Source: http://sdfla.blogspot.com/2016/09/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 11:45:55+00:00

Document:
Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s grant of summary judgment with respect to the falsity finding of Levan’s Earnings Call statements and the affirmative defense of reliance-on-professional-advice. We affirm the district court’s rejection of judgment as a matter of law with respect to the accounting fraud and its pre-trial evidentiary rulings regarding the testimony of the SEC’s expert, Lynn Turner, and PwC’s 2012 look back report. Because the reversal of partial summary judgment creates genuine issues of material fact that require resolution, we decline to enter judgment in favor of Defendants.
This case raises the question of whether the Florida crime of felony battery—a crime that, from its name, may sound like a crime of violence—actually satisfies the definition of “crime of violence” under §2L1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines when it is committed by mere touching. Heeding the Supreme Court’s warning, we have carefully compared the elements of felony battery under Florida law to the “elements clause” of § 2L1.2’s definition of “crime of violence.” Based on our review, we now hold that felony battery under Fla. Stat. § 784.041 does not qualify as a “crime of violence” under § 2L1.2 when it is committed by mere touching. For this reason, we vacate Vail-Bailon’s sentence and remand for resentencing.
"A very against police judge."
Will tonight's debate feature UFOs?
I like this moment when Bill defends Hillary.
Former Chief Judge of the SDFLA, Federico Moreno, has made Donald Trump's short-list for Supreme Court Justices. I love it. Judge Moreno, who has been a district judge since 1990, would make a fantastic Justice. He's smart, witty, engaging, and an all around good guy.
He's also been a state court judge and a practicing lawyer. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Courts.
Other notables on the list include Charles Canady, a current Florida Supreme Court Justice.
Is flight from the police = reasonable suspicion or consciousness of guilt?
Many courts have said yes over the years. See Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119 (2000).
flight as a factor in the reasonable suspicion calculus.
"Any possibility of unfair prejudice was ameliorated when the district court explicitly instructed the Rhode Island jury not to hold Alcantara's wearing of a Yankees hat against him."
Should prosecutors experience one day in prison before taking the job?
These Maryland legislators did just that. They should be praised. They wanted to see what prison life was like so that they were more informed about the criminal justice laws they were proposing and voting on. Prosecutors routinely throw out numbers like 5 years, 10 years, or more, without even knowing what one day is like in prison. Perhaps they should.
The conditions inside the facility were reminiscent of a prison movie: stale air, dim hallways, only the bare necessities. The prisoners described getting about an hour and a half of physical recreation per day, but, depending on where you fell in the lineup for the yard, that could be cut to 45 minutes. Prisoners are allowed outside recreation only four months of the year: June through September. The rest of the year, they are told, is too cold to go outside. Because of lengthy construction projects, some inmates had not been outside for recreation time in more than a year.
On a day when outside temperatures reached 100 degrees, we quickly realized that cellblocks in most state correctional facilities are not air conditioned. It’s so hot that inmates sleep on the floor with their feet in toilet water. Rats infested the food and gnawed through walls.
Funny video of Jeb from the Emmys here.
Meantime, all the actors playing lawyers in OJ won. And Marcia Clark actually attended.
Should William Pryor and Julie Carnes have recused from Matchett?
A majority of the Court has voted not to rehear en banc our decision in this appeal, United States v. Matchett, 802 F.3d 1185 (11th Cir. 2015), which held that the advisory sentencing guidelines cannot be challenged as void for vagueness. As members of the panel (and coincidentally the only members of this Court to have served on the United States Sentencing Commission), we write to explain why we agree with that decision.
We divide our discussion in two parts. First, we explain that Matchett is correct because the vagueness doctrine applies only to laws that regulate the primary conduct of private citizens. Advisory sentencing guidelines regulate judges, not private individuals; they guide judicial discretion within a statutory range. Advisory sentencing guidelines do not define crimes or fix punishments. Second, we explain that Matchett is not worthy of en banc rehearing.
Judge Pryor does not have a personal interest at stake in the case, but he does have an interest in his capacity as a member of the Commission. Holding that the vagueness doctrine does not apply to sentencing guidelines protects his work on the Commission from future challenges of that sort.
His participation in the decision also raises separation of powers concerns. The sentencing guidelines are legislative in nature. A judge who both sits on the Commission and rules on the Commission’s guidelines acts as both judge and legislator. Of course, judges sit on committees that create all sorts of rules―evidence, civil procedure, etc. But those committees prescribe rules for the administration of the courts. Sentencing guidelines are different. They prescribe terms of imprisonment. Anxiety about deprivations of liberty at the hands of the government is a major reason the Constitution separates powers.
