William Kent's Federal Criminal Defense Update
WILLIAM KENT'S FEDERAL CRIMINAL
DEFENSE UPDATE
Last Updated October 1, 1998
Contents
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to WILLIAM KENT'S FEDERAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE
UPDATE, a web site devoted to topics of interest related to
Federal Criminal Defense. This web site is presented by William Kent, who
has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Jacksonville Division
of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of
Florida since 1989, a member of the Florida Bar since 1978, the United
States Tax Court since 1979, the Middle District of Florida since 1989,
and the United States Supreme Court since 1992.
Mr. Kent's practice of law is limited to federal criminal and habeas
cases by appointment of the Federal District Court for the Middle District
of Florida.
This Web site contains the full text of the monthly Kent's
Federal Defense Update Newsletters
as well as links to other related web pages.
This web page is not intended to provide
legal advice but only to inform clients, the public and members of the
bar of current matters of interest relating to federal criminal defense
issues. If you need legal advice or representation, please consult an attorney.
This page is not endorsed by or affiliated with the Office of Federal Public
Defender for the Middle District of Florida, the U.S. Courts, or the United
States Government. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are solely those
of the author, and do not necessarily represent the ideas or opinions of
any United States government entity.
You may contact Mr. Kent by email to: wkent@mediaone.net
Return to Top of Page - Contents
Please Sign the Guestbook!
Your comments, which may be published in the Guestbook
and made available for other visitors to read, or at your election, be
submitted to me privately, are welcomed. Use the Guestbook to make
suggestions or furnish information for others to read. Please bear
in mind that your Guestbook comments will be published unless you indicate
that they are to be private, so please do not include any material that
may be offensive to others. Thank you!
Click Here to Enter Guest Book
Return to Top of Page - Contents
Newsletters
Return to Top of Page - Contents
Current Discussion Topics
-
Judge Barkett Does the Right Thing. Read the latest example
in United States v. Glover.
-
Mr. Kent's wife, Caroline Kent, has a new scientific publication, Septo-hippocampal
cholinergic and neurotrophin markers in age-induced cognitive
decline, which appears in Neurobiol Aging 1998 Jul;19(4):351-361.
Click here to read its abstract!
-
See the case everyone is talking about, United
States v. Singleton, in which a
three judge panel of the Tenth Circuit Court
of Appeals held that it was a felony offense for United States Attorneys
to promise to recommend sentence reductions to cooperating witnesses in
exchange for their testimony against another criminal defendant.
Click Here to Read Singleton Decision.
This decision has been vacated by the Tenth Circuit subject to rehearing
en banc, that is, by the entire Tenth Circuit Court, which is to
have oral argument in Denver the week of November 16, 1998.
-
In United States v. Alfred Jones, an
unpublished decision, United States Magistrate Judge John Steele ruled
that a Florida Highway Patrol's drug sniffing canine, Aldo, was
so bad at being able to detect drugs by smell that his "alert" was not
sufficient probable cause to justify the search of a vehicle. Any
person who has been aggrieved by a search based upon this dog, out of Lake
City, Florida, should contact an attorney. For more information,
see the July 1998 Newsletter by clicking here.
Are you interested how we got to the point in history in the United States
of America where state security officers could force you and your effects
and your car to be held against your will and gone over by a German Shepherd
(many of these "trained" police dogs' heritages reach back to Nazi Concentration
Camp guard dogs), and if the dog barks, your effects can be rifled through,
your car torn apart and searched, and you can be arrested? Read
United States v. Place, a decision of the United States
Supreme Court by clicking here.
-
You know you are ready to be a judge on the Eleventh
Circuit Court of Appeals if you can spot the sentencing error that everyone
missed in a recent published sentencing decision. Read
United States v. Watkins by clicking here. If you can spot the
error, send me an email and let me know: wkent@mediaone.net
-
On August 13, 1998, in United
States v. James Sterba, Federal District Judge Merryday, in Tampa,
Florida, dismissed with prejudice a felony prosecution after all evidence
had been presented to the jury, based on prosecutorial
misconduct. The case received significant local public
attention, including an editorial in the Tampa Tribune. Click here to read
a Tampa Tribune article about the Judge's decision Tampa
Tribune Article on Sterba Case
-
Is a Florida state conviction for possession of cocaine a sufficient predicate
for the Career Offender guideline? See United
States v. Hernandez .
Return to Top of Page - Contents
Supreme Court Practice
What's it like to practice before the United States
Supreme Court? Read Mr. Kent's winning Supreme Court brief in Terry
Lynn Stinson v. United States, one of the most cited sentencing
decisions in Supreme Court history. Stinson
Brief . Imagine arguing the case before the nine Supreme Court
justices - read the transcript of Mr. Kent's
actual oral argument before the Supreme Court in this case.
Read the Supreme Court's decision, nine to nothing, in favor of Mr. Kent's
client. Stinson v. United States opinion.
Mr. Kent has recently filed a petition for certiorari with the United
States Supreme Court arguing that a defendant has the right to instruct
the jury on its right to disregard the law as instructed by the court and
vote its conscience. Juries have this right, commonly referred to
as the "jury pardon" or "jury nullification," but the courts have taken
from defendants the right to tell the jury this or argue it to the jury
and have even gone further and removed jurors who assert their right to
do so. At the time of the adoption of the Bill of Rights, this was
a clearly established right, was famously argued in the John Peter Zenger
case, argued in front of the Supreme Court in the Aaron Burr trial and
the attempt to take it from jurors served as an article of impeachment
against the only Supreme Court justice ever impeached. Read
Mr. Kent's petition to the Supreme Court for more information.
To listen to the oral arguments of some of
the more famous Supreme Court cases of recent years, jump to the Oyez,
Oyez, Oyez Supreme Court Database, which has 347 oral arguments that can
be listened to via RealPlayer audio - click here for
Oyez: Oral
Arguments Search
Return to Top of Page - Contents
Thank you
for visiting William Kent's Federal Criminal Defense Update!
This page was last updated
October 1, 1998.
This page produced by William Mallory
Kent, 200 West Forsyth Street, Suite 1240, Jacksonville, Florida, 32202,
wkent@mediaone.net
FastCounter
by LinkExchange
Return to Top of Page - Contents