Who Can Give Consent to Search an Apartment?: Boilerplate Rules
POSNER, Circuit Judge. The defendant pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine, intending to distribute it, and was sentenced to 120 months in prison. He had given a person who, unbeknownst to him, was working with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration $477,020...
USSG 3B1.1 Supervisory Role Enhancement: Boilerplate Rules
In her sworn statement to the court, however, Grigsby minimized her role in the offense, trying to pin most of the blame on her coconspirators. So at sentencing the district court applied …….. a three-level enhancement to account for her supervisory role in...
Mandatory Minimum Sentences Do NOT Violate Separation of Powers Doctrine
Under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), any person convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm who has “three previous convictions… for a violent felony … committed on occasions different from one another” is subject to a mandatory minimum...
Gun Charge Reversal: Mere Proximity to Gun Not Enough for Constructive Possession
A jury convicted Cory Griffin of intentional possession of a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). On appeal, Griffin’s principal argument is that the evidence presented at his trial was not sufficient to support his conviction because there...
4th Amendment Search and Seizure REVERSAL: Police May NOT Legally Stop a Vehicle That Left Site of Suspected Drug Activity
The question presented in this appeal is whether the police may stop a vehicle only because it emerged from a site uspected of drug activity. [An informant,] Olmsted met with [Sgt.] Kingsley and told him hat he saw known meth cook...
Judge Posner Explains Proper Procedure Police Must Use for Photo Array Lineups
EDITOR’S NOTE. Chicago Criminal Defense Attorney Michael J. Petro represented John A. Ford at his trial.
A jury convicted the defendant of armed bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), and the judge sentenced him to the statutory maximum of 240 months, id., in...
8th Amendment: Prison Guards Force Applied Causing Injury NOT Cruel and Unusual If in the Course of Maintaining Order
EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge.
Juan Guitron maintains that a guard at the prison where Guitron was confined bent and injured his wrist. The district court dismissed the complaint after the preliminary screening required...
4th Amendment Search and Seizure: Six Day Delay by Police to Get Search Warrant for Cell Phone Is Not Unreasonable
Expecting to find evidence of child pornography, police officers seized Joshua Burgard’s cell phone without a warrant. At that point, however, they seemed to have lost their sense of urgency: they did nothing with the phone right away and...
USSG 3E1.1: One Point for Timely Acceptance MUST Be Granted By Court If Government Asks
Jaymie Mount disappeared while on release awaiting trial on a charge of possession of a gun by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He was captured nearly three months later and pleaded guilty two weeks...
FRE 404(b): Government Use of Defendant’s Prior Drug Conviction to Prove Intent Leads to Reversal
In April 2008, acting on a tip from a confidential informant, police obtained a search warrant and then raided a home where defendant Shariff Miller and several other people were staying. After apprehending Miller on his way out the side door, police searched...