Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Unpublished but Interesting Decisions

U.S. v. Delgado, 2008 WL 647512 (3/10/08) (unpub'd) - The defendant fails the fourth prong of the plain error test where the district court post-Booker, stated: "the 10th has told sentencing judges they are normally to abide by the guideline ranges except for extraordinary circumstances" and defense counsel failed to object to this obvious misconception of Booker. "Objective consideration of the ยง 3553(a) factors did not warrant a departure from the guideline range" so as to satisfy the fourth prong.

Burgess v. Houseman, 2008 WL 647522 (3/10/08) (unpub'd) - The plaintiff pleaded facts that established Fourth Amendment and due process violations where she alleged social workers detained her child and kept the child from her custody, without a hearing, after child abuse allegations against the child's father, but none against the plaintiff mother.

Turner v. Houseman, 2008 WL 647526 (3/10/08) (unpub'd) - The plaintiff pleaded facts that established Fourth Amendment and due process violations where he alleged he was detained and his house searched, without a hearing, based on his girlfriend's accusations of child sexual abuse that were not supported by probable cause.

Barron v. Macy, 2008 WL 681718 (3/11/08) (unpub'd) - The plaintiff prisoner did not state a constitutional claim when he alleged he was in pain and neglected for hours after his finger was broken when it was caught in a van door during his transportation, because the prisoner did not assert that his hand evidenced features that the officers should have noticed, other than his complaints of pain.