In March 2013, Richard Mathis (“Mathis”) was accused of forcibly molesting a teenage boy. See United States v. Richard Mathis, 786 F.3d 1068, 1070 (8th Cir. 2015). After the allegation was made, police obtained search warrants for Mathis’s residence....
sentencing
(LIIBULLETIN preview)
In March 1991, over a span of two weeks, Petitioner James Erin McKinney (“McKinney”) and his half-brother committed two burglaries in Arizona, which resulted in the deaths of Christine Mertens and Jim McClain. McKinney v. Arizona at 2. McKinney was...
(LIIBULLETIN preview (pre-2014))
Oral argument: March 20, 2012
Appealed from: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals (Aug. 27, 2010)
Petitioner, 14-year-old Evan Miller, was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced by an Alabama state court to life in prison without...
(LIIBULLETIN preview)
On August 31, 2012, United States Customs and Border Protection agents arrested petitioner Saul Molina-Martinez (“Molina-Martinez”)—a Mexican national with no legal status in the United States—near Sarita, Texas. Brief for Petitioner, Saul Molina-...
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In 2001, a California jury convicted John Cunningham, a former police officer, of continuous sexual abuse of his minor son. People v. Cunningham, 2005 WL 880983 (Cal.App. 1 Dist. 2005). Pursuant to California’s Determinate Sentencing Law (“DSL”), which...
(LIIBULLETIN preview)
Thomas Eugene Ice was the manager of an apartment complex. On two occasions, Ice entered an apartment at night and sexually touched an 11 year old girl in her bedroom. State v. Ice, 343 Ore. 248, 250 (2007). A grand jury indicted Ice on six crimes: two...
(LIIBULLETIN preview (pre-2014))
[Questions Presented]
[Issue]
[Facts]
[Discussion]
[Analysis]
Issue
Does using Sentencing Guidelines promulgated after the time of a convicted defendant’s crime in sentencing that defendant violate the Constitution’s ban on retroactive laws?
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In July 2002, petitioner James Benjamin Puckett was charged in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas for bank robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. See U.S. v. Puckett, 505 F.3d 377, 381 (...
(LIIBULLETIN preview)
In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act. Brief for Petitioner, Pulsifier at 8. This Act altered statutes relating to “safety valve” relief, which permits courts to issue sentences below the statutory minimum for defendants who meet certain criteria...
(LIIBULLETIN preview)
Petitioner Eddie Shular pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and being a felon in possession of a fire arm. U.S. v. Shular at 876. Shular was sentenced to 180-months under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”). Id. The ACCA...