16 results for 'judge:"Agee"'.
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly rejected the inmate's request for a new trial on perjury charges. The inmate argued he deserved a new trial because his counsel was ineffective for failing to appeal erroneous jury instructions. The state agrees that counsel was ineffective on this issue and the inmate is entitled to a new trial. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 22-6272, Categories: Habeas, Ineffective Assistance, Jury Instructions
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly interpreted the plain text of the decree. Environmental protection groups sued a now-defunct coal corporation for violating the Clean Water Act. They negotiated a consent decree that significantly limited the corporations' surface mining operations in Central Appalachia and required the company to reclaim its mining sites—that is, to return the mined land to a usable state. The new owner attempted to allow third parties to surface mine at the original corporation's facility to raise funds after inheriting the bankrupt coal corporation. The lower court found this violated the decree, but the decree only applies to the original corporation and does not bar others from using the land as they please. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 23-1696, Categories: Energy, Environment, Contract
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly denied the health system's motion to set aside the jury’s award of punitive damages to an employee who claimed to be terminated for being a white man. The employee's boss fired him despite never receiving criticism and performing exceptionally in his role, receiving strong performance reviews, and gaining national recognition for himself and the marketing program he developed. The boss then promoted a white and Black woman to fill his job duties. Despite there being sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to determine that his race, sex, or both motivated the health system's decision to fire him, he did not show that the employer perceived a risk of unlawfulness in its discriminatory conduct. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 22-2142, Categories: Employment, Health Care, Employment Discrimination
J. Agee finds the lower court properly dismissed the immigrant's writ of habeas corpus petition. The petitioner has to remain in custody during his lengthy immigration procedures because he has evaded court hearings before and is considered a danger to the community because of his criminal history in El Salvador, involving a murder charge and continued membership in the gang MS-13. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 22-7365, Categories: Immigration, Habeas, Prisoners' Rights
J. Agee finds that the district court should not have granted habeas relief to defendant, who said his guilty plea was not knowing and voluntary because he was not briefed on the nature and elements of the offenses he was charged with. The state court disagreed with him, and the federal district court should not have overridden the state court’s judgment, as a “highly deferential” standard was required. Reversed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 23-6179, Categories: Habeas, Plea
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J. Agee upholds the lower court decision to grant summary judgment to South Carolina’s probation agency on a former employee’s gender discrimination and retaliation claims. She was fired once and rehired after the EEOC agreed that she had been passed over for a job because the agency wanted a man. This time around, she resigned after she failed a polygraph test during an investigation of her for having sex with a subordinate before removing the subordinate from her team. She could not show how the investigation she faced was retaliation for protected activity. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: February 27, 2024, Case #: 21-2275, Categories: Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination, Employment Retaliation
J. Agee finds the lower court properly denied the inmate's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The inmate is a famous music manager serving multiple life sentences for his role in drug trafficking and murder. Then-President Trump told the inmate's supporter, former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown, that he would commute the inmate's sentence, but Trump never actually signed a warrant of commutation. While it is not required that Trump file paperwork to make a commutation valid, his forward-looking statements - as alleged by Mr. Brown - indicate that he was not proclaiming the inmate pardoned over the phone. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: February 14, 2024, Case #: 22-7188, Categories: Drug Offender, Habeas, Murder
J. Agee finds the lower court properly awarded judgment to the home health agency that provides healthcare services to patients in their home on an Americans with Disabilities Act claim. Doing field visits to patients' homes, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when staffing was short, is essential to the nurse's job. The nurse, who suffers from chronic arthritis, was given the reasonable option to screen patients before visiting their homes to ensure she could complete her duties without aggravating her knee. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 22-1825, Categories: Ada / Rehabilitation Act, Employment, Health Care
J. Agee finds the lower court properly denied the defendant's motion for compassionate release. The defendant has a lengthy criminal record and most recently pleaded guilty to the distribution of more than 500 grams of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The defendant argued that the death of his wife from COVID-19 left his minor son without a primary caregiver and created an additional extraordinary and compelling reason justifying an early release. The defendant is not a candidate for release due to the violent nature of his offense, his criminal history, the proximity of prior crimes to the ones for which he is incarcerated, his disciplinary infractions while incarcerated, and his potential danger to the community if released. The defendant did not address whether anyone else was available to care for his son, nor did he show that his release would result in a more stable environment for his child. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: January 5, 2024, Case #: 22-6607, Categories: Drug Offender, Firearms, Plea
J. Agee finds the lower court properly granted judgment to the distributor. The appeal centers on the relationship between a manufacturer and a distributor of rotating electrical parts—specifically, starters and alternators—and their disagreement as to who owned the “core value” of thousands of finished parts when their relationship ended. The manufacturer violated its contract with the distributor by failing to supply the agreed-upon number of alternators, and the distributor rightly terminated their contract and sold all remaining parts to its new supplier. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 22-1617, Categories: Conversion, Contract
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly denied instead of dismissed the son's motion to reopen judgment on his death penalty sentence for ineffective counsel. The son and his father killed two police officers after engaging in an armed standoff with law enforcement stemming from the family's opposition to the government opening a road through their property. The son used his motion to reopen judgment due to ineffective counsel to circumvent the statutory limits on second or successive sentencing petitions. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: November 27, 2023, Case #: 22-4, Categories: Death Penalty, Murder, Sentencing
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly allowed the wife of a convict to remain living in a forfeited property. The wife of the man convicted of racketeering owns a one-third interest in the property. The property should have been sold, with the proceeds being split based on interest between the wife and the government. Vacated in part.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: August 2, 2023, Case #: 22-1066, Categories: Property, Forfeiture, Racketeering
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly enhanced the defendant's sentence. The police arrested the defendant, a prior felon after he shot back at gang members who tried to kill him at a convenience store. The government conceded that the defendant should not have received two criminal history points for being on probation because his probation had ended before the convenience store incident. Vacated
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: July 21, 2023, Case #: 21-4367, Categories: Firearms, Probation, Sentencing
J. Agee finds the lower court properly affirmed a bankruptcy court order that entered a preliminary injunction preventing thousands of third-party asbestos claims from proceeding against the wallboard company, owned by Georgia-Pacific and its affiliates. The purpose of the bankruptcy would be defeated without the injunction because the company would be unable to address all the claims against it in one forum. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: June 20, 2023, Case #: 22-1127, Categories: Bankruptcy, Asbestos
J. Agee finds the lower court properly granted judgment to the plaintiff software protection company. The defendant software protection company failed to show any evidence despite accusing the plaintiff software protection company of engaging in unlawful conduct related to the content of the defendant software protection company's vulnerability database. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: June 15, 2023, Case #: 22-1812, Categories: Copyright, Trade Secrets, Business Practices
J. Agee finds the lower court properly denied the defendant's motion for acquittal. The government showed sufficient evidence of the defendant, convicted of 13 robberies, using a firearm because he had a matching bullet in his pocket at the time of his arrest despite no fingerprints. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: May 23, 2023, Case #: 21-4438, Categories: Firearms, Robbery, Speedy Trial