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News & Articles
Criminal defense attorney, Lorraine Gauli-Rufo shares news and articles pertaining to criminal and federal law.
Habeas Update SCOTUS
Habeas Update SCOTUS In June of this year, the Supreme Court ruled on a case related to habeas corpus. More specifically, in Jones v. Hendrix, the Supreme Court discussed habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 when a subsequent (or second) motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255...
Admissibility of Social Media Evidence in Court
The Federal Rules of Evidence state that admissions by a party-opponent can be introduced in court. This may include relevant text messages, social media posts, and statements made to the media. In order for evidence derived from social media platforms to be...
Honest Services Fraud
The Supreme Court issued two opinions limiting the scope of federal fraud statutes that prohibit “honest services fraud” in Ciminelli v. United States and Percoco v. United States. 18 U.S.C. § 1346 states, “a scheme or artifice to defraud includes a scheme or artifice...
Taylor Update
In United States v. Taylor, the Supreme Court held that attempted Hobbs Act robbery does not qualify as a “crime of violence” under 18 U.S.C. §924(c). Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3), “crime of violence” is defined as a felony offense and “has an element the use,...
Wire Fraud
What constitutes wire fraud? Wire fraud is a federal crime that occurs when communications are transmitted using a wire. This encompasses all forms of electronic media including cell phones, fax machines, radio transmission, email, social media, as well as SMA and...
Aggravated Identity Theft
On June 8, 2023, the Supreme Court decided Dubin v. U.S, 599 U.S. ___ (2023), which dealt with the applicability 18 §1028A(a)(1), the federal aggravated identity theft statute, which has a two-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. The Government uses it frequently...
Federal Agencies
What are the Various Federal Investigation Agencies? Federal criminal offenses are investigated by different federal agencies. While federal criminal charges are ultimately brought by the United States Attorney’s Office, their investigators are performed by the...
Grand Jury Target Letters, Subpoenas, Federal Investigations and Classifications
Grand Jury Target Letters, Subpoenas, Federal Investigations and Classifications Many people contact our firm after they have been contacted by a federal agency or the United States Attorney’s Office, and informed that they are a witness, subject or target of a...
Early Termination of Federal Probation or Supervised Release
Here are LGR Law, LLC, we represent many individuals in their requests for early termination of probation (18 U.S. Code § 3565(c)) or for early termination of supervised release (18 USC§ 3583(e)). Both statutes require that the client have served at least one year...