No Image OK for Child Porn Warrant

Prior ‘Bad Acts’ Evidence Inadmissible

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 27, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

Police had a reasonable articulable suspicion to detain defendant’s truck after a traffic stop, based on an experienced officer’s observations of defendant’s contacts with others at the site of a club known for drug activity, but the trial court erred reversibly in admitting prior “bad act” evidence, the 4th Circuit says. Defendant argues the authorities [...]

‘Cockfighting’ Statute Constitutional, Court Says

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 27, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

A federal statute that allows participation in “gamefowl derbies,” or “cockfighting” is not an unconstitutional extension of congressional power under the Commerce Clause, and the 4th Circuit upholds defendants’ convictions under the statute 7 U.S.C. § 2156. Defendant argues that animal fighting is inherently an intrastate activity that has no substantial effect on interstate commerce [...]

Juror’s Wikipedia Use Means New Trial

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 27, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

A juror’s use of Wikipedia to research an element of a criminal offense violated defendant’s right to a fair trial on illegal “cockfighting” charges, and the 4th Circuit vacates defendant’s conviction for violating an animal fighting statute, 7 U.S.C. § 2156(a), and conspiracy convictions of defendants related solely to the animal fighting activities. The panel [...]

Firearm ‘Pointing’ is ‘Crime of Violence’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 14, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

The 4th Circuit upholds a 96-month sentence on defendant’s conviction of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon; the sentencing court did not err in enhancing defendant’s sentence for his prior “crime of violence” for pointing and presenting a firearm, and in treating his sentence after an Alford plea to involuntary manslaughter as a [...]

Warrant OK for Thermal-Imaging Search

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 13, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

Although identified sources could only say a married couple had grown large amounts of marijuana on their property in the past and one source had purchased marijuana from wife at some unidentified earlier time, police confirmed additional details in the affidavit, such as the couple’s high use of electricity, and the 4th Circuit upholds a [...]

Court Upholds Board on Cell Tower

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 7, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, Municipal

In this appeal, we consider certain “prohibition” and “discrimination” challenges brought by a wireless telecommunications provider against a local governing body under a provision of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 332(c)(7)(B)(i), and conclude the Fairfax County, Va., board of supervisors did not violate the Act in denying a request filed by T-Mobile [...]

No Habeas Writ on Strickland Claim

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 13, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

The 4th Circuit reverses a district court’s issuance of a habeas writ to a North Carolina death-row defendant, as the proper review by the federal court indicates the conviction cannot be overturned for the claimed errors of ineffective assistance of counsel, withholding of exculpatory evidence or proof of petitioner’s mental retardation. The State of North [...]

‘Moral Turpitude’ Removal Order Vacated

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 1, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Immigration, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan

The 4th Circuit vacates a Board of Immigration Appeals’ order of removal for an El Salvadorian native and lawful permanent resident whose removal was ordered after he was charged with a sexual offense against a minor and pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor; the BIA used the wrong method to evaluate [...]

Strip Search, Knife Use ‘Unreasonable,’ Court Says

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 10, 2012
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, Search & Seizure

Although police did not completely pull down defendant’s pants during a search incident to his arrest on a public residential street, but shone a flashlight down his pants and then used a knife to cut a sandwich baggie with suspected narcotics off defendant’s genitals, the search was a strip search that violated defendant’s Fourth Amendment [...]