Today, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, overturned Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction and 23-year sentence. The court concluded that allowing witnesses to testify at trial as to other “bad acts” by Weinstein unfairly prejudiced him because it essentially amounted to a conviction that was proven more by evidence of an uncharged...Read More

Here are some favorable cases decided in the federal courts for the week of March 22, 2024: United States v. Oliveras, No. 21-2954, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 6226 (2d Cir. Mar. 15, 2024) The defendant-appellant, Alex Oliveras, was sentenced to sixty-three months’ imprisonment and a three-year supervised release term for possessing cocaine with intent to...Read More

Often in civil cases, such as postconviction cases and especially habeas corpus cases, the respondent will file a “motion to dismiss” or “motion for summary judgment,” sometimes at the same time. While the result is usually the same, denial of relief, these two motions are not at all the same. Understanding the difference between them...Read More

Not a bad week for favorable cases. While most of these cases were decided on direct appeal, remember that these can be converted into ineffective assistance claims for a 2255 motion, if argued correctly. United States v. Colon-Cordero, Nos. 22-1171, 22-1172, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 1300 (1st Cir. Jan. 19, 2024)Luis Ángel Colón-Cordero was convicted...Read More

In postconviction proceedings, the court frequently uses plea hearing statements to deny a challenge to a guilty plea. Often, this includes comments that the person understood their plea and any rights waived. The court may even ask if their lawyer was effective. The answers are invariably “yes,” since otherwise the court would reject the favorable...Read More

After exhausting all appeals, many prisoners seek relief through federal habeas corpus. As stated, this is a federal court remedy open to both state and federal prisoners. Of course, each group would approach federal habeas relief in a different method, but the purpose is the same: to vacate a criminal judgment. Federal habeas corpus is...Read More

If you think compassionate release in the federal courts means only releasefrom prison for federal prisoners, you’re missing the point. The statute thatgoverns compassionate release and gives the federal court authority to grantrelief is 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The statute is actually titled“Modification of an Imposed Term of Imprisonment.” Notice that itdoesn’t say anything about...Read More

Compassionate release has become a powerful remedy for federal prisoners to correct harsh sentences. With the expansion of what qualifies for a reduced sentence under the compassionate release guideline, USSG 1B1.13, judges have been granting relief in unprecedented numbers.But, one of the main criteria for relief requires the judge to take a look at the...Read More

Hot off the press, here is an email from the Department of Justice touting its measures to make the clemency process more “user-friendly.” The clemency process, where the president has authority to reduce someone’s criminal sentence, is run by the DOJ — the very same people whose job it is to keep people in prison....Read More

Have you ever talked to someone who agreed with everything you said, even if you changed the way you said it to be the opposite of what you said earlier? Would you trust that person’s opinion after that? Well, today I asked a popular AI tool to create two blog posts based on these prompts:...Read More