Circuit Court Opinions

Narrowing Congress’s criminal powers under the Commerce Clause, the Eighth Circuit held that a defendant’s intrastate use of a car and payment of U.S. currency were insufficient to satisfy the commerce element in § 1591.

The Fourth Circuit rejected mental illness claims from a Nazi and KKK memorabilia owner and affirmed his hate crime convictions, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding mental health evidence and admitting the memorabilia after Hudak opened the door.

The Second Circuit vacated a defendant’s $10,000 forfeiture order because § 981(a)(1)(C) reaches only property the defendant actually obtained, and the defendant, who was a getaway driver for a robbery, never obtained his share of the proceeds from the robbery.

The Tenth Circuit vacated a defendant’s sentence of multiple 25-year mandatory minimum prison terms under 18 U.S.C. § 3559(f)(2) based on kidnapping a child. The panel held that federal kidnapping crimes are not categorically a “crime of violence” under 18 U.S.C. § 16(a).

In a Fourth Amendment case, the Tenth Circuit answered two questions: is an exterior motel walkway “curtilage,” and can an officer peek through a one-inch gap in window curtains without intruding on one’s reasonable expectation of privacy? In affirming the defendant’s conviction, the panel held that neither violated the Fourth Amendment, a holding that the dissent criticized as “expanding permissible surveillance and eroding privacy.”

The First Circuit vacated and remanded the denial of Víctor Duluc-Méndez’s motion for compassionate release because the district court failed to address arguments concerning his post-conviction rehabilitation in combination with family circumstances.

The D.C. Circuit affirmed the convictions of a Metropolitan Police Department officer under 18 U.S.C. § 242 for using prohibited neck restraints on two individuals, rejecting arguments relating to the trial court’s jury instructions on willfulness, the government’s evidence versus the allegations in the indictment, the court’s answers to jury questions, and several evidentiary rulings.

The Tenth Circuit vacated and remanded a defendant’s sentence for child sexual exploitation and child pornography after finding the district court improperly imposed a lifetime internet-access prohibition as a condition of supervised release without providing an analysis or explanation as required by 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d).

The Ninth Circuit vacated a felon-in-possession sentence after holding that Oregon’s aggravated unlawful use of a weapon statute does not qualify as a “crime of violence” under the Guidelines.

The Eleventh Circuit held Ephren Taylor’s pro-se habeas motions were unauthorized “second or successive” under the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Rivers v. Guerrero, rejecting his bid to reopen § 2255 claims.