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First Circuit Vacates Sentence Containing 20-Year Upward Variance Because District Court Failed to Provide Case-Specific Factors or Rationale for Such a Large Variance
by Richard Resch
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacated Jadnel Flores-Nater’s 30-year prison sentence containing a 20-year upward variance because the District Court failed to provide the required case-specific rationale to justify an upward variance of that magnitude.
On June 8, 2018, Flores-Nater together with four ...
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More from this issue:
- The Business of Dying: Coroners, Medical Examiners, and the Crisis of Death Investigations in the United States, by Benjamin Tschirhart
- Wisconsin Supreme Court: Riding Same Make of Motorcycle as Reported by Police Speeding and Driving Erratically Does Not Constitute Reasonable Suspicion to Initiate Traffic Stop, by Anthony Accurso
- Fifth Circuit Announces Altered Serial Number Enhancement Does Not Apply Where Gun Never Had Serial Number, by Richard Resch
- Police Killings Reach Record High – But Also Lower than Ever Before, by Benjamin Tschirhart
- Computing Fear in Black and Brown Communities, by Michael Thompson
- How Junk Science Helped Kill Tyre Nichols, by Eike Blohm, MD
- Ohio Supreme Court Holds Termination of Community Control Is Final Discharge for Purposes of Sealing Records and Terminates Unsatisfied Condition to Pay Child-Support Arrearages, by Matthew Clarke
- Eighth Circuit: Defendant Facing Revocation of Supervised Release Did Not Knowingly and Voluntarily Waive Right to Counsel Where Appointed Counsel Admittedly Knew Nothing About Case and Advised Choosing Between ‘Big House or the Nut House’, by Mark Wilson
- First Circuit Vacates Sentence Containing 20-Year Upward Variance Because District Court Failed to Provide Case-Specific Factors or Rationale for Such a Large Variance, by Richard Resch
- Idaho Supreme Court: Drug-Detection Dog Conducted Warrantless Search by Placing Paws on Exterior of Vehicle to Sniff for Drugs, by Richard Resch
- Vermont Supreme Court Announces ‘Pinging’ Cellphone to Obtain Real-Time CSLI Constitutes a Search Requiring a Warrant or Recognized Exception, by Richard Resch
- Georgia Supreme Court: Trial Courts Are Bound to Follow Precedent of Court of Appeals, by Harold Hempstead
- A Brief History of K-9 Units in Law Enforcement, by Kevin Bliss
- Federal Habeas Corpus: The Evidentiary Hearing for Federal Prisoners, by Dale Chappell
- New York State’s Veterans Treatment Courts, by Edward Lyon
- Police Violence Ignored When It Fails to Support the Media’s Ideological Bias, by Richard Resch, Benjamin Tschirhart
- Arizona Wants to TRAC Your Financial Transactions, by Michael Thompson
- How Minneapolis Uses Controversial Technology to Spy on Its Citizens, by Michael Thompson
- Seventh Circuit Vacates Federal Drug Conspiracy Conviction Because District Court Failed to Ensure Defendant Understood ‘Agreement’ Element of Conspiracy and Failed to Ensure Factual Basis for Guilty Plea, by Mark Wilson
- California Court of Appeal: Trial Court Erred by Concluding Senate Bill 1393 Does Not Apply to Cases Already Final on Appeal, by Douglas Ankney
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- Ohio Supreme Court Clarifies Meaning of ‘Outcome Determinative’ in Context of Motion for Postconviction DNA Testing, by Douglas Ankney
- Seventh Circuit: District Court’s Failure to Address Nonfrivolous Argument Raised in First Step Act Motion Constitutes Procedural Error in Violation of Concepcion, by Douglas Ankney
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- SCOTUS Announces Courts May Not Consider § 3553(a)(2)(A)—Retribution—When Deciding Whether to Revoke a Term of Supervised Release, Aug. 1, 2025
- Understanding Your Constitutional Rights in the ‘100-Mile Border Zone’: A Primer for Non-Citizens in the United States When Confronted by Law Enforcement, July 1, 2025
- South Carolina Supreme Court Announces Traditional Four-Element Standard for When Person Has Right to Use Deadly Force in Self-Defense Not Applicable to Non-Deadly Force Self-Defense Analysis, May 15, 2025
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More from these topics:
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- ACLU Sues BOP Over Failure to Implement First Step Act Release Credits, May 1, 2025. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, First Step Act, Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
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