6th Cir. Published Decisions for week of Dec. 24, 2007 (No Ky Cases)

Opinion	Short Title/District
07a0500p.06 2007/12/26	USA v. Smith     Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge. On November 8, 2006, a jury found defendantappellant Lakento Brian Smith guilty of a number of drug-trafficking and firearm-possession charges. At a suppression hearing held prior to Smith’s jury trial, the district court denied Smith’s motion to suppress evidence seized from his residence during the execution of a search warrant, as well as evidence seized from his vehicle during a warrantless search. On appeal, Smith contends that the district court erred in admitting this evidence. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
07a0501p.06 2007/12/26	USA v. Maken     Southern District of Ohio at Dayton JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge. Defendant-appellant Walter M. Maken appeals his sentence for income tax evasion and willfully failing to file a federal income tax return. Maken contends that the district court erred in considering state tax losses in its calculation of his sentence and that the sentence imposed by the district court violated the Sixth Amendment. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
07a0502p.06 2007/12/28	Simcox v. Simcox     Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland BOGGS, Chief Judge. Claire Simcox appeals from the decision of the district court ordering her to return to Mexico with two of the four children currently residing with her in Ohio, which return the district court found was required under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“the Convention”) and its implementing legislation, the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA), 42 U.S.C. § 11601 et seq. Because of evidence of serious abuse to both Mrs. Simcox and the children at the hands of Mr. Simcox, the district court conditioned return of the children on certain “undertakings” designed to ameliorate the risk of harm to them upon their return to Mexico. Although we agree with much of the district court’s legal analysis of the Hague Convention, its ordered undertakings are problematic on the facts of this case, particularly its command that Mrs. Simcox herself return to Mexico. We therefore REVERSE and REMAND to allow the court to reconsider what conditions, if any, could ensure the safety of the children in Mexico during the pendency of custody proceedings.
07a0503p.06 2007/12/28	Ceraj v. Mukasey     Immigration & Naturalization Service RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. Seferin Ceraj and his wife, Irini Deda-Ceraj, both natives and citizens of Albania, entered the United States using fraudulent documents in March of 1997. In August of 1997, Ceraj filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nation’s Convention Against Torture (CAT). Deda-Ceraj filed an application that was entirely derivative of her husband’s. Notices to Appear, charging them with being subject to removal, were issued in February of 2001. Following a merits hearing in March of 2005, an Immigration Judge (IJ) denied the petitioners’ request for relief and ordered them removed. The IJ found that Ceraj (1) filed a frivolous asylum application, (2) did not testify credibly, and (3) failed to establish either past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution in Albania. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) adopted and affirmed the IJ’s decision in a per curiam order. Ceraj and his wife timely petitioned for review. For the reasons set forth below, we DENY their petition.