A Compilation of Resources for Briefs and Motions
on Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Topics

Editor's Note:   Commencing with the October 1999 term of the Supreme Court, the FindLaw site includes copies of all of briefs for cases argued before the Supreme Court.   Those briefs, which are listed in alphabetical order by the name of the first party, can be accessed by clicking here - although they are usually not available until some time after the case has been decided. If you want access to briefs before a case has been decided, the American Bar Association maintains a list of significant briefs in forthcoming cases which can be accessed by clicking here. The briefs on that site can be found either by argument date or by case name. Finally, you can also obtain copies of all the briefs filed by the Solicitor General in cases before the Supreme Court by going directly to the special section maintained on the Department of Justice Web site by clicking here.

In addition, for a comprehensive and free listing of amicus curiae briefs filed in various cases, both criminal and non-criminal, in the Federal courts (including the Supreme Court, the various Courts of Appeal, and many District Courts), click here.  A large percentage of the briefs contained on that site were filed by the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. The ACLU has also collected a compilation of significant briefs it has filed over the years; and that collection can be accessed by clicking here.

Another excellent site for briefs and motions is the one maintained by the Federal Public Defender's Office for the District of Connecticut, which is located at www.fpdct.org/.  You have to register to obtain a username and a password to access the brief bank maintained on this site, but registration is free.  There are more than 400 briefs and motions available on this site. Other sites worthy of mention are the Public Interest Litigation Clinic, which makes available a selection of briefs and motions on miscellaneous topics at no charge. 

Finally we note a recent commercial site known as BriefServe.com which puports to offer - in PDF format - briefs and other court records from more than 300,000 cases, including cases from the Supreme Court (from 1984 to present), the Federal Courts of Appeal (from 1981 to present), New York State and California.  While the pricing policy seems to change constantly, the latest information suggests a fee of $25 per brief - with a two brief minimum (i.e., $50 per order).  This site is sponsored by Court Record Services.  At the present time, its catalogue of available briefs is quite limited; but we assume that over time the list of available briefs will expand, and that its pricing policies will become more flexible.  If the site does ultimately offer what it suggests, it could become a major source of briefs in many cases.

Index to Briefs available on this site

By Legal Issues Raised

• Attorney/Client Conflicts of Interest: Does a defendant's inability to pay attorney feed create a conflict of interest that requires the Court to appoint replacement counsel to assure that defendant's rights will not be adversely affected? 
  
  
• Brady Rule Disclosure Obligations: Must the Government disclose Brady and Giglio materials immediately upon the request of defense counsel?

• Brady Rule Violations: Does the Government's failure to respond to specific defense requests for documents existing within a warehouse full of some 500,000 documents constitute a violation of the Brady rule and the principles of Kyle v. Whitley?

• Brady Rule Violations: Were the defendants denied a fair trial when the Government failed to disclose material exculpatory evidence?

• Capital Punishment: Does the execution of a prisoner who has spent 23 years on death row constitute a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment? 

• Federal Anti-Bribery Statute:   Should the the testimony of a cooperating witness  have been suppressed because promises of leniency made to him, in exchange for his testimony, violated the anti-gratuity provisions of 18 USC § 201(c)? See also defense counsel's Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Suppress, Appellant's Brief, Appellant's Supplemental Brief and Appellant's Reply Brief.   And see the NACDL's amicus brief on appeal to the Tenth Circuit. 

• Judicial Misconduct: Does a trial judge's repeated, hostile questioning of a defendant during trial create an atmosphere of bias and prejudice that denies the defendant his rights to a fair trial?
  
  
• Habeas Corpus:  When does the statute of limitations begin to run for attacking a federal sentence when previous state convictions that enhanced the federal sentence are later vacated by a state court?

• Money Transmitting and Forfeiture: Can a defendant be charged with money transmitting under 18 U.S.C. § 1960 when the underlying State statute does not give fair warning that the conduct in question is illegal?  Can the Government seize substitute assets prior to a conviction?

• Newly Discovered Evidence: Does a petitioner have a right to an evidentiary hearing based on a claim of newly discovered evidence?

• Perjured Testimony: Were the defendants denied their Fifth Amendment Due Process Rights when the Government knowingly introduced perjured testimony and withheld critical information from them?

• Proffers: Are they worth the paper they are written on? 
   
• Prosecutorial Misconduct: Should a court vacate a conviction when the prosecutor threatened its key witness that his probation would be revoked unless he "came through" with his testimony.
  
  
• RICO - Definition of a Criminal Enterprise: Whether the Government's failure to prove all the elements of the "enterprise" it has charged requires dismissal of all the RICO charges?

• Sentencing - Collateral Consequences: Did the district court err when it gave collateral estoppel effect for purposes of subsequent civil proceedings to findings of fact made during sentencing proceedings where the defendant was not given a full and fair opportunity to contest such findings?

• Sentencing Departures: Does a ten-fold sentencing departure based on an uncharged crime violate a petitioner's rights to due process and trial by jury? 

• Sentencing Departures: Whether a defendant is entitled to a downward departure based on coercion, duress and undue psychological manipulation?

• Sentencing Departures: Whether a defendant is entitled to a downward departure, under U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0, based on cooperation rendered to local law enforcement authorities and despite the Federal Government's failure to file a § 5K1 letter?

• Supervised Release - Amendments of Conditions:  Whether an amendment to the conditions of supervised release, made after the initial sentence was imposed, violates the provisions of Rule 43 of the Fed.R.Crim.P.? 

