Articles Posted in Appeals

In August 2023, the United States Sentencing Commission decided to change the way that some federal defendants’ criminal history scores are calculated for sentencing purposes. Previously, those found to have committed their crimes while “under any criminal justice sentence, including probation, parole, supervised release, imprisonment, work release, or escape status,” had two points added to…

Following her conviction at trial in the Southern District of New York for various federal charges relating to the sex trafficking of minors, disgraced Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell received a sentence of 20 years in prison. She will get credit towards that sentence for the time she has already spent in prison, and assuming…

Recently, Matthew Galluzzo, an experienced federal criminal defense attorney and criminal appellate lawyer, was appointed by a federal court to represent an individual previously sentenced to 48 years in prison in connection with two armed robberies in the 1990s. The client, Leonard Johnson, had been so harshly penalized in part because of the now outdated…

Every year the FBI and federal law enforcement investigates a number of serious crimes that were alleged to have occurred onboard cruise ships. State police occasionally investigate these sorts of crimes, but generally speaking, crimes that occur on the high seas fall under federal jurisdiction (if pursued by American law enforcement at all). The authority…

Appeals (440.10) for Sex Offenders that were Civilly Committed without Being Advised by their Attorneys of That Possibility Under CPL 440.10, a defendant can ask the trial court that accepted the guilty plea to vacate the conviction if the defendant did not receive the effective assistance of counsel in some way that was not apparent…

The Law Office of Matthew Galluzzo recently won an appeal of a felony rape conviction for their client in the Appellate Division, Third Department. Our client, while represented by a different law firm, pleaded guilty to a rape charge. However, before he was sentenced, the client retained The Law Office of Matthew Galluzzo to take…

The authors of this blog represent an individual that recently had a significant charge dismissed against her by the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest state appeals court. The case involved a very interesting and complicated question concerning the proper scope of prosecutions pursuant to the Organized Crime Control Act, pursuant to NY Penal Law…

A conviction for a crime doesn’t have to be the end of your case. A talented and experienced appellate lawyer may be able to find a way to get your conviction overturned or your sentence reduced. Most criminal defense attorneys do not handle appeals or have very little experience doing it. Thus, you should strongly…