Asset Distribution Does Not Moot Appeal

No Legal Challenge to County Budget Cuts

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 3, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Albert Diaz, Municipal

A group of local volunteer fire and rescue departments cannot sue county officials on a claim the county reduced funding in retaliation for plaintiffs’ opposition to local legislation; the 4th Circuit affirms dismissal of the suit by the district court, who declined to inquire into defendants’ alleged illicit motive behind an otherwise facially valid budgetary [...]

Death-Row Defendant Can Show Retardation

By Deborah Elkins
Published: July 3, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Albert Diaz

The 4th Circuit affirms a grant of habeas relief to a defendant convicted of the capital murder of a couple in their home, after the district court’s de novo review of defendant’s claim that his trial attorneys were ineffective for failure to raise a claim under Atkins v. Virginia that defendant’s mental retardation barred imposition [...]

No Convictions for ‘Merged’ Money Laundering

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 11, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Albert Diaz

A defendant who bought and “flipped” properties in an extensive mortgage fraud scheme cannot overturn his fraud and conspiracy convictions with challenges to the district court’s evidentiary and loss calculation rulings, but the 4th Circuit reverses multiple money laundering convictions as “merged” with other offenses, and vacates an order requiring defendant to reimburse his court-appointed [...]

Sign Ordinance is ‘Content Neutral’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 24, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional, Judge Albert Diaz

An Arlington County sign ordinance that required a doggy daycare business to remove a 960-square foot painting of cartoon dogs on the side of the daycare’s business passes constitutional muster as a content-neutral restriction on speech that survives intermediate scrutiny, the 4th Circuit says. The county informed the daycare owner, Kim Houghton, that the painting [...]

Comments to Social Worker Not ‘Testimonial’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 22, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Albert Diaz

Statements made by defendant’s eight-year-old stepson to a social worker about defendant’s abuse were nontestimonial and admission of the statements did not violate defendant’s Confrontation Clause rights under Crawford v. Washington; the 4th Circuit upholds defendant’s convictions of second-degree murder and assault in the death of his stepson. We are satisfied – after reviewing the [...]

No Qualified Immunity for Bail Bondsman

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 2, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Rights, Judge Albert Diaz

A bail bondsman pursuing a fugitive in his home neighborhood must pay $100,000 to a disabled woman whose home the bondsman surveilled and searched; the 4th Circuit says the bail bondsman is not entitled to qualified immunity from the woman’s § 1983 claim and the district court did not err in submitting the immunity issue [...]

Court Upholds Cell Phone Tower Permit

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 2, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Albert Diaz, Zoning

The 4th Circuit upholds an injunction directing that T-Mobile’s application be granted for a conditional use permit to allow construction of a wireless communication tower at an elementary school in Newport News, Va. After the city council denied T-Mobile’s application, it filed suit alleging violations of Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. T-Mobile’s [...]

Conviction Set Aside, But No Citizenship

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 13, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Immigration, Judge Albert Diaz

Although a D.C. court set aside defendant’s conviction for distributing cocaine in a drug-free zone, the conviction still counts for immigration purposes and is an absolute bar to obtaining citizenship, the 4th Circuit says. The D.C. Superior Court suspended defendant’s sentence and placed him on 18 months of supervised probation, with certain conditions. He successfully [...]

Arbitration Ordered on Job-Preference Accord

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 17, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Albert Diaz, Labor

The 4th Circuit upholds the district court order requiring the parties to arbitrate the United Mine Workers’ limited job-preference agreement with a coal company, as the appellate court concludes the coal company has not rebutted the ordinary presumption in favor of arbitrability. Appellee UMW entered into a limited job-preference agreement with Peabody Coal Company. The [...]