• Tax Evasion:  Does an IRS tax assessment that is administratively final for the purposes of the agency's civil collection remedies constitute conclusive proof of the tax deficiency in a tax evasion prosecution?

• Venue: Does a New Jersey district court have proper venue over a defendant in a case involving a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924 when the weapon was possessed only in the State of Maryland? 

 By Type of Motion

• Brief in Opposition to Government's Petition for Writ of Mandamus seeking reversal of district court's order directing pretrial disclosure of Brady and Giglio materials "immediately upon the request of the defendant."
  
  
• Direct Appeal of Sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742 based on improper venue
   
• Direct Appeal based on Judicial Misconduct and Denial of Effective Assistance of counsel
   
• Direct Appeal of a tax evasion conviction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 7201
   
• Motion to Correct Mistake in Judgment pursuant to Rule 36 of the Fed.R.Crim.P.
  
  
• Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment Pursuant to Rule 59(e) of the Fed.R.Civ.P.
   
• Motion for a New Trial based on Prosecutorial Misconduct stemming from threatening a key witness to "come through" in his testimony or face revocation of his parole.
  
  
• Motion to dismiss counts of an indictment charging illegal money transmitting when the underlying State statutes do not clearly make such conduct illegal?
   
• Motion to Suppress Testimony of Cooperating Wintnesses on the grounds that their testimony violated the Federal Anti-Bribery Statute.  See also defense counsel's Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Suppress , Appellant's Brief, Appellant's Supplemental Brief and Appellant's Reply Brief.  And see the NACDL's amicus brief on appeal to the Tenth Circuit.
   
• Motion to Stay an Execution Based on 23 Year Delay.
  
  
• Motion to Vacate a Restraining Order over Bank Accounts on the grounds that pre-conviction seizures of substitute assets are not lawful
   
• Petition for Rehearing en banc Based on Brady Rule Violations.
  
   
• Petition for a Rehearing after a denial of a downward departure based on assistance rendered to local law enforcement authorities.
  
  
• Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus Based on Violations of the Eighth Amendment's prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment 
   
• Section 2255 Motion for Correction or Modification of a Sentence and for a New Trial Based on Newly Discovered Evidence
  
  
• Section 2255 Motion for Correction or Modification of a Sentence due to the Vacation of Previous State Convictions
   
• Section 2255 Motion to vacate a conviction based on the Government's knowing use of perjured testimony and withholding of information from the defense in violation of the Brady rule
   
• Sentencing Memorandum in Support of a Downward Departure based on Coercion, Duress and Psychological Manipulation
   
• Trial Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss Indictment based on the Failure of the Government to prove the existence of the "enterprise" it charged

By Case Name

Ceja v. Stewart, 134 F.3d 1368 (9th Cir. 1998)
Testa v. U.S., 971 F.Supp. 833 (S.D.N.Y. 1997)
U.S. v. Barron (Lynwood), Docket No. 96-185-004 (W.D.Pa. 1996)
U.S. v. Cavallaro, Docket No. 95-59-P-H (D.Me. 2/09/00)
U.S. v. Coppa, No. 01-3031 (2nd Cir. 10/15/2001)
U.S. v. Crea, 986 F.Supp. 826 (E.D.N.Y. 1997)
U.S. v. Jackson, 986 F.Supp. 829 (S.D.N.Y. 1997)
U.S. v. Kaye, Docket No. 94-1381 (2nd Cir. 1998)
U.S. v. Kikumura, 978 F.Supp. 563 (D.N.J. 1997)
U.S. v. [Martha] Stewart, No. 03 Cr. 717 (MGC) (S.D.N.Y.)
U.S. v. Messina, 131 F.3d 36 (2nd Cir. 1997)
U.S. v. Mmahat, 106 F.3d 89 (5th Cir. 1997)
U.S. v. Palma-Ruedas, 121 F.3d 841 (3rd Cir. 1997)
U.S. v. Pielago, 135 F.3d 703 (11th Cir. 1998)
U.S. S.E.C. v. Monarch Funding Corp., 983 F.Supp. 442 (S.D.N.Y. 1997)
United States v. Scheer, 168 F.3d 445 (11th Cir. 1999)
U.S. v. Silkman, 156 F.3d 833 (8th Cir. 1998)
U.S. v. Singleton, 144 F.3d 1343 (10th Cir. 1998)
U.S. v. Velastegui, 1999 WL 262282 (S.D.N.Y. 3/30/99) 

By Attorney Name

Aab, Raymond J. - New York, NY
Antkowiak, Bruce A. - Greenburg, PA
Becraft, Jr., Lowell H. - Huntsville, AL
Beneman, David - Portland, ME
Fahringer, Herald Price - New York, NY
Garber, Glenn A. - New York, NY
Goldberg, Jay - New York, NY
Hinde, Georgia J. - New York, NY
Kehoe, Thomas A. - Harahan, LA
Legal Aid Society, The - New York, NY
Levitt, Richard Ware - New York, NY
McDonald, John P. - Somerville, NJ
Morvillo, Robert G. - New York, NY
Moscowitz, Jane W. - Miami, FL
Mueller, Norman R. - Denver, CO
Patten, Michael W. - Phoenix, AZ
Sheppard, William D. - Jacksonville, FL
Sturim, Allan - Kew Gardens, NY
Victor, Paul A. - New York, NY
Wachtel, James V. - Wichita, KS
Waxman, Benjamin S. - Miami, FL

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