Criminal Matters

In US v. Scher, No. 08-20269, the court of appeals affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for wire fraud for using unauthorized waiver codes to obtain illegal discounts on airline flights, holding that 1) defendant's argument, that the indictment was constructively amended because the court's definition of "scheme to defraud" on one occasion included the language "or other things of value," ignored the balance of the instructions, which were on the whole correct; and 2) defendant did not provide rebuttal evidence that the district court deemed sufficient to undermine the information in the presentence report.

In US v. Rodriguez, No. 08-50989, the court of appeals affirmed defendant's conviction for possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun with an obliterated serial number, on the ground that it was reasonable for the officers to conduct a protective sweep beyond the living room area of defendant's trailer home, even though they had not specifically been told that there were other people in the residence, because the police's first priority in responding to a domestic disturbance report was to secure the scene and create a safe environment in which to investigate the report.

Related Resources

• Full Text of US v. Scher, No. 08-20269
• Full Text of US v. Rodriguez, No. 08-50989