A defendant sentenced to 192 months in prison on child pornography charges cannot overturn his conviction or sentence with a challenge to the government’s alleged use of “secret” administrative subpoenas to investigate his case, the 4th Circuit says. Defendant contends ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Search & Seizure

In this case involving the government’s request for forfeiture of $358,390 in criminal proceeds from a corporation that owned a motel and participated in a conspiracy to bring prostitutes from out-of-state to work in West Virginia motels, the 4th Circuit ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

A defendant whose 264-month sentence for distribution of crack and powder cocaine was reduced to 240 months under the retroactive crack cocaine amendment to the federal sentencing guidelines, was not entitled to an additional reduction to 216 months, ordered eight ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The 4th Circuit upholds defendant’s sentence for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, which the district court calculated by counting his prior North Carolina conviction for larceny from the person as a “crime of violence” under the federal ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

When a defendant objects to a district court that it has failed to consider 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)’s required sentencing factors and give an adequate explanation for its sentence, the 4th Circuit reviews the claim under an abuse-of-discretion standard, but ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

The 4th Circuit can accept that defendant raised a federal double jeopardy claim by citing a state court case based on federal law, but it nevertheless upholds denial of federal habeas relief on defendant’s claim that his separate punishments for ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

Although an owner of multiple Golden Corral franchises directed his accountants to promptly pay employee payroll taxes and never to pay taxes late, and pumped in his own capital in an effort to keep up payments, the owner also directed ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diana Gribbon Motz Taxation