In U.S. v. Lebowitz the defendant was charged with producing child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2251(a) and one count of attempting to entice a child to engage in unlawful sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2422. Lebowitz began communicating with a15 year old boy male, K.S. on…
In U.S. v. Lewis an 11th Circuit panel majority reversed the district court’s order suppressing evidence seized during an investigatory stop in this government interlocutory appeal. The district court in Florida federal court had granted defendant Lewis’ motion to suppress a firearm discovered after he and three associates were briefly…
In U.S. v. Owens the defendant pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and his sentence was enhanced because the district court determined his prior convictions under Alabama law for second degree rape and second degree sodomy qualified as a violent crime under the Armed Career…
Defendant McQueen was convicted of attempted alien smuggling and failing to obey an order by federal saw enforcement to heave to the U.S. Customs and Boarder Patrol (CBP) vessel (18 U.S.C. 2237(a)(1). His sentence was enhanced by sentencing guidelines section 2L1.1(b)(5)(A) because a firearm was discharged by law enforcement in…
In this appeal Juanita Davenport challenged a final order of criminal forfeiture of $214,980 seized from a safety deposit box. In U.S. v. Davenport, the defendant and her codefendants were charged in the indictment with participating in a drug conspiracy. In addition, Davenport was charged with making a false statement…
The defendants in U.S. v. McGarity were convicted following trial of engaging in child exploitation enterprise (CEE) 18 U.S.C. 2252A(g), receiving child pornography, 2252A(a)(2), and conspiracy to transport, receive, and possess child pornography, 2251(d)(1). The arrests grew out of a tip to Australian police of a child pornography ring operating…
In U.S. v. Vadnais, the 11th Circuit found that a file sharing program does not support a five level sentencing guidelines enhancement and reversed the sentencing. Another panel reached the same conclusion in U.S. v. Spriggs three days earlier involving the software Shareaza 2.0. Vadnais’ 240 months sentence for receiving…
In U.S v. Spriggs, Spriggs pled guilty to receipt of child pornography and sentenced to a five level enhancement for distribution of the illegal images for the receiving or expecting to receive something of value under USSG §2G2.2(b)(3)(B). Spriggs kept his child pornography collection in a peer to peer file…
In U.S. v. Miranda, defendant Miranda negotiated with an undercover agent to purchase some firearms in exchange for a quantity of heroin. Miranda expressed a strong desire to obtain the firearms right away and he and the undercover agents agreed to exchange 4 handguns and 3 machine guns for 57…
In U.S. v Webb, the defendant pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. He was arrested when he was stopped by police en route to meet an informant for a drug purchase. Police found cash and a 9mm semiautomatic handgun. Webb was charged with attempted drug possession…