Criminal Law & Procedure

[12/08] US v. Scott

Affirming the conviction of a man for wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering in association with a Boston area mortgage fraud scheme because his unconditional guilty plea barred him from subsequently raising independent claims relating to the deprivation of constitutional rights and prevented him from complaining about the alleged use of information obtained during plea negotiation proffers where the plea was not involuntary.

[12/08] US v. Scott
Affirming the district court’s rejection of a plea agreement negotiated with the government, refusal to permit renegotiation and the submission of a new agreement, and issuance of a sentence prior to his having read the presentence report because these actions did not result in plain error on the court’s part.

[12/08] In Re M.L.

Affirming the decision denying a petition to seal the school records, but agreeing to seal juvenile court records relating to a minor’s unlawful possession of a knife on school grounds because it was not an abuse of discretion to require that the court should have an opportunity to review the records the juvenile was seeking to have sealed in order to determine whether there were compelling interests mitigating against sealing them.

[12/07] P. v. Henriquez

Affirming the judgment of death in the case of a man who admitted to killing his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter, stipulating at trail to murder with malice aforethought, but asserting the murders were not premeditated and the product of an unplanned fit of rage because errors in the guilt and penalty phase were harmless when considered separately and cumulatively did not warrant reversal.