South Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Where a defendant was convicted of possessing a firearm and sentenced under the heightened penalties of the Armed Career Criminal Act, or ACCA, based on prior felony convictions, because the Virginia rape and burglary statutes can be satisfied with proof ...

Where a defendant who was sentenced to death for his role in a murder for hire plot alleged his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to investigate adequately his brain injury and potential mental illness, and failing to introduce ...

Where a defendant convicted of the misuse of public assets sought an evidentiary hearing into the conduct of a juror who followed journalists covering the trial, there was no evidence she read a tweet about the trial. Background After Allen ...

The government was required to show the defendant engaged in sex with a minor for “the purpose” of creating a video. By instructing the jury that it could convict the defendant if the video was “a purpose” of the sexual ...

Where residents of Lumberton, North Carolina, alleged a railroad prevented the city from closing a dike across the railroad’s tracks, in contravention of a contract between the railroad and city, resulting in significant damage to their properties from Hurricanes Matthew ...

Where a defendant challenged his convictions stemming from his involvement with MS-13, the court joined other circuits in finding the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits imposition of cumulative punishments for § 924(c) and § 924(j) convictions based on the same conduct. ...

The administrative law judge erred by requiring objective evidence about the persistence and limiting effects of fibromyalgia on the claimant’s daily life. This error was compounded by the fact that objective evidence was present, but ignored. The record as a ...

Although jury hearing the court martial of an Air Force captain accused of sexual assault was given an instruction that the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces later concluded was a breach of his Fifth Amendment due process rights, ...

Where the parties in a dispute over whether a fax was an unsolicited advertisement never briefed what level of deference should be afforded a 2006 FCC rule interpreting what constitutes an “advertisement” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the case ...

Where fire battalion chiefs argued they were covered by a “first responder regulation,” which required they be paid overtime, because their primary duty was management and not front line firefighting, the first responder regulation was inapplicable. A review of their ...