Justia U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Defendant appealed from a judgment of the district court sentencing him principally to a term of imprisonment of 228 months for committing drug offenses. At issue was whether the district court correctly determined, for the purpose of applying U.S.S.G. 2D1.1., the most closely analogous substance listed in the Drug Quantity Table of that Guideline to the controlled substance seized from defendant at the time of his arrest. Because the district court did not have the benefit of the court's opinions in United States v. Chowdhury and United States v. Figueroa, which were issued while this appeal was pending and which governed this case, the court remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. David" on Justia Law

Defendants appealed from separate judgments of conviction related to their activities in a narcotics trafficking ring. Defendants raised numerous issues on appeal. Having conducted an independent review of the record, the court found no error in the district court's thorough and considered analysis of defendants' various claims. To the extent defendants have raised claims that were not initially brought before the district court, the court held that they did not reveal error, much less plain error. These complex proceedings were conducted with care and fairness and therefore, the court affirmed the judgments. View "United States v. Hiciano (Batista)" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs appealed from a grant of summary judgment dismissing their challenge to the legislative prayer practice at Town Board meetings in the Town of Greece, New York. Since 1999, the town has begun its Town Board meetings with a short prayer. The court held that the district court erred in rejecting plaintiffs' argument that the town's prayer practice affiliated the town with a single creed, Christianity, in violation of the Establishment Clause. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. View "Galloway v. Town of Greece" on Justia Law

Plaintiff, a follower of Islam, was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York (FCI Otisville). Plaintiff's religious beliefs required participation in congregational prayer five times a day but under the FCI Otisville policy, the prison chapel was available only once a day and no other space within the facility was made available to plaintiff and others in his faith. Plaintiff subsequently appealed from the district court's dismissal of his claims that defendants violated his rights under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000bb-1, based on a finding that plaintiff had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies concerning his congregational prayer policy claim. Because the court found that plaintiff did indeed exhaust his administrative remedies, the court vacated the judgment and remanded for further proceedings. View "Johnson v. Killian" on Justia Law

This appeal arose from defendant's conviction, after a guilty plea, on child pornography charges. Defendant challenged his conviction and sentence. The court held that the district court erred when it imposed a mandatory life sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3559(e) in the apparent absence of judicial record evidence regarding the age of the victim of his prior state offense. Accordingly, the court remanded solely for resentencing. View "United States v. Rood" on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to wire fraud and subsequently appealed her sentence of principally 78 months' imprisonment. Defendant argued that her sentence was procedurally defective and substantively unreasonable. Defendant argued that the district court procedurally erred by: (1) inadequately considering the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) sentencing factors; and (2) neglecting to address several of her objections to the Presentence Investigation Report, allegedly in violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(a)(3)(B). The court held that because defendant did not raise either procedural objection before the district court, the court's review was restricted to plain error. The court further concluded that neither alleged procedural defect amounted to plain error. Because the court also concluded that the sentence chosen by the district court was substantively reasonably, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Wagner-Dano" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs appeal from an order of the district court dismissing their complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Plaintiffs argued that New York's Kosher Law Protection Act of 2004 (Kosher Act), N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law 201-a-201-d, violated the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment and was unconstitutionally vague. The court held that the Kosher Act did not violate the Establishment Clause because it neither advanced or impeded religion, had a secular purpose, and did not create an excessive entanglement between state and religion. The court further held that the Kosher Act did not violate the Free Exercise Clause because it was neutral, generally applicable, minimally burdensome, and had a rational basis. Finally, even under the strictest scrutiny, the inspection provision was not void for vagueness. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Commack Self-Service Kosher v. Hooker" on Justia Law

Plaintiff Townsend alleged that she was sexually harassed by defendant, who was the husband of the President of her company, the sole corporate Vice President, as well as a shareholder of the company. Before Plaintiff Grey-Allen, the Human Resources Director of the company, completed an internal investigation of these allegations, she was fired by defendants. On appeal, the parties challenged the decisions of the district court that granted summary judgment dismissing Grey-Allen's Title VII retaliation claim; denied defendants' post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative for a new trial; and awarded Townsend attorney's fees and costs. The court considered all of the arguments of the parties and affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "Townsend v. Benjamin Enterprises, Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff appealed from a judgment of the district court dismissing her complaint alleging disparate treatment on the basis of race and gender, retaliation, and sexual harassment by her employer, the State Parole Division, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. On appeal, plaintiff contended that her supervisor's touchings were sufficiently abusive to support her hostile work environment claim and that summary judgment was inappropriate because there were genuine issues of fact to be tried. The court agreed that summary judgment dismissing the hostile work environment claim was inappropriate and vacated so much of the judgment as dismissed that claim, remanding for further proceedings. View "Redd v. NYS Division of Parole" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed her conviction of one count of mail fraud and three counts of tax evasion for calendar years 1995-1997. On appeal, defendant contended that the trial evidence was insufficient to support her convictions and that the mail fraud and the tax evasion counts were improperly joined. The court agreed with the sufficiency challenges relating to the tax evasion counts for 1996 and 1997 and reversed her convictions on those counts. The court vacated defendant's convictions for mail fraud and tax evasion for 1995 on the ground that those counts were improperly joined, and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings. View "United States v. Litwok" on Justia Law