Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers: Criminal Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Criminal Law

Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

By Tom Lincoln

Post Frequency: 1.2/day

Last Entry: January 21, 2011 at 18:55:44

PRACDL Members in CJA Committee and Comité para Revisar el Manual de Instruciones al Jurado

Posted on November 21, 2004
The District of Puerto Rico's Criminal Justice Act Committee counts with six practicing criminal defense lawyers, and five of these are proud members of PRACDL: Jorge L. Arroyo, PRACDL immediate past-President Hector Deliz, PRACDL member Joseph C. Laws, Jr...

Super-sealed Cases

Posted on November 21, 2004
There are sealed cases and then there are "super-sealed" cases, i.e., "cases in the total eclipse of entire cases or individual pleadings by keeping everything about them -- even case and docket numbers -- secret." See Court Secrecy Practices at Center of Drug Boss's 11th Circuit Appeal | Appeal focuses on 'super-sealed' court documents that hide cases' existence, by Dan Christensen (Miami Daily Business Review) at Law...

Practitioners' Advisory Group Proposal to USSC Makes the Most Sense

Posted on November 21, 2004
As we wait for the Supreme Court to decide Booker & Fanfan, we have competing proposals before the US Sentencing Commission. At the one end, is the idea of starting from a clean slate, an unlikely event. At the other extreme is the idea of nullifying any decision applying Blakely to the federal guidelines, initially proposed by Professor Bowman in his submission to the Senate Judiciary Committee back in July, and now having apparently become DOJ's darling - to move the top of each offense level to the statutory maximum and thereby make ashes of Blakely's holding, ...

PRACDL Lawyer's Assistance Strike Force in Action

Posted on November 19, 2004
PRACDL's Lawyer's Assistance Strike Force moved into action a few days ago in the case of US v. Adalberto Brito, Crim. No. 03-146 (DRD). Attorney Juan R. Acevedo-Cruz filed PRACDL's Motion to Intervene, and attorneys Linda Backiel and Rachel Brill filed a Motion to Vacate Order for Hearing and for Other Relief on behalf of counsel Esther Castro-Schmidt...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

PRACDL Assembly & Elections

Posted on November 18, 2004
PRACDL's Annual Assembly and Elections were a complete success! We had many new members. In particular, many of us were pleased at the number of younger lawyers who joined PRACDL. Maria H. Sandoval, who has served as PRACDL Vice President, was elected President of PRACDL, replacing Jorge L...

Judge Cassell Upholds Constitutionality of Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentences in US v. Angelos

Posted on November 17, 2004
I am posting this without even getting to read the entire decision by Judge Paul G. Cassell in United States v. Angelos, No. 02-CR-00708-PGC (D.Utah Nov. 16, 2004), addressing the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences under federal law. I am also including the excellent amicus brief filed by Greenberg Traurig...

Setting the Record Straight on the Role of the Criminal Defense Lawyer and Those "Technicalities" They Use

Posted on November 16, 2004
I have just finished reading a letter written by PRACDL President and friend Jorge L. Arroyo to Ms. Inés Quiles at WKAQ Radio Talkshow "A Palo Limpio" on November 10, 2004. The letter was written in response to some comments about criminal defense lawyers getting persons acquitted on "technicalities...

PRACDL Annual Assembly

Posted on November 12, 2004
PRACDL will hold its Annual Assembly and Elections (and more) on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. To those of you who have not yet submitted your completed application forms, remember that you can take it to the assembly with payment. (PRACDL is only open for membership to Criminal Defense Lawyers with offices in Puerto Rico)...

Welcome to PRACDL's new blog!

Posted on November 12, 2004
Welcome to PRACDL's new blog. All of our old posts can be found at Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Be sure to create a link to our new URL at http://pracdl.typepad.com/pracdl/. This will be a group blog of PRACDL members, and I will continue to be the administrator for the same...

Terry v. Menifee, No. 04-4505, 004 WL 2434978 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 1, 2004) follows Goldings v. Winn and Elwood v. Jetter

Posted on November 12, 2004
We posted on Elwood v. Jetter here, and on Goldings v. Winn, here, here, and most recently here. Now this in via Howard O. Kieffer at BOPWatch: On November 1, 2004, Chief Judge Michael B. Mukasey (SDNY), in Terry v. Menifee, No. 04-4505, 2004 WL 2434978 (S...

