FPD Blog
On Monday, January 23, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in United States v. Jones that the installation of a GPS device on a vehicle was a search under the Fourth Amendment. In this case, a search warrant was obtained, but law enforcement did not follow the deadline by which the device was to be installed (the court gave them 10 days to install it, but it was installed on the 11th day after the warrant was obtained) and did not follow the geographic restriction in the warrant (the device was to be installed in the District of Columbia, but it was installed in...
On August 24, 2011, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued a lengthy opinion in a case captioned State v. Henderson in which it closely examined and ultimately reversed the way eyewitness identifications are conducted in that state. Legal commentators believe the opinion will have a nationwide impact because of the amount and thoroughness of study on eyewitness identification contained in the opinion. For the same reasons, some also speculate the opinion could have an impact on the way federal law...
On August 24, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a series of opinions in the case of United States v. Holcomb that in effect affirm its earlier ruling that the language in the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 governing (lower) mandatory minimum punishments applies only to criminal conduct that occurred on or after August 3, 2010. This ruling is contrary to the position recently taken by Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. on behalf of the government in his July 15, 2011...
Our annual Federal Criminal Practice Seminar co-sponsored by the Federal Bar Association, Northern District of Ohio Chapter was a great success. We thank all that attended. For those of you who were unable to attend the seminar, and would like to attend the video replay, the link below will provide the dates and registration information.