Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

The First Circuit vacated the judgment of the district court dismissing this complaint after concluding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Appellant's suit under the Anti-Injunction Act of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 7241, holding that the district court erred in dismissing the complaint.Appellant brought a complaint against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and some of the IRS's agents alleging that Defendants violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments and 26 U.S.C. 7609(f) by acquiring Appellant's personal financial information through a third-party summons process. The district court dismissed Appellant's claims for declaratory and injunctive relief for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, ruling that the Anti-Injunction Act of the Internal Revenue Code, 262 U.S.C. 7421, constituted an exception to the APA's waiver of sovereign immunity. The First Circuit vacated the judgment, holding that the Anti-Injunction Act did not bar Appellant's suit. View "Harper v. Rettig" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction of one count of false impersonation of an employee of the United States, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his claims of error.On appeal, Defendant primarily challenged the sufficiency of the evidence offered for the jury to convict him. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Defendant's argument that the "intent to defraud" remains an inherent part of an 18 U.S.C. 9212 violation which the government move prove despite Congress's removal of that language in 1948 was waived for inadequate briefing; and (2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting the government's motion to quash a request for testimony of federal officers to corroborate his claims that he was working as an FBI agent at the time of his arrest. View "United States v. Vazquez-Rosario" on Justia Law

The First Circuit dismissed Appellant's appeal from his mandatory minimum sixty-month sentence, holding that Appellant knowingly and voluntarily agreed to an appeal waiver, barring this appeal.Pursuant to a written agreement, Appellant pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. The sentencing court sentenced Defendant to sixty months' imprisonment and eight years of supervised release. Appellant appealed, stating that enforcing his appeal waive would work a miscarriage of justice. The First Circuit dismissed the appeal, holding that even if Appellant hadn't waived his argument on appeal, there was no miscarriage of justice. View "United States v. Candelario-Ramos" on Justia Law

The First Circuit vacated Defendant's conviction of attempting to persuade, induce, or entice a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, holding that the trial was tainted by the erroneous limitation of Defendant's expert testimony.On appeal, Defendant argued that the evidence was constitutionally insufficient to convict him of the charged crimes and that the district court erred in barring his expert witness from testifying about whether Defendant's actions fit the mold of a sexual predator. The First Circuit vacated the judgment below, holding that the district court (1) did not err in denying Defendant's motion for a judgment of acquittal; but (2) erroneously excluded a portion of the testimony of Defendant's proposed expert, and the error was not harmless. View "United States v. Soler-Montalvo" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction of three counts of engaging in the business of dealing a firearm without a license and sentence of sixty months' imprisonment, holding that there was no error or abuse of discretion in the district court's imposition of Defendant's sentence.Defendant admitted to engaging in the business of illegally dealing firearms on three separate occasions over more than one year. The district court imposed a sixty-month sentence. Defendant appealed his sentence, arguing that his sentence was procedurally and substantively unreasonable. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that there was no error as to the procedural objections and no abuse of discretion in the length of the sentence imposed. View "United States v. Andujar-Colon" on Justia Law

The First Circuit vacated Appellant's upwardly variant sentence of sixty months imposed in connection with his plea of guilty to one count of racketeering, holding that the sentencing court procedurally erred by basing Appellant's variant sentence, in part, upon certain evidence that lacked any indicia of reliability.Appellant, a former police officer with the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD), was convicted for his involvement with a corrupt group of PRPD officers. On appeal, Appellant challenged, among other things, the procedural reasonableness of his sentence, contending that the district court erred by relying upon his record of unadjudicated administrative complaints filed against Appellant during his career as an officer. The First Circuit agreed and vacated the sentence, holding that the district court's reliance upon Defendant's record of administrative complaints was insufficiently supported, and the error was not harmless. View "United States v. Rivera-Ruiz" on Justia Law

The First Circuit dismissed this appeal, in which Appellant sought to override an appeal waiver and to proceed with an appeal based on the alleged ineffective assistance of his counsel, holding that ineffective assistance of counsel claims not raised in the district court and not within an exception to United States v. Mala, 7 F.3d 1058 (1st Cir. 1993), are insufficient to overcome an appeal waiver.Defendant agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and to failure to appear in court pursuant to a plea agreement that contained a waiver-of-appeal provision. After sentencing, Defendant appealed, asserting for the first time that his counsel afforded him ineffective assistance both at the time he entered his plea and at sentencing. The First Circuit dismissed the appeal, holding that Defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel allegations fell within the Mala rule and could not surmount his waiver of appeal. View "United States v. Staveley" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court resentencing Defendant while applying two sentencing enhancements under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, holding that both enhancements applied.Defendant, a former supervising pharmacist at the New England Compounding Center (NECC), was convicted for his conduct in connection with a criminal investigation into a 2012 deadly nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis that was traced to the NECC's shipments of contaminated drugs. The district court sentenced Defendant to a term of imprisonment of ninety-six months. On appeal, the First Circuit vacated and remanded Defendant's sentence. On remand, the district court held that two enhancements applied to Defendant and resentenced him to a 126-month term of imprisonment. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the district court did not err in applying the two enhancements. View "United States v. Chin" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's convictions for unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition as a convicted felon and for unlawfully possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his allegations of error.On appeal, Defendant argued that the district court abused its discretion when it qualified Special Agent Israel Valle with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as an expert under Fed. R. Evid. 702 on whether the ammunition and firearms charged in the indictment had traveled in interstate commerce. The First Circuit disagreed and affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that Special Agent Valle was qualified to testify as an expert; and (2) Defendant's additional pro se arguments were without merit. View "United States v. Cortez-Oropeza" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the district court's judgmentsentencing Defendant to a 188-month term of imprisonment for his conviction of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute on kilogram or more of heroin and 400 grams or more of fentanyl, holding that Defendant's claims did not survive scrutiny.In his complaint, Defendant argued that the district court mistakenly attributed to him the entirety of the drugs found in an apartment used by him and his coconspirators, and (2) the court erred applying the "stash house" enhancement. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the evidence was sufficient to show that Defendant bore responsibility for the drugs in the apartment; and (2) the "stash house" enhancement was appropriately applied in this case. View "United States v. Soto-Villar" on Justia Law