Rulings in Criminal Cases
In US v. Hines, No. 08-3255, the Seventh Circuit faced a challenge to the district court's imposition of a 168 months' imprisonment on a defendant convicted of crack cocaine possesion and distribution.
In vacating defendant's sentence, the court concluded that the district court erred in inferring, without sufficient evidence presented by the prosecution, that defendant cooked into crack all 1.531 kilograms of powder that he bought to prove that he possessed at least 1.5 kilograms of crack to increase his guidelines sentencing range.
In US v. Napadow, No. 09-1920, the court faced a defendant's claim that his indictment for devising a scheme to defraud and obtain money from home inspectors should be dismissed because he was denied right to a speedy trial.
Although 105 days had elapsed between defendant's first appearance before the district court and the first day of his trial, the court found that there had been no violation of the Speedy Trial Act as the pretrial motion and the ends-of-justice exclusions applied under the circumstances.
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