Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-6-1991

Abstract

Appellant United States of America appeals from an order, entered on August 1, 1991 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Cedarbaum, J.), releasing defendant-appellee Joseph DiSomma on conditions pending appeal. United States v. DiSomma, 769 F.Supp. 575 (S.D.N.Y.1991). DiSomma was convicted on one count of conspiring to commit robbery. He moved pursuant to the Bail Reform Act for release on bail pending appeal of that conviction. As a defendant convicted of a violent crime, DiSomma had to meet several threshold criteria and also show "exceptional reasons" making release appropriate, in order to meet his burden under the Bail Reform Act. The district court found such an "exceptional reason" because DiSomma's appeal questioned the factual sufficiency of the violence element of the conspiracy conviction; this violence element also formed the predicate for his detention pending appeal. The government contends that no such exceptional circumstances exist because the appeal presents no novel question of law. We find that the "exceptional reasons" provision of the Bail Reform Act is not limited to cases raising novel legal questions on appeal and affirm the district court's order.

Comments

951 F.2d 494 (1991)

UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,

v.

Joseph DiSOMMA, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 538, Docket 91-1464. United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued October 8, 1991.

Decided December 6, 1991.

New York Law School location: File #1327, Box #128

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