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DEFENSE LINK
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR CJA PANEL ATTORNEYS
LEIGH M. SKIPPER, CHIEF FEDERAL DEFENDER
MAY 2015
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Recent Third Circuit and
Supreme Court Cases
Fall Training Seminar -Save the Date!
Page 1
“NOTE: The Defense Link featured article does not appear
this month. The featured article will resume next month.”
Recent Third Circuit and Supreme Court Cases
Christofer Bates, RWA, EDPA
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CJA News: Deadline
Approaching to Submit
Reappointment and
New Applications
If you have been notified by the
Federal Community Defender
Office that your term on the CJA
Panel will expire on August 31,
2015, remember that the deadline
to submit your Reappointment
Application is Monday, June 1,
2015. June 1st is also the deadline
for those attorneys applying for
membership on the CJA Panel
for the EDPA.
All applications will be reviewed
by the CJA Selection Committee
and recommendations will be sent
to the Court.
Editors
Jennifer Nimmons Herman
Attorney Advisor
▬
Kimberly Campoli
Paralegal/Panel Administrator
Supreme Court
Terry Stops / Traffic Stops / Dog Sniffs / Prolonged Detention
Rodriguez v. United States, --- S. Ct. ---, 2015 U.S. LEXIS 2807
(Apr.21, 2015).
A police stop exceeding the time necessary to handle the
matter for which the stop was made violates the Fourth Amendment.
This means that a seizure justified only by a police-observed traffic
violation becomes unlawful if the stop is prolonged beyond the time
reasonably required to complete the mission of issuing a traffic
citation for the violation. The only way the stop can be prolonged
beyond the time reasonably necessary to issue a traffic citation is
where the officers develop a reasonable suspicion of additional
criminality.
Police may still order everyone out of the car and exercise
command of the scene. They may also run license, registration, and
warrant checks, because they are tied to the traffic justification for
the stop. Tasks unrelated to the justification for the stop, such as dog
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Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of PA
Helen Marino, First Assistant Federal Defender
Nina Carpiniello Spizer, Chief, Trial Unit
Elizabeth Toplin, Assistant Chief, Trial Unit
Brett Sweitzer, Chief of Appeals
MAY 2015
PAGE 2
sniffs or questions designed to investigate suspected criminality, may also be conducted, but only to the
extent they are done concurrently with the traffic tasks. However, officers may not prolong the overall
length of the stop to conduct these “unrelated” tasks.
The Supreme Court remanded Rodriguez’s case for the lower courts to determine whether the
officers developed a reasonable suspicion to justify detaining him beyond completion of the traffic violation
investigation.
Cert. Granted - Controlled Substance Analogue / Sufficiency / Knowledge
McFadden v. United States, No. 14-378 (Cert. Granted Jan. 16, 2015, argued Apr. 21, 2015).
ISSUE:
Whether, to convict a defendant of distribution of a controlled substance analogue – a
substance with a chemical structure that is “substantially similar” to a Schedule I or
Schedule II drug and has a “substantially similar” effect on the user – the government
must prove that the defendant knew the substance constituted a controlled substance
analogue.
Third Circuit
Supervised Release Revocation / Jurisdiction / Warrant or Summons
United States v. Merlino, --- F.3d ---, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 7404 (3d Cir. May 5, 2015).
18 U.S.C. § 3583(i) is a jurisdictional statute, requiring that a warrant or summons must issue before
the expiration of supervised release in order for a District Court to conduct revocation proceedings. Neither
the probation officer’s timely submission of the revocation petition to the judge, nor the judge’s execution
of the petition, is sufficient. A proper summons or warrant must issue from the Clerk’s office before
expiration, or the District Court lacks jurisdiction to revoke the defendant’s supervised release. Section
3583(i) is NOT subject to equitable tolling.
Merlino’s term of supervised release was set to expire on September 6, 2014. On September 2,
2014, the District Court ordered the issuance of a summons directing him to appear for a revocation
hearing. Due to scheduling conflicts with defense counsel, a date for a hearing was not agreed upon until at
least September 11, 2014. On September 16, the District Court issued a “notice of hearing” summoning
Merlino to appear for a revocation hearing on October 10, 2014. On these facts, the Third Circuit held that
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MAY 2015
the District Court lacked jurisdiction to revoke Merlino’s supervised
release because the summons or warrant did not issue untilPten
AGEdays
5
after the supervised release term.
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Fall Training Seminar for CJA Panel Attorneys
SAVE THE DATE!
Jeffrey M. Lindy, Esquire
CJA Panel Representative
Eastern District of PA
Please contact Jeff Lindy
with any CJA issues,
comments, or concerns:
Lindy & Tauber
1221 Locust Street
Third Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 575-0702
jlindy@LindyLawFirm.com
On Thursday, October 15, 2015, the Federal Community
Defender Office and the United States District Court for the EDPA
will host a Fall Training Seminar for CJA Panel Attorneys, Federal
Defenders, and other federal criminal defense practitioners. The
program will be held at the William J. Green Federal Building, 600
Arch Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA. Information about
registration, speakers, and topics will be available on our website at
http://pae.fd.org/CJA.html as the event approaches.
MAY 2015
DEFENSE LINK
Leigh M. Skipper, Chief Federal Defender
Helen Marino, First Assistant Federal Defender
Nina Carpiniello Spizer, Chief, Trial Unit
Elizabeth Toplin, Assistant Chief, Trial Unit
Brett Sweitzer, Chief of Appeals
PAGE 4
Contact Kimberly Campoli
if you have a new email
address, office address, or
telephone number, for any
CJA
Panel
related
questions, or if you wish to
withdraw from the CJA
Panel for the EDPA.
Federal Community Defender Office
For the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Suite 540 West – The Curtis Center
601 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone (215) 928-1100
Kimberly_Campoli@fd.org
WANT MORE?
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT HTTP://PAE.FD.ORG AND THE
THIRD CIRCUIT BLOG AT WWW.CIRCUIT3.BLOGSPOT.COM
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