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

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction of one count of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution; two counts of attempted transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution; and six counts of transportation of an individual with intent to engage in prostitution. The court held that the search of defendant's van was warranted under the community-caretaker exception where police officers knew that a minor was missing; the officer developed probable cause to search the van under the automobile warrant exception when he opened the door and discovered marijuana and an apparently comatose young woman; and thus the district court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress evidence. The court also held that the district court did not err in admitting evidence that defendant had asked two of the women to have sex with him and provided drugs to them. Finally, the evidence was sufficient to enable a reasonable jury to find that defendant transported all six women in interstate commerce with the intent to have them engage in prostitution. View "United States v. Parks" on Justia Law

A conspiracy to defraud financial institutions in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area involved cashing counterfeit checks. Participants, including 25 co-defendants, created the counterfeit checks using check-printing software and blank check stock. “Bank insiders” provided bank account information for use on counterfeit checks. "Runners" were enlisted to serve as payees and take the checks to the bank to cash or deposit. Conspiracy members acquired account information through various means. Using social media, participants searched the hashtag “#myfirstpaycheck” and found photographs of legitimate paychecks that unwitting victims had posted online. Bank insiders sometimes provided account information. Some conspirators used their own payroll or personal checks to be counterfeited. During the period between November 2007 and September 2013 alone, more than 500 runners negotiated over 1500 counterfeit or fraudulent checks. Gaye pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1344 and 1349, 20 counts of aiding and abetting bank fraud, and two counts of aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft, 18 U.S.C. 1028A. Fillie pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft. Sumoso pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and four counts of aiding and abetting bank fraud. The Eighth Circuit affirmed sentences of (respectively) 144, 134, and 54 months’ imprisonment and restitution orders, rejecting arguments that the district court committed procedural error in applying the guidelines. View "United States v. Gaye" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction of five counts of aiding and abetting mail fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit theft from a program receiving federal funds in connection with defendant's receipt of pay for a no-show job. The court held that the district court court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant's request to provide the jury with a copy of the indictment without a limiting instruction; the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing defendant's proposed "good character" instruction; and the district court did not plainly err by giving a willful blindness instruction. The court also held that the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for mail fraud and conspiracy to commit theft from a federally funded program. View "United States v. Davis" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's second amended complaint challenging the constitutionality of Missouri's method of execution as applied to him. The court held that plaintiff's allegations were sufficient to show a plausible allegation that the State's method of execution would cause him severe pain where the complaint and his expert's attached affidavit included factual allegations that a seizure will occur when the State injects pentobarbital and that such a seizure causes severe pain. Furthermore, plaintiff has alleged that execution by lethal gas was an alternative method of execution that was feasible, readily implemented, and would in fact significantly reduce a substantial risk of severe pain for plaintiff in his particular circumstances. Finally, the complaint was not barred by the statute of limitations. The panel remanded for further proceedings. View "Johnson v. Precythe" on Justia Law

In 2016, the Eighth Circuit granted petitioner authorization for a successive 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion, in which he claimed that his prior Missouri convictions for burglary of an inhabitable structure no longer qualified him as an armed career criminal. The district court denied relief and this court granted a certificate of appealability.The court agreed with those circuits that required a movant to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the residual clause led the sentencing court to apply the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) enhancement, and the mere possibility that the residual clause was relied on was insufficient to satisfy the burden. Because whether the residual clause provided the basis for ACCA enhancement was a factual question, the court remanded for the district court to make that determination in the first instance. View "Walker v. United States" on Justia Law

On remand from resentencing, the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court’s application of the USSG 2K2.1(b)(6)(B) sentencing enhancement for possessing a firearm in connection with another felony offense, and remanded with instructions to resentence defendant without the enhancement. The court explained that, because the other felony offense in this case was mere possession of drugs, the district court must affirmatively make a finding that the weapon facilitated the drug offense for the enhancement to apply.The court held that the government failed to meet its burden to show more than a generalized connection or that the weapons were connected to a different felony offense. In this case, the resentencing record did not support the enhancement and it was clear error to find the firearm facilitated the possession where the weapons were in the trunk and the user quantity of cocaine was inside the car. View "United States v. Walker" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed movant's 10 year sentence where he accepted the government's reoffer of the sentence in a plea agreement. The court held that the appeal was timely filed because the district court's order granting relief under 28 U.S.C. 2255 did not become final until after resentencing. The court also held that the district court did not clearly err in determining that movant would not have accepted the second plea offer and in any event whether both plea bargains were reoffered was irrelevant because the district court could have rejected either or both proposals. View "Wiggins v. United States" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for production of child pornography. The court held that the district court did not err by denying defendant's motion to suppress evidence seized from his home during a warrantless search because he consented to the search; the scope of the search did not exceed the scope of defendant's general consent; there was no err in admitting evidence of molestation of the victim and the pornographic anime defendant showed her because it established the context in which he took nude photos of her, as well as his grooming process; there was no error in admitting other child pornography found on defendant's computer; there was no error in admitting picture of defendant's ex-wife wearing a bondage costume identical to the one shown in the photos of the victim, as the picture tended to prove defendant took the photos of the victim; the district court did not abuse its discretion in limiting defendant's cross-examination of the victim concerning her depression and counseling as he failed to make any offer of proof to show how the questioning would have been relevant to the witness's credibility or bias. View "United States v. Steinmetz" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's 240 month sentence after he pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography. The court held that defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable where the district court carefully considered several factors when deciding to impose the statutory maximum sentence, as recommended by the Sentencing Guidelines. In this case, the district court considered that the plea deal allowed defendant to escape a longer sentence for sexually exploiting his girlfriend's thirteen year old daughter; defendant's distribution of child pornography; and defendant's lack of violent criminal history and demonstrated remorse. The court also held that the special condition of supervised release prohibiting defendant from viewing or possessing erotica or pornographic materials was not constitutionally vague or overbroad under the court's precedents. View "United States v. Sebert" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's 60 month sentence after he pleaded guilty to firearm offenses. The court held that defendant's New York conviction for attempted second-degree robbery was a crime of violence under the force clause of USSG 4B1.2(a); any error was harmless where the district court considered the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) sentencing factors and stated that it would have imposed the same sentence regardless of its ruling on the crime of violence issue; the district court did not err by imposing three criminal history points for the offense based on its determination that this was an adult conviction, and any error was harmless; and any error in using the 2015 rather than the 2016 Sentencing Guidelines Manual was harmless because the relevant provisions were identical in the two versions. View "United States v. Williams" on Justia Law