Favorable and Noteworthy Federal Decisions
- Accessory After the Fact
- Advice of Counsel or Other Expert
- Aiding and Abetting
- Appeal
- Cumulative Error Doctrine
- Government Appeal
- Harmless Error / Plain Error
- Law of the Case
- Magistrate Decision Appeal
- Moot
- Preservation of Issue for appeal
- Spillover Effect
- Sufficiency of Evidence
- Transcripts
- Waiver of Right to Appeal Sentence
- Armed Robbery / Bank Robbery
- Arrest
- Arson and Explosives
- Assault
- Assimilative Crimes Act
- Attempted Crimes
- Attorney-Client Issues
- Conflicts
- Contacting a Represented Party
- Ineffective – Generally and Procedural Issues
- Ineffective Assistance of Counsel – Appeal
- Ineffective Assistance of Counsel – Death Penalty Case
- Ineffective Assistance of Counsel – Guilty Plea
- Ineffective Assistance of Counsel – Pre-trial Motions and Investigation
- Ineffective – trial and sentencing
- Attorney-Client Privilege
- Right To Counsel
- Criminal Justice Act “CJA”
- Right to Counsel (Waiver of Right – Faretta Issues
- Attorney Work Product
- Bail Reform Act
- Bail Pending Act
- Bail Pending Sentencing
- Crime of Violence
- Miscellaneous
- Risk of Flight
- Bank Fraud
- Banks, Misapplication of Bank Funds
- Bank Robbery
- Bankruptcy Fraud
- Batson
- Bill of Particulars
- Brady
- Generally
- Other Exculpatory Evidence
- Other Impeaching Evidence
- Perjured Testimony / Inconsistent Statement of Witness
- Presentence Report and Probation Reports of Witnesses
- Undisclosed Deals of Witness
- Bribery and Gratuities
- Bruton
- Carjacking
- Change of Venue
- Character Evidence
- Child Pornography
- Child Sex Offenses
- Child Support Recovery Act
- Closing Argument
- Comment on Evidence or Information not in the Record or Mischaracterization of Evidence
- Improper Comment on Defendant’s Failure to Testify
- Improper Restriction on Defendant’s Closing Argument
- Improper Vouching or Bolstering
- Other Improper Arguments
- Co-Defendant’s Guilty Plea or Conviction
- Competence to Stand Trial or Enter Guilty Plea
- Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
- Compulsory Process
- Confession
- Fruit of Illegal Arrest or Illegal Search
- Fruit of Illegally Obtained Confession
- Miranda – Sufficiency of Waiver
- Miranda – Sufficiency of Warning
- Miranda – In Custody Requirement
- Impeaching Defendant With Miranda – Or Massisah-Tainted Statement
- Miranda – Interrogation Requirement
- Public Safety Exception
- Psychiatric Examination
- Right To Counsel
- Right to Remain Silent
- Jackson-Denno hearings
- Juveniles
- McNabb-Mallory Rule
- Sufficiency of Evidence to Corroborate a Confession
- Voluntariness
- Conflict of Interest
- Confrontation Clause
- Crawford v. Washington
- Conspiracy
- Drug Cases – Insufficient Evidence
- Generally
- Multiple Conspiracies
- Objects of the Conspiracy
- Pinkerton
- Withdrawal
- Contempt
- Procedural Issues
- Miscellaneous
- Substantive Issues
- Continuances
- Continuing Criminal Enterprise
- Underlying Conspiracy Conviction
- Copyright
- Counterfeit Goods
- Counterfeiting
- Credit Card Fraud
- Crime of Violence
- Cross-Examination
- Improper Prosecutorial Questioning
- Currency Transaction Reports (CTR)
- Death Penalty
- Penalty Phase
- Federal Death Penalty
- Defendant’s Appearance at Trail (Shackling)
- Defendant’s Presence at Trial
- Defendant’s Right to Testify
- Depositions
- Destruction of Evidence
- Detainers
- Discovery
- Double Jeopardy
- Collateral Estoppel
- Double Punishment
- Mistrials; Reversals and Dismissals
- Same Crime; Lesser Included Offenses
- Drugs
- Analogue Act
- Causing Death
- DRUGS (Conspiracy)
- Doctors / Pharmacists
- Importation
- Maintaining a House for Purpose of Distributing Drugs
- Possession — Possession with Intent to Distribute
- Precursor Sales
- School Yard / Playground
- Use of Juvenile
- Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act Violations
- Distribution
- Identification of Drugs
- Due Process
- Inconsistent Prosecution Theories
- Duress / Coercion / Necessity / Justification
- Embezzlement
- Enticing a Minor for Sex
- Entrapment
- Entrapment by Estoppel
- Environmental Crimes
- Escape
- Evidence
- Charts and Summaries
- Evidence of Civil or Regulatory Violations
- Defendant’s Right To Present Exculpatory Evidence
- Hearsay – Evidence Offered by the Government
