More insightful defense commentary

Late last week I spotlighted here some provocative posts from Steve Sady of the Ninth Circuit Blog on issues relating to burden of proof, prior convictions and retroactivity in the wake of Booker.  I now see that Steve's colleagues have joined the fray with summaries and analysis of some key post-Booker lower court decisions: 

• In this post, Steve Kalar discusses Judge Adelman's decision in Ranum as a "defense roadmap."  (You can also find Ranum basics here, and my commentary here and here.) 

• In this post, Fran Pratt discusses the Fourth Circuit's approach to plain error in Hughes.  (My own coverage of Hughes is here, and links to other major post-Booker circuit court rulings are here.)