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Criminal Law & Procedure

[05/16] US v. Williams
In a prosecution for wire fraud and federal funds theft, defendant's conviction is affirmed where: 1) each count of defendant's convictions satisfied the Blockburger test and did not violate the Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause; 2) neither the district court's admission of evidence nor its final jury charge constituted error; and 3) sufficient evidence supported defendant's convictions. However, the sentence is vacated and remanded where the district court's factual findings did not justify an application of upward adjustments for aggravated role or for abuse of trust.

[05/16] Reese v. Herbert
In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action for damages wherein plaintiff alleged various claims of police misconduct in arresting him, order denying plaintiff's motion to leave to file a second amended complaint and disallowing an expert witness affidavit is affirmed, but summary judgment for defendant on basis of qualified immunity is reversed where: 1) the additional utility extracted from reviewing defendants' records and consulting an expert did not justify plaintiff's delay in seeking leave to amend; 2) the expert affidavit was properly excluded, as plaintiff's failure to comply with Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 26 was both unjustified and harmful to the defendants; but 3) the district court erred by failing to review the full record on summary judgment and misapplied the legal standards for summary judgment.

[05/14] Justice v. State of Delaware
In an appeal from a conviction for rape-related offenses raising the issue of whether detective-witness's statement about obtaining defendant's date of birth from an "Automated Criminal Justice System" constituted a "prejudicial outburst" warranting a mistrial, the Delaware Supreme Court rules that although the prosecutor's question and detective's answers could have been better phrased, the trial judge's curative instruction rendered any error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

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