First Circuit's Leadership Role in Blakely Strikeouts

Posted on November 11, 2004
As noted by Professor Douglas Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy here, with the opinion in United States v. Fraser, 2004 WL 2537410, No. 04-1100 (1st Cir. Nov. 10, 2004), the First Circuit maintained its status "as a leader in affirming convictions over Blakely objections on plain error grounds...

PRACDL Assembly - November 17, 2004 at 6:00 p.m.

Posted on November 10, 2004
This is to remind all new and renewing PRACDL members of our assemby scheduled for November 17th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Café Al Fresco - G-11 O'Neill St. The members of the PRACDL Board will be elected at that time. We want all PRACDL members to participate, so please set aside November 17th from 6:00 to 9:00 p...

Order for Empanelment of 2 Juries for Capital Case: One non-Death-Qualified for Guilt Phase, the Other Death-Qualified for Penalty Phase

Posted on November 07, 2004
In a first of a kind, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner has entered a Memorandum and Order Re: Bifurcation in United States v. Darryl Green, et al.,Criminal No. 02-10301-NG (D.Mass, Nov. 3, 2004) -a capital case- whereby there will be two juries, one non-death qualified to decide guilt or innocence, and a second death-qualified jury to, if necessary, decide on punishment.

Is Pedro Martinez pitching at the First Circuit?

Posted on November 04, 2004
The First Circuit is throwing out left and right all Blakely claims raised for the first time on appeal by applying plain error and even discussing whether the claims have been waived rather than forfeited by not having been raised earlier. Feels as if Pedro Martinez were pitching for the First Circuit...

New White Collar Crime Blog

Posted on November 01, 2004
We welcome the new White Collar Crime Prof Blog, at which -starting today- distinguished law Professors Ellen Podgor and Peter Henning "will make daily postings on issues related to White Collar Crime. The Blog will discuss current investigations and indictments, criminal and civil enforcement cases, and issues related to the scope of the criminal law...

BOP's Residential Drug Abuse Treatment Program (RDAP)

Posted on October 25, 2004
With many thanks to Howard O. Kieffer of BOPWatch, we refer counsel to a list of the BOP's facilities offering Residential Drug Abuse Treatment Program (RDAP), with the caveat that the list is not up to date, as the Allenwood and Devens facilities no longer have the program...

Acquittal by judge draws criticism

Posted on October 19, 2004
U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro (D.Mass.) is being attacked for granting a defense motion pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 at the close of the government's case in chief in a money laundering case against a lawyer. The Boston Globe article cites prosecutors' and former prosecutors' complaints about D...

Elwood v. Jeter, No. 04-2253 (8th Cir. October 18, 2004)

Posted on October 18, 2004
In Elwood v. Jeter,No. 04-2253 (8th Cir. Oct. 18, 2004) (Bureau of Prison's policy of limiting prisoner placement in Community Corrections Centers to the lesser of six months or ten percent of the prisoner's sentence is based on an erroneous interpretation of 18 U...

PRACDL Upcoming Assembly

Posted on October 17, 2004
To all criminal defense practitioners before the U. S. District Courts for the Districts of Puerto Rico and the USVI, be on the lookout for announcements on the next PRACDL General Assembly at which the new Board of Directors will be elected. If you are already a member, you will receive notice shortly of new membership benefits which we can assure you will seem extremely attractive...

Booker & Fanfan Oral Argument Transcript

Posted on October 15, 2004
You may now access the Booker & Fanfan oral argument transcript before the supreme Court.

Keeping the lid on Pandora's Jar - by the Bard of the Short Circuit

Posted on October 12, 2004
Circuit Judge Selya's opinion for the First Circuit panel in United States v. Watson and O'Hearn, No. 04-1913 (1st Cir. October 12, 2004) turns down -rightfully so- a Government interlocutory appeal from a district court's order refusing to grant the Government a trial continuance in a three year old case...

7th Circuit is Afraid of the Briar Patch?

Posted on October 10, 2004
In United States v. LaGiglio, No. 04-2934 (7th Cir. Oct. 8, 2004), an appeal by the government, and an opinion by Judge Posner (who wrote the Booker majority opinion), [a] jury convicted Bonnie LaGiglio of conspiracy to impede collection of taxes by the Internal Revenue Service, 18 U...

