A Guatemalan man seeking asylum will get a review of his case because an immigration judge applied an improper standard when determining whether the man reasonably feared persecution or torture if he were sent back to his home country, a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Immigration law Judge Pamela A. Harris

In an issue of first impression, where the government argued that an immigration judge’s decision should be upheld so long as it was based on a “facially legitimate and bona fide reason,” the court joined two circuits in rejecting this ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Immigration Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where the government chooses at sentencing to specify which of the convictions listed in the presentence report support an enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act, or ACCA, it cannot rely on collateral review on ACCA predicates that were not ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where the defendant was sentenced to 26 months’ imprisonment for a drug conviction, which he served while also serving five other concurrent sentences, the concurrent sentences remain separate and distinct terms of imprisonment even though they are served simultaneously. Background ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where a detainee alleged that prison officials acted with deliberate indifference by delaying his receipt of medications, but none of his communications suggested that urgent intervention was required to avoid a risk of harm and there was no evidence officials ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Pamela A. Harris

The court joined two other circuits in holding that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, doesn’t prevent the government from garnishing the retirement assets of a defendant in order to satisfy a criminal restitution order under ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where a former town mayor was indicted on charges of embezzlement, but the case was dismissed after prosecutors discovered new evidence, the mayor’s suit against the investigator was dismissed because she was absolutely immune from claims she presented or conspired ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where a defendant’s attorney failed to object to a jury instruction on grand larceny because he was unaware that the premise for that instruction was legally incorrect, and there was a reasonable probability an objection would have led to a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Pamela A. Harris

Where a man alleged a post office employee intentionally exposed him to contact with an abnormally loud horn that caused hearing loss and tinnitus, the suit was dismissed because the gravamen of that claim sounds in battery, and the United ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Pamela A. Harris Tort

Where the government used a flawed analysis to convict the owner of a chain of pharmacies of Medicaid fraud, and he sued the prosecutor for fabricating evidence used at trial, the prosecutor was shielded by absolute immunity because she was ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Pamela A. Harris