A defendant sentenced in 2009 to 151 months in prison for distributing crack cocaine is eligible for relief under the First Step Act of 2018. When the law changed the quantities of crack cocaine to which 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Allison Jones Rushing

Although regulations prohibit “commercial vehicles” from driving on the George Washington Parkway unless authorized by permit, the mere fact the defendant was driving a commercial vehicle on the parkway did not provide a basis to stop his vehicle. The marijuana ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Allison Jones Rushing

After the defendant was sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed when he was 17, the Supreme Court held that, when sentencing a minor to life without parole, the court must consider the defendant’s “youth and attendant characteristics.” Because ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Allison Jones Rushing

Where an FBI attaché interviewed the defendant about his association with the Islamic State of Iraq without providing him Miranda warnings, and a different team of FBI agents interviewed him 10 days later after giving Miranda warnings, there was no ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Allison Jones Rushing Judge Henry F. Floyd

Where a former deputy commonwealth’s attorney brought a claim under the 14th  Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause claiming she was fired in retaliation for reporting alleged sex discrimination, her claim was dismissed because the Equal Protection Clause cannot sustain a pure ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Discrimination Judge Allison Jones Rushing

Minor inaccuracies in two CBS Evening News reports about a West Virginia pharmacy and its role in the opioid crisis did not support a claim for defamation because the broadcast likely had the same effect on the viewer as the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allison Jones Rushing Tort

The stop of the defendant after a bar brawl was supported by multiple elements, including a tip from a witness describing a person with a gun, with a physical description matching the defendant, in a known problem area. Background Shortly ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Allison Jones Rushing Judge James A. Wynn Jr.

A Family Dollar employee who failed to show up for work two days in a row without notifying her manager was terminated for the unexcused absences and not her age, prior complaints about her manager or her prior leave. Background Family ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Discrimination Judge Allison Jones Rushing

Although Virginia’s controlled substance statute is broader than its federal counterpart and penalizes the possession of substances that are not illegal under federal law, the statute is divisible. Thus, the Board of Immigration Appeals did not err in concluding that ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Immigration Judge Allison Jones Rushing

Where a suit filed in federal court al­leged the defendants engaged in fraudu­lent conduct in prosecuting defamation suits in state court, it was not an attack on the state-court judgments and, as such, was not barred by the Rooker-Feld­man doctrine. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Practice Judge Allison Jones Rushing