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Felon in Possession Conviction Affirmed In US v. Daniels, No. 10-1296, the court affirmed defendant’s conviction and sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, holding that 1) the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable jury to conclude that defendant knowingly possessed a firearm; 2) the district court’s finding that defendant marched the victim down the street at gunpoint received ample support in the evidence; and 3) defendant did not show that the district court clearly erred in denying his request for a reduction for acceptance of responsibility....

District court’s sentence and conviction of defendant for producing and possessing child pornography is affirmed where: 1) district court erred in admitting detective’s testimony, as it was unhelpful to the jury as lay testimony and inadmissible under Rule 701(b), but the conviction is affirmed because the error did not affect defendant’s substantial rights; 2) for the same reasons that detective’s testimony does not merit reversal, nor does the Dost instruction, as the outcome of the trial would not have been different without it; 3) district court’s sentence was reasonable under the Guidelines, as evidenced by the fact that it was actually twenty years below the guidelines sentence of one hundred years’ imprisonment; and 4) although the district court committed plain err in denying defendant right to a meaningful allocution, the sentence is affirmed because the error did not seriously affect the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings....

When a concert is postponed or canceled, the news can hit hard. Sometimes the ticket holder doesn’t have the luxury of abundant free time, and can’t make the new date. Other times, the purchase price was a lot of money, and the ticket holder really needs that money refunded immediately rather than waiting to resell a postponed concert for a date still to be determined? What are your rights when a concert is canceled or postponed?...

As COVID-19 cases continue to spike in the U.S., governors have taken unprecedented measures to minimize the surge of infections. These measures mainly include restricting gatherings in homes, schools, businesses, and places of worship. These restrictions, of course, didn’t go unchallenged. There has been a deluge of lawsuits against the governors opposing these restrictions. The most recent one that made it to the Supreme Court was against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions on the size of gatherings in houses of worship....

Can you even remember a time when the real action in an election occurred at the polls instead of in the courts? It’s a foreign concept now, but we vaguely recall when that was the norm. Over the last year, we’ve seen candidates suing to be placed on a party primary ballot, states suing over redistricting maps, and parties suing to be recognized by states. Lately, Ohio’s early voting measure has been basking in the legal limelight with a federal challenge....

Frivolous lawsuits like this have to be the bane of studios’ existence. (Get it? Bane!) In “The Dark Knight Rises,” Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) sought a computer program (“Clean Slate”) that would wipe all traces of her sordid criminal past from the world’s computers. The fictional program was mentioned twice, and viral marketing websites were set up for “Clean Slate” and the fictional company behind it, in order to promote the movie....

Anytime you post on social media, do an internet search, or subscribe to a newsletter, you leave a digital footprint that is a record of almost all of your online activity. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and kicked the issue of abortion regulation back to the states, several acted quickly to enact total bans. That’s led many people to worry about their ability to seek abortion services in other states privately....

In a a civil enforcement action brought under the Commodity Exchange Act, district court judgment against defendant is affirmed where: 1) the Act not require a commodity pool operator to actually trade and make commodity futures transactions in its own name in order to be considered a community pool operator; 2) defendant’s solicitation and receipt of funds for the purpose of trading futures contracts and its management of an investment vehicle placed it within the definition of a commodity pool operator; 3) the court did not err in concluding two defendants committed fraud under the Act as their knowledge of the falsity of their statements and disclosures showed they acted with scienter; 4) the court’s properly concluded that such defendants were liable as controlling persons for defendant-entity’s failure to register with the Commodities Futures Trading Commissions, as they knew about the registration requirement and continued to operate the fund without registering; and 5) one defendant’s conduct sufficed to establish his liability for aiding and abetting another’s violation....

For the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, it will take more than a prayer to stop a natural gas pipeline. Not even a lawsuit helped the sisters of the Roman Catholic organization who sued to stop the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. In Adorers of Blood of Christ v. FERC, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals said they should have objected during administrative proceedings first. The sisters sued on religious freedom grounds, but the appeals court washed its hands of the case....

Can a death warrant be signed, “Return to Sender?” The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Maple v. Thomas, an Alabama death penalty appeal, on Tuesday to decide whether a procedural default in an inmate’s death penalty appeal can be excused. The plaintiff, Cory Maples, was convicted of killing two friends in 1997 after a night of drinking. Maples claimed that he was plagued by ineffective counsel at his trial, and on he went to appeal....

