martin of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals spoke to the Georgia Bar’s Appellate Practice Section yesterday on the subject of “What Makes an Effective Appellate Advocate.” More specifically, her focus was on effective oral argument. I’ve heard many talks on this topic, and I read about it all the time. I even write…
Read MoreThird Circuit: Mere Physical Proximity of Guns to Drugs Not Enough for Sentencing Enhancement
Caroline Vodzak reports at Vodzaklegal that the Third Circuit has found that mere spatial proximity of guns to drugs is not sufficient to enhance a defendant’s sentence of drug possession without a specific finding of fact that the gun “facilitated or had the potential for facilitating the possession of drugs.” Mr. West was caught in…
Read More11th Circuit Reverses Conviction on Failure to Charge on Reliance on Advice
Professor Ellen S. Podgor reports in her White Collar Criminal Prof Blog that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed several convictions in Kottwitz.pdf because of a trial court’s failure to charge the jury on the defendants’s good faith reliance upon an accountant’s advice. The Court has also held that, regardless of the strength…
Read MoreU.S. v. Irey: The Return of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines in the 11th Circuit
There is a moment in most great horror movies where the evil presence/bad guy/ghost/homicidal maniac takes out a character who has it coming. For a moment, the audience applauds the wicked antagonist. Think of Jason from Friday the 13th taking out a weaselly teen or the scene in Jurassic Park where the velociraptors eat Dennis…
Read More11th Circuit: Lawsuit Against Clayton County, GA DA Can Move Forward
Bill Rankin at the AJC reports that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a Federal District Court’s dismissal against former Clayton County District Attorney for an alleged violation of his First Amendment right to Free Speech. This is the latest chapter in what was a debacle of a tenure for. Mrs. Scott as…
Read More