by: Marc David Seitles
In United States v. Faust, the Eleventh Circuit did not find a constitutional problem with enhancing a sentence based on acquitted conduct. While the Eleventh Circuit is not the only circuit to hold the same, it does seem to run contrary to the whole point of why we have trials in the first place. Indeed, I would bet that if you asked 100 people (non lawyers!) whether they could be sentenced for conduct where a jury concluded that he/she was "not guilty," 99 of those folk would say "no way, that's impossible." What do you think?

The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
News and notes
Quick notes:
1. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is having their annual meeting here in Miami Beach. It started tonight and it goes through Saturday. The focus is on cross-examination. Tomorrow, legendary defense lawyer Larry Pozner is lecturing. On Friday, we tap the local talent: Albert Kreiger and Jeff Weiner.
2. The Miami 7 "terror" defendants were in Court today before Judge Lenard for the first time. She set trial for March 2007, with discovery to be exchanged by this fall. She also told the parties not to leak to the press.
3. Magistrate Judge Ted Klein's cases have been reassigned temporarily to Judge Torres. The order can be found here on the court's website. Judge Klein is in all of our thoughts.
1. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is having their annual meeting here in Miami Beach. It started tonight and it goes through Saturday. The focus is on cross-examination. Tomorrow, legendary defense lawyer Larry Pozner is lecturing. On Friday, we tap the local talent: Albert Kreiger and Jeff Weiner.
2. The Miami 7 "terror" defendants were in Court today before Judge Lenard for the first time. She set trial for March 2007, with discovery to be exchanged by this fall. She also told the parties not to leak to the press.
3. Magistrate Judge Ted Klein's cases have been reassigned temporarily to Judge Torres. The order can be found here on the court's website. Judge Klein is in all of our thoughts.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
"Vamos a Cuba" back on school shelves
Judge Alan Gold in an 89-page order said the School Board in banning 24 books "abused its discretion in a manner that violated the transcendent imperatives of the First Amendment.'' Here's the Herald article. And here's Matthew Pinzur's blog post covering the story and a teacher's take before the opinion came out.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Padilla lawyers home...
... according to this DBR article:
"Three defense attorneys in a Miami terrorism case who were trapped in war-torn Beirut while interviewing witnesses got tired of waiting for the U.S. Marines to evacuate them. So they hitched a ride on a Norwegian freighter. The attorneys — Orlando do Campo of the federal public defender’s office in Miami, Andrew Patel of New York City and William Swor of Detroit — along with an Arabic-speaking interpreter they hired arrived in Cyprus last Wednesday and caught flights home the next day."
"Three defense attorneys in a Miami terrorism case who were trapped in war-torn Beirut while interviewing witnesses got tired of waiting for the U.S. Marines to evacuate them. So they hitched a ride on a Norwegian freighter. The attorneys — Orlando do Campo of the federal public defender’s office in Miami, Andrew Patel of New York City and William Swor of Detroit — along with an Arabic-speaking interpreter they hired arrived in Cyprus last Wednesday and caught flights home the next day."
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