Mandatory arbitration clauses are all the rage these days. After all, the Supreme Court itself just endorsed their use in employment contracts to limit workplace class action lawsuits making their way to court. This thinking goes that arbitrators are generally more friendly to business owners in employment disputes and juries are way too risky. So, arbitration clauses are finding their way into just about every legal document a business signs, with the hopes of making future legal expenses a bit more predictable....

Some things are just not done. For example, demonstrative exhibits not admitted into evidence are just not sent into the jury room to assist the jury with deliberations. Yet somehow, that’s precisely what happened here. The Seventh Circuit reversed a judgment and remanded for a new trial because of a district court’s error. Here’s the latest case that had us scratching our head and thinking, “Did that really just happen?”...

Many courts rely heavily on fines and fees to meet operational costs. One such court is the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court (OPCDC) in New Orleans. If the amount of fines and fees collected is lower than usual, the court has trouble paying for basic expenses. That may be why judges at OPCDC issue arrest warrants when defendants do not pay. Warrants have been issued for fees as low as $14 for court transcripts, although some stretched to the thousands of dollars....

In hacking cases, employee negligence is not a primary cause for insurance payouts – even when an employee’s negligence plays an “essential role” in the hacking incident. That’s according to a recent ruling by the Eighth Circuit. No doubt the court’s ruling will cause many criminal insurance policies to re-examine their policies and to redefine what is covered under “indirect loss.” The circuit court’s opinion affirms the lower district court opinion which found that the negligence of two bank employees did not foreclose coverage under a financial bond due to a hacker squirreling away funds fraudulently....

The Supreme Court will hear a much-anticipated case involving the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) shortly. However, another federal appeals court has also taken up an important issue involving a provision in the ACA that may require hospitals to disclose discounted insurance rates for procedures to the public. If you’ve ever wondered where you can spend the least amount for a routine medical procedure, this may be a case to watch....

The Department of Justice may want to side-step the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to fight Karen Golinski’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) appeal on First Street, but Democrats in the House of Representatives seem to like their odds before the West Coast court. Tuesday, 132 House Democrats filed an amicus brief in opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act to assist litigation challenging the 1996 law, the Washington Blade reports....

Losing your job due to a coronavirus-related business shutdown is bad enough. But if you have child support obligations, the loss of a paycheck can be doubly burdensome. One of the first questions you might ask if you find yourself in that unfortunate situation is: Do I have to continue to pay child support? The short answer is yes. Courts only rarely suspend child support orders. But can you modify your child support order so that you pay less?...

Dog sniffs often lead to the most damning evidence in a drug case, and getting that evidence suppressed can be the difference between a conviction and an acquittal or plea bargain for many defense attorneys. Although the metaphor may grow on you (ka-wink!), the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine is still alive and well, but the Sixth Circuit refuses to extend its toxic branch to certain dog sniff cases....

James Holmes, the Aurora, Colorado mass murderer, hasn’t gone to trial yet, but his attorneys are already reaching out to the Supreme Court. Why? The reporter’s privilege (or “shield”) and choice of law issues. Shortly after the shooting, an unknown source(s) leaked word of a notebook, sent to a University of Colorado psychiatrist, that contained drawings and plans for the movie theater shooting. The notebook was under a gag order. Holmes’ attorneys sought to compel testimony of reporter Jana Winter about her sources, but a New York court stepped in and applied that state’s reporter’s privilege....

Technology fails. Computers crash, cell phone calls drop, and automated license-plate readers (ALPR) misread plates. With that truism established, whose fault is it when a police officer (or six) stops a woman at gunpoint, holds her at gunpoint, handcuffed for twenty minutes, then realizes that the computer had a glitch? The trial court called it a reasonable mistake, held that there was reasonable suspicion for a stop, and held that qualified immunity applied, but the Ninth Circuit reversed yesterday, holding that if all inferences were made in favor of the plaintiff, that there was a triable issue of fact over whether there was reasonable suspicion, whether excessive force was used and whether she was arrested, rather than subject to an investigatory stop....