- Hearsy – Evidence Offered by the Defendant
- Rule 106 – Rule of Completeness
- Rule 403 – Prejudice versus Relevance
- Rule 404(a) – Character Evidence
- Rule 404(b) – Similar Transactions – General Principles
- Rule 404(b) – Simliar Transactions; Other Offenses – DRUG CASES
- Rule 404(b) – Similar Transactions – Non-Drug Cases
- Rule 404(b) – Similar Transactions – Defendant’s use of 404(b) Evidence
- Rule 404(b) – Notice Requirement
- Rule 405 – Character Evidence
- Rule 408 – Civil Settlement Negotiations
- Rule 410 and Fed.R.Crim.P. 11 (e)(6)
- Rule 412 – Rape Shield Statute
- Rules 413 and 414 – Evidence of Similar Crimes in Sexual Assault and Child Molestation Cases
- Rule 605 – Judicial Testimony
- Rule 606(b)
- Rule 608(a) – Opinion testimony relating to witness’s truthfulness
- Rule 608(b) – Impeachment through prior bad acts
- Rule 609 – Impeachment through prior conviction
- Rule 613 – Prior Inconsistent Statement
- Rule 701 – Opinion Testimony
- Rule 702 – Expert Testimony
- Rule 801(d)(1)(A) – Inconsistent Statement in Sworn Testimony
- Rule 801(d)(1)(B) – Prior Consistent Statements
- Rule 801(d)(2)(A) – Adopted Admissions
- Rule 801(d)(2)(D) – Statement of party’s agent
- Rule 801(d)(2)(E) – Co-conspirator statements
- Rule 803(1) – Present Sense Impression
- Rule 803(2) – Excited Utterance
- Rule 803(3) – State of Mind
- Rule 803(4) – Statement Made for Medical Diagnosis
- Rule 803(6) – Business Records
- Rule 803(8) – Public Records and Reports
- Rule 803(15) – statement in a document affecting an interest in property
- Rule 803(18) – Learned Treatise
- Rule 803(24) – Residual Exception – NOW Rule 807
- Rule 804(a) – Definition of Unavailability
- Rule 804(b)(1) – Prior Testimony
- Rule 804(b)(5) – Now Rule 807
- Rule 804(b)(6) – Forfeiture by Wrongdoing
- Rule 806 – Impeaching Declarant
- Rule 901 – Authentication
- Rule 1002 – Best Evidence Rule
- Ex Post Facto
- Examination of Physical Evidence
- Expert Testimony
- Expert Evidence Offered by the Defendant
- Expert Evidence Offered by the Government
- Expungement of Criminal Record
- Extortion
- Extortionate Extensions of Credit
- Extradition
- Extraterritorial Application of Laws
- Eye Witness Identification
- Fair Trial / Free Press
- False Statements / False Claims
- Fifth Amendment
- Immunity and Proffers
- Defense Witness Immunity
- Required Records Doctrine
- Fingerprint Evidence
- Firearms
- Armed Career Criminal Act
- Explosives
- Possession by Prohibited Person
- Possession by Illegal Alien
- Possession by Drug User
- Miscellaneous
- Use of Firearm…§ 924(c)
- First Amendment
- Flight Evidence
- Food and Drug Act Violations
- Forfeiture
- Attorney Fees
- Criminal Procedure
- Extent of Forfeiture; Proportionality; Excessive Fine
- Innocent Owner Defense
- Miscellaneous
- Procedure – Generally
- Procedure – Notice of Seizure
- Procedure – Seizure
- Standing
- Sufficiency of Evidence to Support Forfeiture
- Forgery
- Funds for Experts
- Gambling
- Governmental Misconduct
- Selective Prosecution
- Vindictive Prosecution
- Grand Jury
- Attorney / Client Privilege
- Generally
- Subpoenas
- Guilty Plea
- Advice of Possible Sentence and Consequences of Plea
- Factual Basis and Advice of Nature of Charges
- Miscellaneous
- Right to Withdraw
- Voluntariness; Adequacy of Waiver of Rights
- Handwriting Evidence
- Harboring a Fugitive
- Health Care Fraud
- Hobbs Act
- Identification
- Identity Theft
- Immigration Offenses
- Immunity
- Impossibility
- Indictments
- Dismissal – Rules 12(h)(2) and 48(a)
- DISMISSAL BASED ON UNDISPUTED FACTS
- Duplicity
- Joinder
- Multiplicity
- Variances and Amendments
- Sealing
- Apprendi
- Informants – Discovery
- Insanity
- Internal Revenue Service Summons
- Interpreters
- Interstate Offenses
- Intoxication Defense
- Jencks Act
- Judges
- Motion to Recuse; Removal on Remand
- COMMENTING ON THE EVIDENCE
- Judicial Misconduct
- Juror Misconduct / Extrinsic Evidence / Issues During Deliberations
- Jury
- Alternates
- Anonymous Jury
- Eleven-Member Jury
- Evidence in Jury Room
- Fair Cross Section
- Hung Jury
- QUESTIONING WITNESSES
- Removal of Juror During Deliberations
- Replaying Testimony – Questions During Deliberations
- Right to Jury Trial
- Unanimous Verdict
- Special Verdict Forms
- Waiver of Right to Jury
