Pursuant to a plea agreement, Germaine Edelen pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute in excess of five grams of cocaine base. In his plea agreement, Edelen waived his right to file a direct appeal so long as the sentence imposed by the district court was within the applicable Guideline Sentencing Range ("GSR") or lower, or the district court imposed the minimum mandatory sentence. The district court sentenced him to 126 months' imprisonment, on the lower end of...  

The petitioners, Luis Ernesto Bonilla (Bonilla) and Judith Mercado Bonilla (Mercado), are Colombian nationals. They seek judicial review of a final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying their application for asylum, withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Mercado's application is derivative and thus, its success depends on the success of Bonilla's application. See Ang v. Gonzales, 430 F.3d 50, 53 (1st Cir. 2005). We will analyze the...  

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) adopted and affirmed an Immigration Judge's (IJ's) decision denying Raouf Soliman Abdelmalek's1 claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Abdelmalek, a native and citizen of Egypt, now petitions this court for a review of the BIA's denial of his claims. We deny the petition for review... I. BACKGROUND... Abdelmalek and his family are Coptic Christians who hail from Alexandria, Egypt. Abdelmalek is...  

Rosaura González-Rucci ("González"), an immigration lawyer, claims to have rejected the amorous advances of an Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS") officer. Thereafter, the U.S. Attorney's Office investigated her on suspicion that she aided and abetted aliens entering into sham marriages for immigration purposes; she was indicted and acquitted. González then brought several Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA") claims — including malicious...  

A decade ago there were a series of shootings and murders involving two warring Cape Verdean youth gangs, Stonehurst and Wendover, in Boston and in Brockton, a neighboring community. Federal prosecutions ensued under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-68, and the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering statute ("VICAR"), 18 U.S.C. § 1959. See United States v. Nascimento, 491 F.3d 25 (1st Cir. 2007) (affirming RICO,...  

Anthony Lipscomb was indicted by a federal grand jury on three counts: possession with the intent to distribute five or more grams of cocaine base, possession of a gun in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a gun as a convicted felon. After a three-day jury trial, he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to 195 months' imprisonment. Lipscomb now appeals his conviction and sentence on various grounds. After careful consideration of each of his arguments, we affirm his...  

Pedro Pimentel was indicted on six counts of conspiracy to import with the intent to distribute drugs into the United States. He pled guilty on five counts, and he was sentenced to a total of 180 months' imprisonment. Pimentel argues that the district court erred in accepting his plea because there was no factual basis for it. He also argues that the district court erred by not properly instructed him as to Count Five. After careful consideration, we affirm Pimentel's conviction and the...  

This maritime insurance case from Puerto Rico arises on interlocutory appeal from the denial of the plaintiff insurers' motion for summary judgment that payment under its policy was excused by the insured's breach of warranty. The prevailing view, both in federal law and state maritime insurance law, is that a breach of a warranty will excuse the maritime insurer from payment regardless of any causal connection to the loss. The district court erroneously applied a different view. We reverse the...  

On December 1, 2006, Katherine McKenzie pled guilty to distributing five or more grams of cocaine base. The district court sentenced McKenzie to forty-two months' imprisonment. McKenzie now appeals her sentence, claiming that the district court incorrectly assigned two points to her Criminal History Category ("CHC") score, thus rendering her ineligible for safety-valve relief under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f), and that it improperly credited computerized docket reports showing her past...  

Alan S. Noonan was fired from his job as a salesman at Staples, Inc. for allegedly padding expense reports. A Staples executive then sent a mass e-mail to about 1,500 employees informing them that Noonan had been fired for violating the company's travel and expense policy. Staples also denied Noonan his severance benefits and refused to allow him to exercise his stock options, claiming that, under the terms of the agreements setting forth the right to these benefits, Noonan was ineligible...  

Plaintiffs Luis R. Soto-Lebr n ("Soto") and his wife, Elizabeth Rosario Domenech ("Rosario"), sued Soto's former employer, Federal Express Corporation ("FedEx"), following Soto's termination by the company for a violation of company rules.1 The plaintiffs asserted emotional damages arising from libel, slander, and intentional infliction of emotional distress ("IIED").2 Soto also claimed statutory damages for wrongful termination pursuant to P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 29...  

Fitzroy Prescott, an African-American male, is a mechanic for the City of Boston ("the City") who applied for a position as General Foreman for the City's Public Works Department. The selection committee — made up of two white males, one white female, and one African-American male — unanimously chose Horace Ryder, a white male. Prescott filed suit against the City, and two city supervisors in their personal and professional capacities (collectively "the...  

Abderrahmane Limani, his wife Medina Silmi, and their son M.L. are natives and citizens of Algeria. They filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT"). An Immigration Judge ("IJ") denied their application but granted voluntary departure. The Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") affirmed and entered a final order of removal on September 7, 2007. The family petitions this court for review of the denial...  

Petitioner Stephen Dagley was convicted in the Essex County Superior Court in Massachusetts of first degree murder and sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. After exhausting his state court appeals, petitioner filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition challenging his detention. He asserted that a prosecutor's prejudicial misstatement during closing arguments, and the court's subsequent failure to directly cure the misstatement, resulted in a...  

The petitioner, Maly Chhay, is a Cambodian national who seeks judicial review of a final order of removal entered by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). She challenges a ruling declaring her ineligible for asylum, the denial of her cross-application for withholding of removal and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT), and the supposed trampling of her due process rights by an Immigration Judge (IJ). We lack jurisdiction over the asylum claim and find the...  

Plaintiff-appellant Israel Santiago-Lugo appeals from the district court's dismissal of his claim pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 41(g) for the return of property as barred by the statute of limitations. "We review de novo a district court's order granting a Rule 12(b)(6) motion based on statute of limitations grounds." Lopez-Gonzalez v. Municipality of Comerio, 404 F.3d 548, 551 (1st Cir. 2005). We have not had occasion previously to rule on the question of what the statute of limitations...  

Dawn Walker, who pled guilty to one count of bank robbery, challenges her sentence of 77 months' incarceration. She argues on appeal that the district court erred by considering her need for mental health and substance abuse treatment when determining the length of her prison sentence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(a).1 We do not reach the merits of Walker's appeal because, at sentencing, she intentionally abandoned the objection she now raises. As a result of this waiver, "the...  

In light of a congressional amendment to the sentencing guidelines in 2003, this case requires us to consider for the first time the scope of the government's discretion in deciding whether to file a motion for an additional one-level decrease in the defendant's base offense level for acceptance of responsibility... Leo Beatty pleaded guilty to four counts of distribution of cocaine base, after he sold drugs to an undercover agent working for the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA")....  

Naser Jewelers, Inc. appeals an order of the district court granting summary judgment to the city of Concord, New Hampshire... Earlier this year in Naser Jewelers, Inc. v. City of Concord, 513 F.3d 27 (1st Cir. 2008), this court affirmed the denial of Naser's ("NJI"'s) motion for a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a city ordinance prohibiting all Electronic Messaging Centers ("EMCs"). On de novo review of the First Amendment issue, id. at 32, we held that...  

Defendant Jerry Famania-Roche was charged, along with sixty-five others, with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of more than five kilograms of cocaine and one kilogram of heroin. He was convicted following a two-day jury trial and sentenced to 120 months, the applicable statutory mandatory minimum, pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). He appeals, claiming that the district court plainly erred in admitting testimony to which Famania-Roche did not object at...