Justia U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

The Eighth Circuit enforced defendant's waiver appeal and dismissed her appeal, rejecting her claim that the government breached the plea agreement because it provided her self-incriminating proffered statements to the probation office in order to support the drug quantity calculations contained in the presentence investigation report and to establish a base offense level for her sentence.The court held that defendant failed to identify which, if any, of her proffered statements were allegedly used to calculate the drug quantities contained in the presentence investigation report and to establish her base offense level. Defendant also failed to rule out that the information used in the presentence investigation report may have come from independent sources, which was permissible under the plea agreement. Even assuming without deciding that plaintiff established that there was an error, she failed to establish prejudice to support her claim of plain error. View "United States v. Ackerley" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and production of child pornography, as well as one count of possession of child pornography. The court held that the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction where defendant had explicit photographs of his fourteen year old daughter on his cell phone and tablet device depicting her sexual abuse. The court also held that the district court did not err by imposing a sentencing enhancement for the age of victim, obstruction of justice, and physical restraint of the victim. The district court considered the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors and the resulting sentence was not substantively unreasonable. View "United States v. Davenport" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court held that the district court did not err in treating defendant's prior Missouri conviction for attempted first-degree robbery as a crime of violence. In addition to imposing a prison sentence that exceeded a year, the first-degree robbery statute required an individual to forcibly steal property, which necessary involved the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another. View "United States v. Shine" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence after he pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine, possession of an unregistered destructive device, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court held that the district court did not err by imposing a four-level sentencing enhancement under USSG 2K2.1(b)(5) for trafficking in firearms because defendant had reason to believe the buyer intended to use the weapons unlawfully. View "United States v. Lomax" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to reduce his sentence under Amendment 782. In this case, the district court determined that defendant was eligible for a reduced sentence under Amendment 782 and accurately calculated his amended Guidelines range. The court held that the district court did not make a clear or obvious error in considering post-sentencing conduct where defendant's attack on another individual lead to her death the following year. Furthermore, the district court did not make any conflicting findings; the district court could not be accused of performing a "plenary resentencing proceeding" when it decided to leave defendant's original sentence undisturbed; and the district court did not abuse its discretion by inadequately weighing defendant's post-sentencing rehabilitation efforts. View "United States v. Darden" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for receipt of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct and possession of child pornography. The court held that the evidence was sufficient to convict defendant of the crimes; the jury instructions and the verdict form did not violate defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a unanimous verdict; defendant's rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause were not violated when the district court instructed the jury on knowing receipt and possession of child pornography based on the same facts where the knowing possession charged was not a lesser included offense of knowing receipt as charged; and the district court did not err by imposing a two-level sentencing enhancement for knowing distribution. View "United States v. Smith" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence after he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court held that the officer had reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot when he personally observed defendant place the gun in his waistband; the Supreme Court has already authorized police officers to frisk a suspect reasonably believed to be armed even where it could be that the suspect possesses the arms legally; and the frisk was not unreasonable even if defendant had been handcuffed because the handcuffs did not limit a person's ability to perform harmful acts. View "United States v. Pope" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress evidence after he conditionally pleaded guilty to being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm. The court held that law enforcement officers had reasonable suspicion to conduct a Terry stop after they observed defendant loitering with known gang members and engaging in suspected criminal activity. Although the court disregarded part of an officer's testimony as incredible and implausible, there was nonetheless sufficient evidence to demonstrate that officers had probable cause to arrest defendant for illegally possessing a firearm. In this case, a reasonable officer could believe that defendant looked under 21 years old and the gun had been concealed prior to him discarding it. View "United States v. Polite" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit denied a petition for review of the BIA's decision denying petitioner's motion to reconsider the BIA's previous order denying him a discretionary adjustment of status. The court noted that it had jurisdiction to review the petition for abuse of discretion. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion for reconsideration. In this case, the BIA satisfied its obligation to provide a "rational explanation" for its original decision to deny petitioner relief when it denied his motion to reconsider. In this case, the BIA's explanation that it did not violate the clear error standard of review in its weighing of the attempted suicide of one of petitioner's victims qualified as a "rational explanation." View "Camacho v. Whitaker" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for seven counts of aggravated identity theft stemming from his involvement in preparing personal income tax returns for his clients that obtained inflated refunds by falsely claiming dependents. The court held that the district court did not err in interpreting the term "uses, without lawful authority" under 18 U.S.C. 1028A(a)(1) where defendant knowingly used the names and social security numbers of falsely claimed dependents, including his own children, in committing wire fraud, and whether the minors "consented" to the use was irrelevant. Therefore, the district court did not err by denying defendant's motion for acquittal. The district court also did not abuse its discretion by rejecting a jury instruction incorporating defendant's interpretation of the statute. View "United States v. Gatwas" on Justia Law