U.S. v. Perez, Crim. No. 04-86-P-H (D.Me. October 5, 2004) - Judge D. Brock Hornby

Posted on October 09, 2004
In a recently issued Procedural Order in U.S. v. Ramon Perez, Crim. No. 04-86-P-H,(D.Me. October 5, 2004), U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby, refused to accept a defendant's guilty plea when defendant, through counsel, informed that he wanted to plead guilty to the conspiracy charge, "but wanted a jury trial as to the drug quantities and on the scope of the conspiracy...

Must Read for the Judiciary

Posted on October 08, 2004
There's a natural inclination on the part of the Judiciay -I suppose- to view things in a light that is favorable to the prosecution. Ken Lammers has this post at CrimLaw about a 4th Circuit district Judge's ruling on a suppression of evidence. Would that all of our Judges thought of imitating this judge's example a bit more often...

Goldings v. Winn Update from Peter Goldberger via BOP Watch

Posted on October 06, 2004
Peter Goldberger, has updated information on Goldings v. Winn, as reflected from this post at BOPWatch: On 9/9/04 the First Circuit released its lengthy opinion in Goldings v. Winn, totally invalidating the BoP's policy limiting designation of CCCs for service of sentences of imprisonment, as well as its practice of limiting CCC utilization at the end of sentences to no more than 10% of the time to be served (not to exceed 6 mos...

More Blakely Plain Error Analysis by 1st Cir. in U.S. v. Cordoza-Estrada, No. 03-2666 (1st Cir. Sept. 29, 2004)

Posted on September 29, 2004
The First Circuit keeps fidgeting with Almendarez-Torres. In United States v. Cordoza-Estrada, No. 03-2666 (1st Cir. Sept. 29, 2004) the First Circuit also handled a Blakely claim which involved the continuing vitality of Almendarez-Torres. Having plead guilty to a one count information, Cordoza-Estrada was convicted of re-entering the United States after being deported, in violation of 8 U...

U.S. v. Savarese - First Circuit Applies Plain Error to Blakely Claim

Posted on September 29, 2004
In U.S. v. Savarese, No. 04-1099, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 19824 (1st Cir. September 22, 2004), a case involving the interpretation of section 2B3.1 of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provides for a two-level enhancement of a defendant's offense level if the defendant engaged in carjacking...

Sending you all to Macondo Law to "A bit on Booker & Fanfan, and looking back at Mistretta and Apprendi"

Posted on September 28, 2004
I invite you to visit Macondo Law and check out the following post Revised - A bit on Booker & Fanfan, and looking back at Mistretta and Apprendi which I think you will find interesting. I would also urge you to post your comments there which may help grasping which way the Court will go on the two issues now facing it in Booker and Fanfan: Blakely's application to the federal guidelines; and Severability of the Guidelines and/or the Sentencing Reform Act...

Solicitor General submitted the United States' Reply Brief in Booker & Fanfan

Posted on September 27, 2004
Today the Solicitor General submitted the United States' reply brief in Booker & Fanfan. One of the questions that has been looming is whether the Solicitor General will reply merely to the arguments raised in the respondents' briefs or whether it will address the arguments in the briefs submitted in support of respondents by amici...

PACER Fee Increase

Posted on September 26, 2004
PACER has announced here that A fee increase from 7 cents per page to 8 cents per page for public access to court electronic records (PACER) was approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States at its September 2004 session. The fee increase applies to all systems (CM/ECF, PACER, RACER, etc...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Pennsylvania Nursing Home Director Admits Criminal Neglect of Patient
Donna Cameron, of Ashton Pennsylvania, who was the former Director...

Finally, A Rational Discussion Of The Criminal Alien Program In Irving
My friend René Castilla has written an excellent guest editorial ...

Criminal Intimate Abuse Declining?
Criminal violence against intimate partners has dropped nearly two...

Immigration Consequences Of Criminal Convictions
IntroductionFor non-citizens, the immigration consequences of a cr...

Lawyers Work To Free Palestinian Family
On September 30, 2001, a Palestinian family, the Ibrahims, entered...