FindLaw's U.S. Fourth Circuit Blog

Can't Amend Restitution Sentence Without a Reason

2013-05-10T20:46:01Z

Nicole Grant will pay for her $42,152 mistake, even if she'll only pay $125 at a time. In 2009, Grant was indicted on one count of stealing government property in excess of $1,000 after she failed to notify the government...

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1,900 Days Later: Exhausted Guy Still Waiting on DEA FOIA Request

2013-05-03T18:59:52Z

It has been roughly 1,900 exhausting days since John Coleman, a researcher and author, filed his Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request with the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”). Under FOIA, departments have twenty days to respond to requests, plus a...

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Immigration Asylum Denied: Peru is Over the Whole Torture Thing

2013-04-26T13:01:06Z

When Dario Suarez-Valenzuela (DSV) appeared on a Peruvian talk show in 1997, he was promised compensation by the show's investigator, Jason, and the show's host, Lara Bazzo. He was never paid, and together with Jason, he confronted Bazzo and threatened...

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4th Forces Arbitration, Citing SCOTUS Concepcion Decision

2013-04-18T20:33:10Z

Samuel Muriithi drove an airport shuttle for Shuttle Express. He did so not as an employee, but as a franchisee. Of course, he alleges that the arrangement was a misclassification and that he was entitled to more pay, overtime, etc....

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4th Circuit Announces Two More (Un)exciting Rule Changes

2013-04-09T19:15:38Z

Like it or not, the world is becoming paperless. Email killed snail-mail years ago, e-books are slowly eroding the demand for paperbacks (though the ridiculously high prices of e-books are slowing that change), and like it or not, court opinions...

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Cuccinelli Fights to Uphold VA Sodomy Law: Is He Right?

2013-04-04T19:39:07Z

Last month, we brought you the tale of attempted sodomizer and legal pioneer William MacDonald. Old MacDonald, at age 47, requested oral sex from a 17-year-old girl, then accused her of rape after she denied his advances. He was convicted...

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Detective Lunsford's Lies Invalidate Guilty Plea

2013-04-02T19:06:02Z

A plea bargain is supposed to bring finality to a case. Along these lines, the Supreme Court, in Blackledge v. Perry, stated: when a criminal defendant enters a guilty plea, he may not thereafter raise independent claims relating to the...

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Student Can't Wear 'Inflammatory' Confederate Flag T-Shirts

2013-03-27T19:51:12Z

Obvious proposition of the day: students have less rights when in school. For example, their Fourth Amendment rights are curtailed to the extent that separating them from their belongings and having drug dogs sniff around is permissible. There is also...

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Woollard Decision: Means 'Reasonably' Justified by Safety Ends

2013-03-22T19:01:09Z

Maryland has a need for public safety measures. There's a reason some people call it "Balti-murder" after all. Of course, the means chosen to achieve that public interest must survive intermediate scrutiny by having a fit that is "reasonable, not...

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Woollard Decision: Court Jumped the Gun in Concealed Carry Case?

2013-03-22T13:01:25Z

Thursday was not a great day for Alan Gura and the Second Amendment Foundation. The Fourth Circuit eviscerated a lower court opinion, refused to delineate the bounds of the Second Amendment, and approved a "may issue" concealed carry law in...

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Tax Conviction Upheld Despite Two 'Significant' Prosecutor Errors

2013-03-20T13:05:50Z

Michael Woods is in tax trouble. He allegedly pulled identities and Social Security Numbers off of a computer at his day job (at the Veteran's Administration), and used those identities to claim nonexistent dependents on clients' returns. Woods, who represented...

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If The Claim is Precluded, Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

2013-03-15T12:53:08Z

Georgia Pacific makes paper towels and paper towel accessories. It's a glamorous life -- especially when you design some spiffy new automatic paper towel dispenser that uses its own proprietary premium paper towels. Of course, premium paper towels come at...

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Request Sodomy From a Teen, Strike Down a Statute

2013-03-13T19:01:28Z

Moments after the seventeen-year-old girl returned to the vehicle, MacDonald made an indecent request - oral sodomy. She refused, and returned him to the Home Depot parking from whence he came. Months passed by and, still stinging from the rejection,...

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Mann Fights the Man on Unfair Crack Sentence

2013-03-06T20:09:04Z

Man, Mann. You're still fighting this case? Robert Mann was convicted of crack and powder cocaine possession in 1998. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, in large part because of the amount of crack involved. We all know...

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Defendant Can't Explain Bootlegged Blueprints, Still Wins

2013-02-28T14:03:31Z

Building Graphics, Inc., designs family homes. In the 1990s, BG designed three plans that were later sold to other builders. Two of the designs were used to build a pair of houses (one per design) in the Charlotte area. The...

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