Recent Articles

Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act

November 10, 2008 15:02

With much gratitude to our smart colleague down south in Wichita, David Freund offers this post:On November 5th, the Tenth Circuit held that 18 USC ยง 2250(a)(2)(B), of the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act ( SORNA) applies only to persons who traveled in interstate commerce after ...

DNA at the Supreme Court

November 03, 2008 15:57

The Washington Post reports that the US Supreme Court is considering review of a critical DNA issue -- whether one has a constitutional right to have DNA tested.Osborne was convicted, spent more than a decade in prison and gave a detailed confession to a parole board. But after recanting that...

Twice in One day

October 20, 2008 15:00

All right, we don't post anything for a week, then twice in one day. But this really caught my attention: the Supreme Court granted cert on the circuit split regarding identity theft. From SCOTUSBlog:The issue is whether the law enhancing the sentence for identity theft requires proof that an...

Postville Update

October 20, 2008 13:07

For those of you who attended the Postville immigration conference last month or who are just keeping track of ICE's shenanigans, here is an update on the town of Postville. From CNN, the Postville mayor reports that "Feds Turned My Town 'Topsy Turvey'":"It makes a person feel kind of angry,"...

Kansas Case Granted Cert by SCOTUS

October 01, 2008 15:40

In today's Order List from the US Supreme Court, one Kansas case made the cut:07-1356 KANSAS V. VENTRIS, DONNIE R.The motion of respondent for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. Under reviw is the Kansas Supreme Court in State v....

Cost of Sex Offender Registration

September 30, 2008 14:44

Also known as SORNA, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act greatly expanded the requirements for sex offender registration, and there has been a great deal of successful litigation around the country challenging some of these prosecutions for failure to register. This is a grossly...

Bad Labs

September 26, 2008 19:40

This is the reason that we can never become complacent about lab reports, never just take them at face value -- because labs get it wrong, make mistakes, and sometimes just outright cheat. Here's yet another example, following OKC and the FBI, of a lab gone bad. Or, perhaps, just revealed for...

New Defender Blog

September 26, 2008 14:38

Please direct your attention to a new Federal Defender blog, authored by Rebecca Parnell of the Eastern Washington and Idaho district. Rebecca is trying an approach much different than ours- she drafts incisive, regular, and intelligent posts.Give Rebecca's blog a spin. She has recently posted...

More Free CLE

September 25, 2008 13:30

Just a notice about a really good, day-long CLE program hosted by the WDMO FPD. It is slated for October 17th at the Arrowhead Club in KCMO. This is an annual event, and I usually attend, so I can tell you it is a quality program and very well executed. Topics include CP guidelines, an hour of...

Plagarize!

September 15, 2008 19:55

Well, not entirely. But now that the structure and empirical validity of a guideline itself is fodder for a sentencing memo, make sure that you have checked the Sentencing Resource Page before you decide on a guideline attack. The National Federal Defender Sentencing Resource Counsel has drafted...