Criminal Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and was sentenced to 96 months in prison. Defendant appealed, arguing that the trial court abused its discretion when it imposed an above-guidelines sentence. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, holding that the sentence imposed was well within the trial court’s discretion. (WOOD and PRYOR, concurring)

Defendant pleaded guilty to inciting a riot in violation of the Anti-Riot Act and was sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. Th court of appeals affirmed in part and vacated in part, finding that the trial court properly looked at the underlying facts of the offense to determine that the crime was an “offense against property,” but that the government failed to meet its burden of showing that defendant directly and proximately caused damages to all businesses included in the restitution order. (WOOD, concurring and HAMILTON, concurring in part and dissenting in part)

Defendant was convicted of murdering his wife and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Defendant brought a federal habeas corpus petition arguing ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland. The district court found that defendant had waived this claim in state court and as a result had procedurally defaulted the claim for the purposes of federal court. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that defendant’s claim was procedurally defaulted and that defendant did not qualify for any exceptions to the procedural default rules. (ELLIS and COBBS, concurring)

Defendant appealed from his conviction for multiple charges related to producing child pornography, arguing that the charges were not filed within the required statute of limitations, that the district court should have severed his trial, and that his sentence was procedurally and substantively improper. The Court of Appeals affirmed, explaining that defendant was subject to the current statute of limitations for sex crimes against children, which extends through the life of the victim, and that the resulting sentence imposed by the district court was procedurally proper and substantively fair. (RIPPLE and SYKES, concurring)

Defendant sought to have his guilty plea vacated after it came to light that the defense attorney he hired to represent him during his case had previously presided over defendant’s preliminary hearing in the same case while acting as a county court commissioner. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the state court’s denial of defendant’s petition for post-conviction relief was not contrary to nor an unreasonable application of supreme court precedent. (ROVNER and PRYOR, concurring)

Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether defendant had standing to challenge the search of a stolen vehicle and, if so, whether the search violated his Fourth Amendment Rights. The appellate court affirmed the trial court, finding that defendant failed to meet his burden on standing and that the existence of probable cause otherwise justified the search under the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. (SYKES and RIPPLE, concurring)