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Overview of Federal Criminal Cases
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Sometimes things just get past you while you are trying to just practice law. On December 1st the attached amendments to the local criminal rules go into effect. The most notable are amendments to LCrR 16.1 and LCrR 30.1. Starting December 1st your pre-trial materials ( including witness lists, exhibit lists, and exhibits ) and your requested jury charges must filed at least 14 days prior to the date set for trial ( as compared to 3 days currently ).
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Attached is a memo briefly explaining new guideline amendments in the areas listed below, and a motion and appellate brief mentioned therein. -- |
The Defenders in the District of Oregon have just finished updating their search and seizure outline. Here's the link and please forward to your CJA panel. Amy Baron-Evans |
All: Bob Burke, Chief |
| New Supervisors and Organizational Chart There were several supremely qualified candidates that applied for the First Assistant position. Going over their qualifications and meeting with them personally to discuss how their visions for the office would advance our mission and improve the quality of our representation re-affirmed what dedicated and passionate lawyers we have in the NDTX. In the most difficult decision in my brief career as a manager, I have chosen Jason Hawkins as our first Assistant. In making this choice, I am mindful that this office can neither be Dallas centric nor overly emphasize the appellate part of our practice, since the daily work of our office and our client focus is in the trenches of the District Court. I am confident that Jason also recognizes this. I am promoting Peter Fleury to be a Third Level Supervisor with his main duties as supervising the trial sector. Carlton McLarty, Shery Kime-Goodwin, and Bonnie Gunden will continue their supervisory authority in their respective offices. In recognition of Peter's new responsibility, Chris Curtis will assume supervisory authority in the Ft. Worth office. A new organizational chart is attached reflecting these changes. The current assignments for ELMR approval will remain the same for the time being. While the organizational chart sets out line of authority, lines of communication concerning cases, problems and strategy have no boundaries in this office.... all our office doors are open to consult on ways to provide the best representation possible for our clients. Richard  |
Stan Weinberg and Ed Mason have given the Search and Seizure update to the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association for 30 of it's 60 year history. For the 60th anniversary, they talked Stan out of retirement, and attached is his scholarly review, including analysis of the two most important search and seizure cases from SCOTUS last term, Herring and Gant, which will influence our views of the 4th Amendment for years to come. |
The Defenders, FAMM, NACDL, and others, are joining the ABA Criminal Justice Section in giving a one-day seminar on November 6, 2009. The conference will examine sentencing and reentry trends and opportunities for reform at both the federal and state levels. The program will begin with a plenary session on the state of the sentencing union including rates of incarceration, sentencing trends, racial disparity, alternatives to incarceration, and recent federal legislation. There will be two tracks of instruction focused on reentry and two focused on sentencing, each addressing issues of concern to different segments of the criminal justice community, including probation and parole officials, white collar crime defense attorneys, prosecutors, academics, public defenders, judges, sentencing consultants, mitigation specialists, corrections personnel, victim advocates and policy experts. One track will focus on practice and procedure issues of particular concern to criminal defense attorneys in general and white collar practitioners in particular. Amy Baron-Evans
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An informative newsletter from our colleagues to the South. |
In late May, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion in Montejo v. Louisiana, overruling Michigan v. Jackson, and declaring that even after counsel has been appointed for the accused, unless there is an affirmative acceptance of counsel and an invocation of Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, statements made by the accused during post-appointment interrogation will be admissible. This opinion has been interpreted by some prosecution authorities to greenlight post retention of counsel interrogations ( apparently ignoring the corresponding ethical consideration found in 4.02, Texas Code of Professional Responsibility ).
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Subject: Preparation of the Pre-Sentence Report Recently, the Federal Probation Department for the Northern District of Texas initiated a new program designed to elicit different types of information in the Form 1 interview for preparation of the pre-sentence report. A number of probation officers in the district have been trained in “motivational interviewing”, which is designed to have the person being interviewed open up and provide more information to give more complete responses to the sentencing judges. The questions on the new Form 1 are also geared toward obtaining the types of information that more closely track the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing objectives. It is hoped by the probation officers participating in the program to reduce some of the “negativity” of the pre-sentence report, and by focusing on reflective questions concerning the individual’s conduct and the individual’s plan for the future, it is hoped to provide a more complete pre-sentence report and allow some positive aspects of the client’s conduct to be reflected in the report. The probation officers who have been trained in “motivational interviewing” currently are: Diana Trevino (San Angelo) Attached is a copy of the new Form 1 that these officers will be using. This form has already been modified from the original proposed form after meeting with assistant federal public defenders in Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock, and Amarillo. The officers understand that there are areas of the interview that defense attorneys will still “agree to disagree” on. This is a pilot program and the actual Form1 is a work in progress. If you have any suggestions for additions or deletions, please forward them to me and I will make sure that they are made known to the individuals running the program. I would also appreciate knowing any difficulties you or your clients are having with the questions that are proposed during the interview, and if that positive information ends up in the pre-sentence report. |
Subject: Identification Fraud Cases Please find attached a memorandum from Richard A. Wolff, Chief, Legal Policy, and Training Division regarding “DOJ's Revised Interpretation of Identification Fraud.” From information collected from the Sentencing Commission and the AO's Office of Probation and Pretrial Services (OPPS), the Office of Defender Services has created for your use two lists: Note that these lists do not include the names of defendants convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1028A based on an underlying "felony" that was actually a misdemeanor violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028(a)(4) or (6). I have attached the lists for your district in one PDF file. If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact me at Franklin_Draper@ao.uscourts.gov or (202) 502-1558. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Frank Draper __________________ |
Subject: Detention Rate Plan On June 14th.,, a meeting was held in the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office in Dallas to discuss the detention rate of pretrial defendants in our district. The attachment contains the plan which our office is implementing to address the detention rate. Please contact me if you have any questions. Thank you.
Jolene R. Whitten |
© 2009 - Federal Public Defender - Northern District of Texas