Fourth Circuit Affirms Sentencing Enhancement for Drugs & Firearms
By Michael Mitchell Today, in the criminal case of United States v. Pina, an unpublished per curiam opinion, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the decision of the District Court for the Western District of...
View ArticleDefendant Stuck With Guilty Plea After Ineffective Assistance of Counsel...
By Marcus Fields Today, in U.S. v. Solares, an unpublished opinion, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the District Court for the Western District of North Carolina’s judgment against Adrian Solares imposing...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Affirms Drug Conviction & Sentence
By Michael Mitchell Today, in the criminal case of United States v. Jenkins, an unpublished per curiam opinion, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the decision of the District Court for the District of South...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Vacates Guilty Plea Due to District Court Coercion
By Eric Jones On April 28, 2015, the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion in the criminal case United States v. Braxton. The Circuit Court held that Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1) explicitly prohibits...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Affirms Use of Prior Convictions in Supervised Release...
By Sarah Saint On May 20, 2015, the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion in the criminal case U.S. v. Wynn, affirming the district court’s judgment. Anthony Wynn was convicted of drug offenses and...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Affirms Motion to Suppress After Warrantless Search
By Sarah Saint On October 23, 2015, in the criminal case of United States v. Dmytro Patiutka, the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion affirming the district court’s grant of Defendant Dmytro...
View ArticleFourth Circuit –“§ 1983 Claim Cannot Co-Exist with Valid Conviction”
By Eric Benedict On October 27th, 2015, the Fourth Circuit issued its published opinion in the civil case, Griffin v. Baltimore Police Dept. In Griffin, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the District...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Does Not Require a COA to Review Dismissal of a Mixed 60(b)/ §...
By Elizabeth DeFrance On July 13, 2015 the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion in the criminal case United States v. McRae. The issue before the Court was whether the district court improperly...
View ArticlePro Se Defendant’s Case Remanded After Fourth Circuit Finds No Forfeiture of...
By Daniel Stratton On September 2, 2015, the Fourth Circuit reversed the conviction of an individual convicted on several charges related to his possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Affirms Conspiracy and Laundering Convictions
By Cate Berenato In the published, criminal case United States v. Qazah, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina’s decision to convict...
View ArticleNo Merit in Appeal of District Court Sentence
By Marcus Fields Today, in United States v. Montgomery, an unpublished decision, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s revocation of Montgomery’s supervised release and sentence of 22...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Vacates Federal Carjacking Conviction
By George Kennedy On April 12, 2016, the Fourth Circuit issued its published opinion in the case of United States v. Bailey. The Fourth Circuit vacated a conviction for carjacking in violation of 18...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Affirms Conviction in Unlawful Receipt of Government Benefits...
By: Kristina Wilson On Friday, October 21, 2016, the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion in the criminal case United States v. Wharton. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s conviction...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Declines to Invalidate Petitioner’s Guilty Plea
By Ali Fenno On October 25, 2016, the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion in the criminal case of Dingle v. Stevenson. In Dingle, the Fourth Circuit addressed whether the Supreme Court’s holding...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Upholds Criminal Sentence for “Threatening Communication” Charge
By Kelsey Mellan On February 9, 2017, the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion in United States v. Spencer, a criminal appeal of an allegedly unreasonable sentence stemming from a “threatening...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Applies Deferential Standard to Affirm Denial of § 2254 Petition
By Ali Fenno On November 23, 2016, the Fourth Circuit issued a published opinion in the criminal case of Rodriguez v. Bush. In Rodriguez, the Fourth Circuit addressed whether the failure of Nicanor...
View Article4th Amendment Rights: The Reasonableness of Prolonged Traffic Stops
By: Matthew Welch & Gilbert Smolenski On March 1, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit published an opinion for United States v. Brian Bowman. The court held that...
View ArticleFourth Circuit Clarifies Rules for Designations of ACCA Predicate Convictions
By Samuel D. Gilleran and Nicholas T. Pappayliou Background On August 22, 2018, the Fourth Circuit decided United States v. Hodge,[1] clarifying whether the government may ask a district court to...
View ArticleJudges of the Fourth Circuit – Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr.
By: Jason Wiener Francis Dominic Murnaghan, Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland on June 20, 1920.[1] After he received an undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1941, he served his...
View ArticleAs Free as a Bird: The Middle Finger and the First Amendment
By Michael Johnston When Shawn Ellis extended his middle finger while riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle on U.S. Highway 52, he likely did not know that he would become involved in the latest of...
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