Criminal Matters

US v. Kyles, No. 06-4196, involved defendant's appeal from the district court's orders amending his restitution schedule while he was incarcerated.  The court of appeals affirmed in part, holding that although the Victim and Witness Protection Act did not expressly confer such authority, it inhered in the authority that statute conferred on district courts to permit an award of restitution to be paid in periodic installments, rather than immediately.  However, the court vacated the orders in part insofar as they provided for increases in defendant's restitution schedule in accordance with the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program, because that was an impermissible delegation of judicial power to the Bureau of Prisons.

Ramchair v. Conway, No. 08-2004, concerned the state's appeal from the district court's order granting a writ of habeas corpus to the petitioner on the ground of ineffective assistance of state appellate counsel, and ordering a new trial.  The Second Circuit affirmed on the ground that appellate counsel's failure to raise petitioner's mistrial claim was not a sound strategic decision, but a mistake based on counsel's misunderstanding that the mistrial claim, which trial counsel explicitly made, had not been preserved.

Related Resources

• Full Text of US v. Kyles, No. 06-4196
• Full Text of Ramchair v. Conway, No. 08-2004