Where the prosecutor’s improper statements during closing arguments on charges of sexual assault, including asking the jury to convict the defendant based on the prospective sins of others, the remarks so prejudiced the defendant’s substantial rights that he was denied ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Julius N. Richardson

Where the drug defendant asked that his sentence be reduced by five years but received only a two-year reduction, there was no abuse of discretion because the district court considered his arguments and balanced the nature of his offense, his ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Julius N. Richardson

Where police had probable cause to search a shoebox containing heroin and fentanyl based on information from a reliable confidential informant and their own independent corroboration of his story, a drug defendant’s challenge to his sentence failed. Background In 2017, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Julius N. Richardson

Where the defendant falsely told police officers and court officials that the charges brought against him would be dismissed because he was an assistant United States attorney, or AUSA, and repeated that he was an AUSA when he was trying ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Julius N. Richardson

Where the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act applies only if the company employed 100 or more full-time employees on the date the first notice was required, and the undisputed evidence was that the government contractor employed fewer ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Judge Julius N. Richardson

Where the district court is alleged to have erred by failing to instruct the jury “to give such weight to the confession as the jury feels it deserves under all the circumstances” when it admitted a confession into evidence, the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Julius N. Richardson

Where there was no existing “job sharing” position available for the pharmaceutical sales representative in the district, the company had no duty to create one in order to reasonably accommodate her disability. Although the company had previously permitted her to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Employment Discrimination Judge Julius N. Richardson

In a case of first impression, the court joined other circuits in holding that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, didn’t create a private right to sue. As such, a detainee who alleged his doctor ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Julius N. Richardson

Where an operator has complied with the water-quality standards promulgated under the Clean Water Act, an assertion that same conduct violates the Surface Mining Act fails because the Mining Act’s saving clause prevents liability for conduct that is otherwise shielded ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Julius N. Richardson Tort

Where a 911 caller requested medical care for the decedent because of his consumption of alcohol and prescription drugs, and the officers knew the man was substantially inhibited in his ability to talk, walk or sit and they witnessed his ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Julius N. Richardson