Commission’s jurisdiction. See Robert Nemiroff & Jerry Bonnell, Hubble Resolves Expiration Date for Green Cheese Moon, ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY (Apr. 1, 2002), http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod_e/ap020401.html (“The popular ‘Moon is made of Green Cheese’ myth can be traced back almost 500 years. It has been used historically in context to indicate a claim so clearly false that no one . . . will believe it.”); see also Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies art. I, Jan. 27, 1967, 18 U.S.T. 2410 (“The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind.”).
Is "young and vivacious" the way you should be describing a law school dean?
The dean of the University of Florida's Levin College of Law, who like other lawyers is trained to weigh words with care, has created a stir with her objection to being called "young and vivacious."
An expert in feminist legal theory, Laura Rosenbury wrote a 4,000-word article for the New England Law Review that ended by recounting a banquet last fall when the male president of UF's Florida Law Review introduced Rosenbury with that description. In the article published this summer, Rosenbury said when she discussed her concern — whether a male dean of the college would be described as "vivacious" — the law review adviser responded, "But you look so much younger."
Now Rosenbury is being criticized by others connected to the Levin College of Law for such public criticism of her colleagues, who though not specifically named can be identified by their positions.
“The UF Levin College of Law and the University of Florida should be embarrassed that the Dean of their law school publicly calls out and identifies one of her own students and faculty members with the borderline slanderous accusation of sexism, against two of the most well-respected, tolerant and unprejudiced people at the school,” Michael Balducci, an alumnus and former Florida Law Review executive editor, wrote in a Facebook post.
Rosenbury said she has heard similar pushback from others.
Rosenbury said the last part of the article was to say she still encountered implicit gender bias as a dean, and while overt bias Frug had faced during her life has lessened with time, bias based on one’s identity still exists. In hindsight, she said she could have made the point in a way that avoided any embarrassment to the student.
She’s been traveling the past week, but she plans to apologize to the student and faculty adviser once she’s back at UF.
UPDATE -- I forgot to mention that tonight is the Federal Bar Association's big Awards Dinner at the JW Marriott Marquis. I am so proud and happy to say that Judge Robert L. Dube is being award the "NED" award (Judge Edward B. Davis Award). Judge Davis would have been so happy with this choice as he and Judge Dube were close friends when they served on the bench together.
Below are the articles, including one by yours truly and the forward by Judge Darrin Gayles. Also of note is that Professor Frohock's article is extremely timely as the 11th Circuit just granted en banc review of the case she covers, Patterson v. DOC.
Within months of his death in February, the location of Scalia's grave - at Fairfax Memorial Park in Virginia - was recorded on the cemetery website Findagrave.com with precision: Garden of the Crucifixion, Lot 870, Site A. A contributor to the site added photos, too. Recently Wikipedia added the location and a photo to Scalia's page.
Should Obama be doing even more with his commutation power?
PRESIDENT OBAMA began August by commuting the sentences of 214 federal inmates, and he ended the month by commuting 111 more. Generally the pardon and commutation power is used sparingly and gets attention only when presidents use it to help cronies or former staffers. Now it is being used to commute the sentences of people who could not spare a dime to donate to a political campaign. This is a historic milestone — but it is also not nearly enough.
Mr. Obama’s August tally is the highest one-month presidential commutation total ever — even including those last-minute flurries of commutations and pardons presidents typically unleash during their final days in office. In a single month, Mr. Obama doubled the number of sentences he has shortened since taking office — to 673. His accelerating pace reflects an initiative to use the commutation power with more ambition than any modern president. His cumulative total is higher than that of the past 10 presidents combined.
The president has the power to shorten sentences in order to compensate for inequities in the justice system, an authority and responsibility that most neglect. Two years ago, the Obama Justice Department announced a program to encourage certain types of federal prisoners to petition for clemency. Mr. Obama chose to target inmates who are serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes, mostly drug-related, and who would be sentenced more leniently under current rules. The White House points out that more than a third of those the president has commuted were serving life sentences, even though they were relatively low-level offenders.
You have the right to confront an actor against you.
The federal government’s secret informant and undercover agents who helped catch a suspected Key West terrorist last summer may testify at trial using fake names and even disguises, a judge has ruled.

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