- Jury Instructions
- Allen Charge
- Burden of Proof
- Defendant’s Failure to Testify
- DEFENDANT’S CREDIBILITY
- Defendant’s Theory or Defense
- Deliberate Ignorance
- Elements of the Offense
- Flight
- Good Faith
- Inconsistent Verdicts
- Intent / Willfulness
- Knowledge
- MISCELLANEOUS
- Missing Witness
- Presumptions
- Lesser Included Offenses
- Reasonable Doubt
- Recharge
- Sentence – Mandatory Minimums
- Special Interrogatories
- Spoliation
- Standard of Review
- Unanimity
- Witness Credibility
- Jury Selection
- Batson v. Kentucky
- False Voir Dire Answers
- Peremtory Strikes
- Voir Dire – Excusals for Cause
- Voir Dire – Excusals for Cause – Death Penalty Cases
- Juvenile Cases
- Kidnapping
- Lesser Included Offenses
- Mail Fraud
- Proof of Fraud
- Proof of Mailing or Wiring
- Intangible Rights – Honest Services
- Mailing Threatening Communications
- Merger of Offenses
- Misprision of a Felony
- Mistake of Fact
- Mistake of Law
- Money Laundering
- Murder in Aid of Racketeering
- Murder
- Murder for Hire
- New Trial / Newly Discovered Evidence
- Obstruction of Justice
- Opening Statement
- Opinion Testimony
- Parallel Proceedings
- Perjury
- Photographs
- Plea Agreements
- Breach of Plea Agreement
- Improper Judicial Participation
- Polygraphs
- Pornography
- Post-Arrest Silence and Invocation of Right to Counsel
- Privileges
- Accountant – Client
- Journalist
- Marital
- Pre-trial Services Worker
- Psychiatrist-patient
- Reporter’s Privilege
- Probation Revocation / Supervised Release
- Prosecutorial Misconduct
- Public Authority Defense
- Public Trial
- Rape
- Re-Opening Evidence
- RICO
- Forfeiture
- Robbery
- Search and Seizure
- Abandonment
- Administrative and Regulatory Searches
- Airport, Bus Station and Train Station Searches
- Anticipatory Warrant
- Appeal by Government
- Appellate Issues
- Arrest Warrants – Arrests in Homes
- Arrests – Good Faith
- Arrest – Material Witness Warrant
- Arrest – Pretext Arrests
- Arrest – Probable Cause
- Arrest – What Constitutes an Arrest?
- Attenuation
- Automobiles
- Border Searches
- Cell Phones
- COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE DOCTRINE
- Community Caretaking Function
- Computers
- Consent – Generally
- Consent – Product of Unlawful Detention, Entry or Arrest
- Consent – Third Party Consent
- Curtilage
- DOGS
- Execution of Search Warrant
- Exigent Circumstances
- Expectation of Privacy
- Franks v. Delaware
- Fruits
- Good Faith / Leon
- GPS DEVICES and CELL SITE LOCATION INFORMATION
- Highway Stops
- Incident to Arrest
- Independent Source
- Inevitable Discovery
- Informants
- Inventory Searches – Impoundment
- Knock and Announce
- Neutral and Detached Magistrate
- Nexus between crime and place to be searched
- Particularity of Things to be Seized
- Plain View
- Pre-Search Seizure
- Private Search
- Probable Cause
- Probationer / Parolee / Pretrial Release
- Return of Seized Property – Fed.R.Crim.P.41(g)
- Road Blocks
- Security Sweep
- Seizures
- Single Purpose Container Exception
- Staleness
- Standing
- STRIP SEARCHES
- Student Searches
- Terry Stop – Improper Frisk
- Terry Stop – Invalid Basis for Seizure
- Terry Stop Prolonged Duration, or Improper Nature of Seizure
- Terry Stop – What Constitutes a Seizure
- Waiver of Motion to Suppress
- What Constitutes a Search
- Securities Fraud
- Selective Prosecution
- Self Defense
- Sequestration
- Severance
- Counts – Misjoinder
- Severing Defendants
- Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act
- Sex Tourism
- Speech or Debate Clause
- Speedy Trial
- Constitutional
- Statutory
- Statute of Limitations
- Statutory Construction
- Rule of Lenity
- Subpoenas
- Tapes and Transcripts
- Tax Offenses
- Telecommunications, Altering Equipment
- Telephone Harassment
- Theft Offenses
- Threatening the President
- Threatening Communications
- Transactional Immunity
- Travel Act
- Venue
- Verdict Form
- Vienna Convention
- Violence in Aid of Racketeering
- Wildlife Offenses (Lacy Act)
- Wiretap Evidence
- Wiretap Offenses
- Witnesses
- Access to Government Witnesses
- Attorneys
- Bolstering / Vouching
- Competence of Witness
- Exclusion of Witness Whose Testimony Was Coerced
- Invoking Fifth Amendment
- Prosecutor
- Prosecutor or Judge Threatening Defense Witnesses
- Threat Evidence
- Work Product
