no evidence before the district court established that a guilty plea resulting in a predicate state conviction

US v. Rosa, No. 05-3621
A sentence to the statutory mandatory minimum, based on the court's finding that defendant is a violent felon under the Armed Career Criminal Act, is vacated under Shepard v. US, 544 U.S. 13 (2005), where no evidence before the district court established that a guilty plea resulting in a predicate state conviction necessarily admitted and supported a conviction for a crime or act of juvenile delinquency involving the use or carrying of a firearm that would be punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year

police failed to scrupulously respect her demand to remain silent by putting her in an interrogation room

US v. Lafferty, No. 06-1901
In a prosecution for offenses arising from a burglary, denial of defendant's motion to suppress statements she and an alleged confederate made during a custodial interrogation is reversed as: 1) police failed to scrupulously respect her demand to remain silent by putting her in an interrogation room with her alleged confederate after she had invoked her right to remain silent and after he promised to give a confession; 2) no valid and meaningful waiver of her rights occurred; and 3) a ruling that the confederate's statements were admissible against her as adoptive admissions was improper as a court errs in permitting the government to use a criminal defendant's silence in the face of police interrogation

court erred in imposing a condition of supervised release tolling the term of release while defendant is outside the United States

US v. Catalan, No. 06-5259
A conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and for the underlying possession is affirmed over a claim of insufficient evidence, but the sentence is vacated where the district court erred in imposing a condition of supervised release tolling the term of release while defendant is outside the United States.

district court applied a rebuttable presumption that defendant

US v. Wilms, No. 06-1896
Sentence for bank robbery and attempted bank robbery is vacated and remanded where the district court applied a rebuttable presumption that defendant should have been sentenced within the applicable Guidelines range.

trial court erred in applying an enhancement under the Armed Career Criminals Act (ACCA)

US v. Collier, No. 06-1395
A sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm is vacated and remanded where the trial court erred in applying an enhancement under the Armed Career Criminals Act (ACCA) as defendant's conviction for prison escape under Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. section 750.193 did not qualify as a "violent felony" under the ACCA.

government breached its duty under defendant's plea agreement

US v. VanDam, No. 06-4104
A sentence for a drug trafficking offense is vacated and remanded where: 1) the government breached its duty under defendant's plea agreement by failing to recommend a term of imprisonment at the bottom of the applicable range under the sentencing guidelines; 2) under applicable precedent, it was inappropriate to apply a harmless-error analysis; and 3) defendant was entitled to specific performance before the same judge. Read more

possession of stolen mail is vacated and remanded

US v. Ikechukwu, No. 06-11239
A sentence for possession of stolen mail is vacated and remanded where, although defendant was a courier who regularly transported pieces of United States mail, he was not an employee of the United States Postal Service for purposes of a sentence enhancement under the guidelines

Appeal Waiver dosent matter

US v. Tapp, No. 05-30222
The rule of Flores-Ortega, 528 U.S. 470 (2000), which held that the failure to file a requested notice of appeal (NOA) is per se ineffective assistance of counsel, applies even where a defendant has waived his right to direct appeal and collateral review. In such circumstances, if the petitioner is able to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that he requested an appeal, prejudice will be presumed and the petitioner will be entitled to file an out-of-time appeal, regardless of whether he is able to identify any arguably meritorious grounds for appeal that would not be precluded by the terms of his appeal waiver