Articles
Appeals
Articles filed under Appeal, newest first.
- Can You Still Challenge a Guilty Plea After Signing a Waiver?
Often yes: a waiver in a plea deal does not bar every challenge, and a government breach can void it, but winning can sometimes lead to a longer sentence.
- Can You Appeal After Pleading Guilty in Federal Court?
Sometimes: under Class v. United States, a guilty plea alone does not stop you from arguing on direct appeal that the law you broke is unconstitutional.
- Can a Person With Intellectual Disability Be Executed? Moore v. Texas
No. The Eighth Amendment bars it, and in Moore v. Texas the Supreme Court held that courts must judge intellectual disability by current medical standards.
- Is an Appeal Waiver Valid If the Plea Deal Gave You Nothing?
Not always: the Second Circuit refused to enforce an appeal waiver in Lutchman because the defendant got no benefit from the plea deal in exchange.
- Convictions Reversed Because the Defendants Never Personally Waived a Jury
Only you can give up your right to a jury, and in Laney the Ninth Circuit reversed convictions because only the lawyers had signed the waiver.
- D.C. Sniper Lee Boyd Malvo and the Challenge to Juvenile Life Sentences
Two Supreme Court rulings on juvenile life sentences let D.C. sniper Lee Boyd Malvo win new sentencing hearings, but the case ended after Virginia changed its parole law.
- Is It a Crime to "Encourage" an Undocumented Immigrant to Stay?
Yes, in narrow cases: the Supreme Court upheld the federal "encourage or induce" law in 2023, but read it to cover only purposely soliciting or helping specific illegal acts.
- Can ICE Deport Someone a Federal Judge Released on Bail?
Yes: the Sixth Circuit held a federal judge's bail order does not stop ICE from detaining or deporting a defendant before sentencing.
- Can the State and Federal Government Both Prosecute You for the Same Act?
Yes: in Gamble v. United States (2019), the Supreme Court kept the "separate sovereigns" rule, so state and federal prosecutors can each charge the same conduct.
- Bridgegate Case: Civil Rights Counts Dismissed, Fraud Convictions Later Reversed
The Third Circuit threw out the Bridgegate civil rights counts in 2018, and in 2020 the Supreme Court reversed the remaining fraud convictions.
- Brett Kavanaugh's Record in Criminal Cases Before the Supreme Court
On the D.C. Circuit, Brett Kavanaugh criticized acquitted-conduct sentencing and pushed for proof of intent, though he was no strong voice for the Fourth Amendment.
- Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Three Federal Criminal Cases (December 2017)
The Supreme Court took three criminal cases in December 2017, and its 2018 rulings decided who can get guideline-based sentence reductions.
- The Supreme Court's October 2017 Term: Criminal Cases to Watch
The October 2017 term produced major criminal rulings, including Dimaya on vague laws, Carpenter on cell phone records, and Class on appeals after a guilty plea.
- Gun-Transport Conviction Reversed Over a Faulty "Willfully" Instruction
The Ninth Circuit reversed a federal gun-transport conviction because the jury instruction on "willfully" let jurors convict for intending a different crime.
- Federal Kidnapping Is Not a Crime of Violence Under § 924(c)
No: the Seventh Circuit held that federal kidnapping can be committed without force, so it cannot support a § 924(c) gun conviction.
- Illegal Reentry: No Attempt Conviction for Standing in a Watched Border Area
The Ninth Circuit held that being in a closely watched pre-inspection area at the border, without intent to go further, is not attempted illegal reentry.