A Discussion of the Reingold, Corsey and Kaplan Cases

By Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma

A video from the Association of Federal Defense Lawyers in which Zach Margulis-Ohnuma and two other attorneys, Sean Nuttall of Morvillo Abramowitz and Trisha LaFache, discuss interesting Second Circuit cases is now available. Zach talks about three cases: the first is U.S. v. Reingold, in which the circuit overturned a decision by Judge Jack B. Weinstein finding the child pornography distribution mandatory minimum was unconstitutional. The second was U.S. v. Corsey, a fraud case that found a Guideline sentence based on an intended loss of $3 billion was inappropriate where there was no actual loss at all. The third was United States v. Kaplan, in which the appeals court overturned a conviction where the proof of the defendant’s knowledge of a fraud included evidence that a co-conspirator was aware of the fraud and where the cooperator was allowed to testify that he was of the opinion that the defendant therefore must also be aware of the fraud, even though no additional direct evidence tied the defendant to the crime. Click this link to see the video, which includes a nifty outline, and thanks to Greg Nicolaysen and the AFDA for making the recording possible.