Yesterday the Third Circuit issued a remarkable decision in US v. Olhovsky, accepting the defendant’s arguments that his 6-year sentence was unreasonably high, even though it was 4 years below the minimum guideline term. Olhovsky was convicted of possessing child...
From Legal Inelligencer In a decision that may prove to be a lightning rod in the debate over Pennsylvania’s use of the death penalty, the state Supreme Court has ruled that any criminal defendant with mental impairments, short of being legally defined as...
From: Third Circuit Blog The Supreme Court issued an opinion today in Arizona v. Gant, 2009 WL 1045962 (April 21, 2009), holding that police may search a passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only with reasonable belief that...
From: The Third Circuit Blog The decision in United States v. Doe holds that if the starting point for the sentence is not lowered by the retroactive crack amendment, a defendant is ineligible for relief under 18 U.S.C. section 3582(c)(2). This seems to put an end to...
From U.S. Supreme Court Blog Ventris was charged with murder and other crimes. The state planted another defendant in his cell as a “human listening device,” even though Ventris’ right to counsel had attached. Predictably, Ventris made incriminating...
A pre-trial hearing for a Penn State student charged with felony riot was postponed Friday as his attorney plans to file motions questioning the way police handled the case. The student’s attorney, Andrew Shubin, said there are no “contemporaneous reports...
