Case Summaries

[05/17] US v. Williams
In a case in which a government agent questioned the defendant in an apartment where he was arrested without first issuing Miranda warnings, and two hours later the defendant confessed at the station house, an order of the district court suppressing the confession is reversed, where the district court erred in suppressing the confession as the product of a deliberate two-step interrogation strategy intended to undermine the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights.

[05/17] US v. Batista
In a prosecution of two individuals in connection with their membership in a narcotics trafficking ring, convictions and sentences are affirmed against numerous contentions, including: 1) as to one defendant, that a) at least one juror slept during parts of the trial, depriving the defendant of due process, b) the district court violated the Court Interpreters Act, c) the district court erred in applying sentencing enhancements, and d) the government had engaged in prosecutorial misconduct during its summation; and 2) as to the other defendant, the sentence was both procedurally and substantively unreasonable.

[05/17] Rodgers v. Marshall
The district court's denial of a petition for habeas corpus is reversed and the case remanded, where: 1) the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel was violated when the state trial court denied his timely request for representation for a new trial motion based on the erroneous notion that once waived, the right to counsel cannot be reasserted; and 2) the defendant was not required to prove prejudice, and a harmless error analysis was not required.

[05/17] US v. David
In a prosecution that resulted in a conviction for conspiring to possess and possessing with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and of conspiring to import and importing a controlled substance, the case is remanded for resentencing so that the district court can reevaluate the various considerations identified by the United States Sentencing Guidelines, including, as appropriate, the nature, chemical structure, and intended neurological effects of the substance contained in the pills at issue, and to thereby determine the most closely related substance referenced in the Guidelines and the appropriate marijuana equivalency of the mixture.

[05/17] Rolan v. Coleman
The district court's denial of a petition for habeas corpus is affirmed, where: 1) certain statements by the prosecutor did not constitute a denial of due process; 2) the prosecutor's comments about the defendant's post-arrest silence did not violate his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination; and 3) the trial court's decision to admit a deceased witness's testimony from the defendant's original trial did not violate the defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause by depriving him of an adequate cross-examination of the witness.

[05/16] Bracher v. Superior Court (People)
In cases in which misdemeanor defendants in El Dorado County were required by the trial court to be present at a readiness and settlement conference, a petition for writ of mandate or prohibition is granted, where: 1) the case was not moot because the petition presented an issue that was likely to recur while evading review; and 2) a blanket court policy requiring that all misdemeanor defendants personally appear at a readiness and settlement conference is inconsistent with applicable case law and the statutory scheme.

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