Blog Posts in July, 2013
Posted on Jul 31, 2013 By Joseph E Scott
Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1) clearly forbids a federal judge from participating in plea negotiations. On June 13, 2013, the Supreme Court held that when a judge violates this rule, a reviewing court ...
Continue reading "No Need To Vacate Guilty Plea If Record Shows No Prejudice" »
Posted on Jul 25, 2013 By
On May 17 th, the Sixth Circuit ruled in Blewett (US v. Blewett, No. 12-5226 (6th Cir. May 17, 2013)) that those federal inmates sentenced for a crack offense before August 3, 2010 get the benefit of ...
Continue reading "Blewett Decision Update" »
Posted on Jul 21, 2013 By Joseph E Scott
In fact, the Pew Study indicates that when it comes to non-violent crimes, longer prison terms do not lead to safer streets or an overall decrease in crime. Longer prison sentences do not reduce ...
Continue reading "Longer Prison Sentences For Drug Crimes Are Ineffective" »
Posted on Jul 15, 2013 By Steve Nolder
From the advent of the guidelines in 1987 until the Supreme Court's Booker decision in 2005, sentencing in a federal criminal case was essentially a two-step process—compute the guidelines ...
Continue reading "Why Sentencing Memos are Essential in Federal Criminal Cases" »
Posted on Jul 10, 2013 By Steve Nolder
In Descamps v. United States, a jury convicted Descamps of being a felon in possession of a firearm which calls for a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. After finding Descamps had three prior ...
Continue reading "Descamps Ruling Makes It Harder To Use the Facts" »
Posted on Jul 3, 2013 By Steve Nolder
The federal government was forced to reduce spending by $85 million from March 1 st through the end of September as part of a $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts agreed upon by Congress and ...
Continue reading "Public Defender Fires Himself" »
Posted on Jul 1, 2013 By Joseph E. Scott
The Scott Law Firm is pleased to announce that as of July 1, 2013, the experienced and skilled Criminal Defense Attorney Steve Nolder has joined the firm. The firm has changed its name to Scott & ...
Continue reading "Welcome Steven Nolder!" »
Posted on Jul 1, 2013 By Steve Nolder
On June 10, 2013, in Peugh v. United States, the United States Supreme Court ruled the Ex Post Facto Clause is violated when a defendant is sentenced under a more severe version of the Guidelines ...
Continue reading "Peugh and the Ex Post Facto Clause" »