Christina Argyropoulos's turbulent tenure as a jailor for the City of Alton Police Department (the APD) lasted just ten months, from July 2002 until she was dismissed in late April 2003. Approximately seven weeks before she was fired, Argyropoulos complained that she had been sexually harassed by a fellow... ... ... jailor. The APD promptly took steps to prevent further unsupervised contact between the two jailors and began an investigation. Before that investigation ran its course, however,...  

Walter Thornton was convicted of attempted bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), and of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). He moved for a judgment of acquittal and a new trial; his motions were denied. The district court sentenced him to 132 months' imprisonment. Thornton now appeals, raising four issues, but we need to reach only two: his primary contention that the district... ... ... court erred in failing to properly instruct the jury on...  

Wisconsin Central, LTD. ("WCL"), an interstate railroad company, brought a suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief in federal court after the Illinois Department of Labor ("the IDOL") began investigating claims that WCL had violated overtime regulations under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law, 820 ILL. COMP. STAT. 105/4a. The basis for WCL's suit was that the State's overtime provisions were preempted by... ... ... federal law. This preemption argument was based on two...  

The plaintiff-appellant, RWB Services, LLC, says that the defendants misappropriated used cameras in which it had security interests and then resold the cameras as new to Wal-Mart. In the district court, the vessels for this allegation were a number of state-law claims and one civil count under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18... ... ... U.S.C. § 1964(c)—the latter of which forms the basis of this appeal. Below, the defendants moved to dismiss the RICO...  

Margarita del Rocio Borrego, using the alias Rosa Maciel-Curiel, falsely claimed to be a United States citizen in an attempt to gain entry into the United States in 1997. Borrego's attempt was foiled, and she was barred from entering the United States for a period of five years. Nevertheless, less than four years later Borrego obtained a B-2 visa under her real name and... ... ... returned to the United States. Borrego was later discovered and ordered removed again. Borrego petitions this court...  

Medicare does not cover the costs of routine medical procedures. Ronald Mikos, a podiatrist, performed nothing but routine procedures, such as trimming the toenails of people unable to clip their own. Yet he billed Medicare for thousands of surgeries. When officials became suspicious, Mikos arranged for some of his elderly patients (many of whom were not... ... ... mentally competent) to submit affidavits stating that surgeries had indeed occurred (though at trial Mikos's secretary of seven...  

After a three-day trial, a jury convicted Jesus Arreola-Castillo of participating in a conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. See 21 U.S.C. § § 841(a)(1), 846. Because he had already been convicted of three previous felony drug offenses, Arreola-Castillo received a mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment pursuant to the recidivism provisions of § 841(b)(1)(A). Arreola-Castillo... ... ... now appeals his sentence. He argues that the mandatory...  

Defendant Matthew Whited was charged with possession, receipt, and distribution of child pornography based on evidence gathered in a search of his home pursuant to an anticipatory warrant. Federal agents obtained the warrant after Whited ordered a videotape of child pornography from an undercover postal inspector; the warrant was premised upon a successful... ... ... controlled delivery of the package Whited had ordered. There were two conditions precedent to the search: Whited's acceptance of...  

The slip opinion issued in the above-entitled cause on August 19, 2008, is amended as follows:... On, the identification of the lower court described as emanating from the Southern District of Illinois should be modified to reflect that this appeal is from the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division... On, the first sentence of the first full paragraph should now read: Tyson's employer, Gannett, is the owner of the newspaper known as the Indianapolis Star...  

This is an appeal from a conviction for illegal reentry into the United States following deportation. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326. It presents the question, under the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause,... ... ... whether the government may use at trial the contents of the defendant's alien-registration file (his "A-file")— specifically, a warrant of deportation and a "certificate of nonexistence of record"—to prove its case. We conclude that these A-file records...  

In late 2001, Renatta Frazier, an African-American police officer with the Springfield Police Department, became the subject of an internal affairs investigation when she was accused of failing to prevent a rape while on duty. The incident occurred on October 31, 2001, when Frazier allegedly failed to respond... ... ... to a dispatch call. She left the Department in November 2001 on a medical leave and apparently never returned due to the allegations that surrounded her conduct that day. That...  

Jerilyn Lucas claims that her former employer, PyraMax Bank, demoted and ultimately fired her because of her gender in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, see 42 U.S.C. § 2000e to 2000e-17. Lucas also contends that PyraMax retaliated against her in violation of Title VII, see id. § 2000e-3(a), and that it... ... ... took adverse employment actions against her because she exercised her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), see 29 U.S.C....  

Roger Craft filed an application in August 2001 for Disability Insurance Benefits ("DIB") and an application in September 2001 for Supplemental Security Income ("SSI"), alleging a disability due to diabetes mellitus and affective/mood disorders. Both claims were denied initially and upon reconsideration... ... ... Craft timely requested a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ"), which was held on October 7, 2003. The ALJ determined that Craft did not qualify...  

Petitioner Raul Eduardo Iglesias claims the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") abused its discretion when it denied Iglesias's motion to reopen his immigration case because it completely ignored the evidence he presented regarding his marriage to an American citizen. Although we generally lack jurisdiction over claims that the BIA abused its discretion in denying... ... ... a motion to reopen, see Kucana v Mukasey, No. 07-1002, 2008 WL 2639039, at *3 (7th Cir. July 7, 2008), we...  

Michelle Wheeler filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Ronald Lawson, individually... ... ... and in his official capacity as an officer of the Starke County Sheriff's Department. Ms. Wheeler alleges that Detective Lawson violated the Fourth Amendment, as made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, by unlawfully arresting her without probable cause for maintaining a common nuisance. Detective Lawson filed a motion for summary judgment, which the district court...  

St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company sued The Viking Corporation, a fire sprinkler manufacturer, for breach of warranty over an allegedly defective sprinkler that damaged a building owned by St. Paul's insured, Johnson Bank. Because there was no agreement between Johnson Bank and Viking when the sprinkler was purchased, privity of contract did not exist,... ... ... so we conclude that the magistrate judge properly granted summary judgment in favor of Viking... I. BACKGROUND... On October 25,...  

On December 6, 2003, William Bettner filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA"), an agency within the... ... ... Department of Labor, alleging that his employer, Crete Carrier Corp. ("Crete"), had discriminated against him in violation of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, 49 U.S.C. § 31105 ("STAA"). OSHA entered a preliminary finding against Mr. Bettner, and he requested de novo review before an Administrative Law...  

Brenda Russell's parental rights were terminated in 2004 when she abandoned her son, who went to live with his aunt. The next year Russell met Casey Carson, who was intrigued by both child pornography and incest. In December 2005 the son's aunt (who lives in Missouri) agreed to let him stay over-night with Russell and Carson (who had taken up residence... ... ... together in Illinois). At Carson's urging, Russell and her son engaged in both intercourse and fellatio, while Carson took pictures;...  

On March 6, 2002, Paul Wozny was charged with and entered a plea of no contest to three sexual offenses involving children and was sentenced to a term of 25 years' imprisonment and 45 years' extended supervision in a state court proceeding. After exhausting his state remedies, Wozny petitioned the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C... ... ... § 2254, arguing that his pleas should have been vacated because they were...  

ORDER... The slip opinion issued in the above-entitled cause on August 18, 2008, is amended as follows:... , first full paragraph, line seven, delete "then" and replace with "than"...