Although the district court erred in instructing the jury about the legal principles it was required to apply to determine the methamphetamine quantity attributable to the defendant, any error was harmless because it did not seriously affect the fairness, integrity ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Robert B. King

Although the defendant argued that a de novo standard of review should be applied to the district court’s intrinsic evidence ruling, the appellate court applied an abuse of discretion standard as required by its precedent. Background Defendant Donald Bush appeals ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Robert B. King

Where a district court allowed a government “filter team” to review privileged attorney-client documents unrelated to the investigation of lawyer A and client A, it was in error because it assigned judicial functions to the filter team and failed to ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Attorneys Judge Robert B. King

Where a North Carolina statute authorized warrantless searches of post-release supervisees by a probation officer, the search of defendant’s apartment was not unlawful, even though his own supervision agreement only authorized warrantless searches of his residence by his assigned probation officer, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Robert B. King

Where the evidence showed one official within the prison’s health department was aware of the plaintiff’s Hepatitis C status, lack of treatment and resulting risk of harm, and another official postponed treatment for inmates with Hepatitis C knowing it would ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge Robert B. King

Where the defendants repeatedly challenged whether venue for their trial involving distribution of synthetic drugs was appropriate in the Western District of Virginia, and the evidence supporting venue was not “substantial and uncontroverted” as the drug operation extended from China ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Robert B. King

A divided federal appeals panel has overturned the convictions of three accused drug distributors because a jury never was asked if the charges were brought in the right locality. A two-judge majority of a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals News Criminal Judge Irene C. Berger Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Judge Robert B. King

An employer who allegedly told a beneficiary it would pay death benefits, after the life insurance carrier denied the claim, has been sued by the beneficiary who alleges she relied on the promises to her detriment. Background According to the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Insurance Judge Robert B. King

An out-of-state citizen could bring a constitutional challenge against a statute that limited copies of the state’s registered voter list to state residents because the list was closely connected to political speech and the statute imposes both content- and speaker-based ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge Robert B. King

A defendant was properly subject to an enhanced sentence because his prior state conviction for distribution of crack cocaine qualified as a serious drug offense under the Armed Career Criminal Act, or ACCA, and a controlled substance offense under the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Robert B. King