Public Defense

In United States v. Solano, No. 07-1656-cr (2d Cir. November 14, 2008), the government repeatedly insisted before trial that a detective had not taken notes when he interviewed the defendant. Mid-trial, the government did an about-face and disclosed that the notes had once existed but had been destroyed. The circuit granted the defendant no relief, but did note that the government?s behavior ?was far from exemplary. We would expect the government to review their procedures to assure against a repetition.?

In United States v. Johnson, No. 07-5356-cr (2d Cir. November 12, 2008) the court granted a Regalado remand even though the defendant did not ask for one on appeal.

And, in United States v. Medley, No. 06-3204-cr (2d Cir. November 12, 2008), defense counsel did not file a timely notice of appeal, despite his assurances to the client that he would. The appellate court remanded the case to the district court with instructions to enter a new judgment from which a timely appeal could be taken.

Full post as published by Second Circuit Blog on November 14, 2008 (boomark / email).