Timothy O'Reilly, having been convicted of murdering an armored car guard during a robbery, was sentenced to life. Click here for full news story.

On August 11, 2010, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the convictions and death sentence of Kenneth Lighty. While the Court generally found that the "actions of the Assistant United States Attorneys handling [the trial] unnecessarily introduced error into it, such error is not reversible." The errors – albeit harmless – which the Court found included: (1) erroneous admission of unrelated murder in the guilt-or-innocence phase of the trial; (2) the prosecution argument that the victim's family wanted the death penalty. Click here for the full opinion.

On July 13, 2010, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York withdrew the notice of intent to seek the death penalty in the case against Wilver Lopez who is charged with killing fellow MS-13 gang members.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the death sentence of Ronell Wilson who had been convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of two undercover police detectives.The Court of Appeals agreed with Wilson that two prosecution arguments were improper. The government argued (1) that Wilson rather than pleading guilty - and demonstrating acceptance of responsibility - had forced the government to prove its case and (2) that Wilson could have taken the witness stand rather than simply allocuted. The Court found that the first argument unconstitutionally burdened Wilson's right to a jury trial. The second government argument, the Court found, violated Wilson's Fifth Amendment right not to testify even though he had allocuted, which resulted in a limited - but not total - waiver of his rights under the Fifth Amendment. Noting that no juror found that Wilson had accepted responsibility or showed remorse and every juror had found that Wilson presented a risk of future dangerousness, the Court found that these two constitutional errors were not harmless. Click here for the full opinion.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Len Davis's death sentence. Inter alia, the Court found: evidence was sufficient to support a future dangerousness finding despite 11-years of violence-free conduct in prison preceding resentencing; no plain error in prosecutor's questioning of witnesses and closing argument suggesting defendant's participation in or knowledge of other crimes; prosecutor's remarks restating victim impact testimony which focused on defendant's failure to apologize did not constitute plain Fifth Amendment error, and; no plain error in government argument that a life sentence would be a "freebie" since defendant was already serving a life sentence. Click here for opinion.

Mark Snarr and Edgar Garcia were sentenced to death for the murder of a prisoner at USP Beaumont. Click here for full news story.

In U.S. v. Barnette (WDNC), the district court – on remand from the Fourth Circuit in light of Miller-El v. Dretke, 545 U.S. 231 (2005) – denied the defense Batson claim. On its way to denying the claim the district court denied the defense request for discovery and precluded the defense from relying on evidence, which was not presented at the original Batson hearing. Moreover, the court limited its consideration to arguments that were raised at the Batson hearing (and not otherwise waived on appeal) and the issues raised on appeal. The court then accepted the prosecutor's reasons for striking the jurors in question and rejected the defense comparative analysis arguments. Click here to read the full opinion.

District court, on a Rule 33 motion, vacates death sentence and remands for a new penalty phase after finding numerous trial errors including: admission of improper victim impact evidence; discovery violation related to this victim impact evidence; introduction of unadjudicated murder which the jury found was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and; improper government argument in the penalty phase which (a) compared worth of defendant and victim, (b) compared conditions of a life sentence to the permanency of the victim's death, and (c) pressured the jury into believing that a life sentence would be a capitulation. Click here for full opinion.

In United States v. Basciano, District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis has requested that Attorney General Holder reconsider the government's decision to seek the death penalty. Click here for full news article.

On May 3, 2010 a federal jury sentenced George Lecco to life in prison. Lecco was convicted of ordering the 2005 killing of a federal drug informant. In 2007, Lecco and codefendant Valerie Friend were sentenced to death; however, that sentence was vacated because of juror misconduct. For a full news article, click here.

After convicting Maurice Phillips of running a cocaine-distribution network and ordering the killing of a federal informant, the jury sentenced him to life on Wednesday. Click here for full news article.

Alejandro Umana, an MS-13 gang member, was sentenced to death for the 2007 murders of two brothers in a Greensboro, NC restaurant. Click here for full news article.

After the case was deauthorized, Demario Atwater pled guilty to the murder of a University of North Carolina student body president. He will be sentenced to life imprisonment at a subsequent hearing. For full news story, click here.

On March 24, 2010, a federal jury sentenced Roberto Argueta to life in prison. Among other convictions, Mr. Argueta had been found guilty of a murder in aid of a racketeering enterprise - the MS-13 gang.

On March 17, 2010, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed Carlos Caro's death sentence. In a lengthy dissent Judge Gregory finds that the prior-drug-conviction aggravators violate the Eighth Amendment because they are so broad so as to target priors involving low-level drug offenses.  For the full opinion click here.