German Bond Recovery Action, and Criminal Cases

In US v. Epps, No. 09-12285, the court affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for armed bank robbery and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, holding that 1) the contents of a pillowcase carried by defendant could be inferred from its outwardly visible stains and the circumstances under which the police obtained it, and thus defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in it; and 2) alleged prosecutorial misconduct did not affect defendant's substantial rights.

In US v. Jackson, No. 08-13645, the court affirmed defendant's cocaine base distribution sentence, holding that the "safety-valve" provision in 18 U.S.C. section 3553(f), which allowed a sentencing court to disregard a statutory minimum sentence in certain circumstances, could not be applied when a defendant's sentence was modified downward pursuant to 18 U.S.C. section 3582(c)(2).

World Holdings LLC v. Fed. Repub. of Germany, No. 08-13645, involved an action to obtain payment on certain bonds issued by the Federal Republic of Germany.  The court affirmed the denial of Germany's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, holding that Article II of the Agreement Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany Regarding Certain Matters Arising from the Validation of German Dollar Bonds stated that no bond "shall be enforceable unless and until it shall be validated," but that did not necessarily mean that a plaintiff may not bring a legal action in the U.S. courts to seek enforcement of a bond that had not been validated.

Related Resources

• Full Text of US v. Epps, No. 09-12285
• Full Text of US v. Jackson, No. 08-13645
• Full Text of World Holdings LLC v. Fed. Repub. of Germany, No. 08-13645