Articles Posted in Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals

This Monday, the Eleventh Circuit held in Gilbert v. United States that, for federal sentencing purposes, the act of being a U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 career offender is essentially a separate offense. Based upon the Supreme Court’s retroactive decision in Begay and the Eleventh Circuit’s implementation of that decision in Archer, Gilbert is actually innocent of…

Last Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the Eleventh Circuit‘s decision in Holland v. Florida. The Court held, as have all Courts of Appeal, that the AEDPA‘s statute of limitations in habeas corpus cases is subject to equitable tolling. The Court further held that the Eleventh Circuit’s per se rule regarding when…

Last week, a panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which sits here in Atlanta, Georgia, reversed a decision by the newest member of their Court, Judge Beverly Martin. Prior to her appointment to the Eleventh Circuit, Judge Martin was a district court judge here in the Northern District of Georgia. As a member…

Last Friday, the Eleventh Circuit, which hears federal appeals here in Atlanta, Georgia, reversed Lance Lall’s conviction for credit card fraud related offenses. Although Lall was Mirandized and arguably not in custody, the Court held that his confessions were not voluntarily given, in violation of the Due Process Clause. The investigating officer had told Lall…

This past Friday the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in U.S. v. Ghertler, a federal criminal case. The Court held that Ghertler, who had impersonated corporate officials to obtain urgent cash transfers from large corporations, did not abuse a position of trust in perpetrating his frauds because he had no relationship of…

Yesterday, the Eleventh Circuit, which hears appeals from federal cases here in Atlanta, held in U.S. v. Phaknikone that profile photographs from the criminal defendant’s Myspace account were inadmissible evidence of character. The government argued that the photos demonstrated modus operandi: the defendant’s gangsta style as shown in the photographs identified the defendant because he…

This week, the Eleventh Circuit held that the rule making the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) retroactive was valid. In passing the rule, the Attorney General did not provide a notice and comment period as required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The Court held, over Judge Wilson’s strong opinion concurring only…

Last week, the Eleventh Circuit federal appeals court decided U.S. v. Sneed. In this Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) case, the Court decided that U.S. v. Shepard, decided by the Supreme Court in 2005, abrogated the Eleventh Circuit’s 2000 decision in U.S. v. Richardson. The Court held that sentencing courts may look only to Shepard-approved…