Category: Blog

Stubblefield's Case and Sentencing Stubblefield pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. At sentencing, when calculating the base offense level, the district court held Stubblefield responsible for all methamphetamine attributable to the conspiracy under U.S.S.G. 1B1.3. Stubblefield  appealed, arguing that the district court failed to make sufficient factual findings to support its relevant conduct findings. About […]

Munoz pled guilty to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. As a part of the plea agreement, the parties agreed to recommend a sentence between 96 and 120 months imprisonment. The aggregate Guideline Sentencing Range (“GSR”) for the offenses was 60 to 66 […]

Barfield pled guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of 27 years and 20 years on each conspiracy count. At sentencing, the parties disputed the total quantity of heroin sale attributed to Barfield. The PSR recommended that he be held accountable for 16 kilograms of heroin, which the […]

Queriapa Background Queriapa was sentenced to 46-months imprisonment following a guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry after deportation subsequent to a felony conviction, in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326(a), (b)(1). On appeal before the Fourth Circuit, Queriapa challenged the procedural reasonableness of his sentence, arguing that the district court improperly calculated his Guidelines […]

February 20th Update: Persons with Detainers No Longer Foreclosed From Application of FTC Credits The Bureau of Prisons has indicated that the following language has been removed from the program statement concerning the application of FSA Time Credits The highlighted text in has been changed (either added or struck through) in Section 10. APPLICATION OF […]

Seventh Circuit Throws out Warrantless Search of House, Retrieval of Gun based on Snapchat Viewing:  Banks United States v. Banks, No. 22-1312 (7th Cir. 2023) In April 2021, Springfield police saw a Snapchat post of Banks barbequing on his front porch with a gun sitting on the grill’s side shelf. One of the officers saw […]

Facts:  Controlled Buys and Search Warrant, but No Evidence of Credibility of Confidential Informant On April 24, 2019, an Officer with the Lexington Police Department applied for a warrant relating to Sanders. In the affidavit in support of the warrant, the officer stated that a confidential informant (“CI”) advised the officer that Sanders was selling […]

The Story so Far:  The CARES Act Allowed Incarcerated Persons to go Home During the COVID Pandemic As you know, on January 31, 2020, then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar Declared a public health emergency. In March, Former President Trump declared the COVID pandemic a national emergency.  Congress, in turn, responded with passing the […]

Facts:  Court Rejects Nieves' voir dire Questions and holds Inadequate Jury Selection In May 2019, Nieves was indicted on four counts of witness retaliation and witness tampering offenses. Prior to trial, both sides proposed gang-related voir dire questions to screen for potential gang-related biases. Voir dire proceeded typically until the court announced it would begin peremptory […]

United States v. Thomas, No. 21-3690 (8th Cir. 2023) Facts:  Defendant Signs Plea Agreement with "No Further Prosecution" Clause, is Further Prosecuted In May 2018, Thomas pled guilty in the Southern District of Iowa to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841, 846. In exchange for his guilty plea, […]