2014

Decided: November 5, 2014

The Fourth Circuit held that the district court properly afforded comity to a German court’s ruling in a custody dispute between a German mother, living in Germany with the couple’s two …

Decided: November 5, 2014

The Fourth Circuit held that the district court properly afforded comity to a German court’s ruling in a custody dispute between a German mother, living in Germany with the couple’s two …

Decided: October 17, 2014

The Fourth Circuit held that failure to register as a sex offender is not a crime of moral turpitude, and, therefore, the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) erred in relying on …

Decided: October 29, 2014

The Fourth Circuit upheld the Appellant’s conviction for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. The Court also upheld the district court’s application of sentencing enhancements under the …

Decided: November 14, 2014

The Fourth Circuit held that the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) did not abuse its discretion when it refused to reopen the petitioner’s second motion to reopen his asylum claim because …

Decided: November 14, 2014

The Fourth Circuit held that the appellees were entitled to qualified immunity, and affirmed the district court’s grant of appellees’ motions for summary judgment.

The named appellants, who went through the …

Decided: October 28, 2014

The Fourth Circuit held that a court may not consider factors other than the substantial assistance offered to the prosecution when determining the extent of a defendant’s sentence reduction (i.e. downward …

Decided: August 22, 2014

The Fourth Circuit affirmed Appellants’ convictions, but vacated McLaurin’s sentence and remanded for resentencing.

Appellants were working with disgruntled drug couriers, and implemented a plan to rob a drug “stash house” …

Decided: August 19, 2014

The Fourth Circuit held that the district court abused its discretion when it certified five class action suits. The Court vacated the lower court’s decision and remanded for reconsideration.

The appellees …

Decided: November 17, 2014

The Fourth Circuit affirmed Michael White’s (“White”) conviction for arson-related charges, and affirmed his enhanced sentence for commission of arson to a “dwelling.”

White was something of an entrepreneur in West …

Decided: November 14, 2014

The Fourth Circuit denied Petitioner’s claim for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) decision.

Petitioner (“Mulyani”) grew up as a Christian in Indonesia, which is a primarily Muslim country. …

Decided: November 13, 2014

The Fourth Circuit held that the district court erred in applying a “vulnerable victim” sentence enhancement to John Dowell’s (“Dowell”) conviction for child pornography-related crimes. However, the Court also held that …

Decided: November 14, 2014

The Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court and upheld an eight-level sentencing enhancement under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) based on Defendant’s prior first-degree burglary conviction. The Court …

Decided: October 29, 2014

The Fourth Circuit reversed the Board of Immigration’s (“BIA”) decision to deny Xing Yang (“Yang”) relief from deportation. The Court held that the BIA erred by excluding evidence, and applied an …

Decided: October 22, 2014

The Fourth Circuit affirmed Jay Briley’s (“Briley”) conviction on two felony counts and one misdemeanor count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 111(a) by causing injury to Federal Park Officers (“Officers”) during …