It's a slow week here in the federal circuit courts, at least for people accused of a crime who won their cases - only three cases were reversed in the federal court of appeals in published opinions last week.

Happily, what last week's opinions lost in quantity they made up in quality.

Judge Posner weighed in on restitution in child porn cases. Always a fun writer to read.

In other child pornography news, the First Circuit reversed and remanded in a Confrontation Clause case. If you have a Confrontation Clause case on appeal, you should read United States v. Cameron.

Finally, the Tenth Circuit reversed a sentence because the defendant was denied a right to allocute. We've seen this issue before, and, frankly, I find it bizarre that district court's don't get this right every time.

If you're traveling this week, be safe. And remember, take the turkey out of the wrapper before you cook it.

To the victories!

1. United States v. Laraneta, Seventh Circuit (Posner, J.): In child pornography case, the restitution award to two women, pornographic images of whom were found in appellant's possession, required remand for the district court to determine (1) how much to subtract from one of the victim's losses to reflect payment of restitution that she has received in other cases, and (2) whether appellant uploaded any of the victims' images. Additionally, the district court erred in ruling that appellant's liability for restitution was joint and several, as appellant was the sole defendant in this case and could not seek contribution from others.

2. United States v. Cameron, First Circuit: Appellant was convicted of 13 crimes involving child pornography. Because the admission of certain reports violated appellant's Confrontation Clause rights, and because these errors were not harmless with respect to six of the offenses, appellant's convictions for the six offenses were reversed and his sentences vacated.

3.United States v. Castillo, Tenth Circuit: In felon in possession of a firearm case, the district court violated appellant's right of allocution when it failed to allow him a meaningful opportunity to speak on his own behalf before the imposition of his 28-month sentence. Consequently, the case was remanded to the district court with directions to vacate appellant's sentence and for resentencing.

It's another relatively slow week in the federal appeals courts of our great nation. Perhaps folks are too saturated with election coverage to issue opinions.

Of the three courts that issued opinions this week, only one is in a battleground states (or quasi battleground state) - the Tenth Circuit in Colorado.

The Eleventh Circuit based in Georgia and the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans surely are not drowning in direct mail pieces or television ads.

Perhaps their productivity isn't crippled by constant refreshing of Real Clear Politics.

And, perhaps that explains why we haven't heard from the Sixth Circuit -- normally a prolific creator of news for this blog -- which is based in the uber-battleground state of Ohio.

In any event, there are a few great cases from the last week, especially the Tenth Circuit's multiplicity opinion in United States v. Frierson. As the feds use conspiracy charges ever more frequently, multiplicity arguments are a good way to reign in the metaphysical problems of profligate conspiracy theories (e.g., If a thousand angels are dancing together on the head of a pin, how many conspiracies to dance together can there be?).

And, looking forward, there's a huge event on Tuesday. That's right -- the Federal Public Defender for DC, A.J. Kramer, will be arguing a withdrawal from a conspiracy case in the Supreme Court. I would expect there will be coverage lots of places, including here.

Also, if you're an undecided voter and didn't know it, the election is Tuesday.

With that, on to the victories:

1. United States v. Frierson, Tenth Circuit: In case involving two convictions for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, appellant's convictions were plainly multiplicitous because the jury was not instructed that they could not find appellant guilty of more than one count of conspiracy unless they were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he entered into two separate agreements to violate the law. Because neither the instructions nor the government suggested that the first conspiracy count was anything other than part of the larger conspiracy alleged in the second, the Tenth Circuit remanded with instructions to vacate appellant's conviction and sentence on either the first or the second conspiracy counts.

2. United States v. Murray et al, Fifth Circuit: Three defendants were convicted of crimes arising out of their participation in a Ponzi scheme and, at the time of sentencing, were not ordered to pay restitution. Because the district court sentenced the defendants without ordering restitution and found that, from the facts on the record, 18 U.S.C. § 3663A(c)(3) applied, the "shall order" provision in § 3663A(a) did not authorize the court to reopen its judgment more than sixth months later to add an order of restitution.

3. United States v. Miller, Eighth Circuit: In case arising out of a husband and wife's methamphetamine-related convictions, the district court committed two procedural sentencing errors in determining that the wife's advisory guidelines sentencing range was 188-235 months in prison: (1) the court failed to apply Guideline § 2D1.1(a)(5), which may have substantially increased her advisory guidelines range; and (2) the "confused sentencing record" casts doubt on the court's drug quantity finding. For these reasons, the wife's sentence was vacated and remanded for resentencing.

It's a dog's breakfast of victories in the nation's federal criminal appellate courts.

Personally, I love a good case on the district court's contempt power -- look to see the Fourth Circuit's contempt reversal in United States v. Peoples profiled in more depth a little later in the week. The case has everything -- a pro se litigant, a finding of contempt, and profanity (which is tastefully referred to in the opinion). It reminds me of another great pro se contempt case from last year. It reminds me, too, of the Sixth Circuit's relatively recent case on the limits of a district court's power to sanction a lawyer. Always good stuff.

Which is not to give short shrift to the two other wins from last week -- resentencing in an illegal reentry case and unsupported supervised release conditions in a federal sex case.

And, of course, this week the Supreme Court is hearing more arguments and it's a relatively criminal heavy week. Tuesday has a Padilla case, as well as a nice Fourth Amendment question -- can the cops detain someone incident to a search warrant if the person is not actually present when the search warrant is executed. Wednesday is dog sniff day.

Of course, that assumes that Frankestorm doesn't blow the Eastern Seaboard away. Wish us luck with that.

On to the victories:

1. United States v. Peoples, Fourth Circuit: On appeal of appellant's two criminal contempt convictions, the Fourth Circuit held that, as to the second conviction, the district court committed plain error when it summarily imposed a contempt sanction for appellant's tardiness because the court failed to provide appellant with notice and an opportunity to be heard, and because this failure affected appellant's substantial rights.

2. United States v. Rodriguez-Escareno, Fifth Circuit: In illegal reentry case, the district court applied a 16-level enhancement to appellant's sentence because it considered his earlier crime, conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, to be a "drug trafficking offense" under Guideline § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(i). The court erred in applying the enhancement because the elements of the conspiracy conviction under 21 U.S.C. § 846 are not consistent with the meaning of "conspiring" under the relevant Guideline: the Guideline requires an overt act, while § 846 does not. This was plain error because it was obvious and affected appellant's substantial rights: had his sentence been properly calculated, his Guidelines range would have been 15-21 months, as opposed to the 41-51 months determined by the court. Appellant's 48-month sentence was vacated and the case remanded for resentencing.

3. United States v. Child, Ninth Circuit: Appellant was convicted of attempted sexual abuse. A condition of supervised release prohibited him from residing with or being around children under age 18, including his daughters, and from socializing with or dating anybody with children under age 18, including his fiancée, without prior approval from his probation officer. The court failed to make specific findings on the record addressing the necessity of restricting appellant's ability to have contact with his children and fiancée. Because of the significant liberty interest implicated, these errors - as well as the absence in the record of any evidence supporting the condition - rendered the condition substantively unreasonable. The condition was also overbroad. For these reasons, the condition was vacated and the case remanded.