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

Defendant appealed a judgment of the district court committing him to the custody of the Attorney General for medical care and treatment under 18 U.S.C. Section 4246. The court found that Defendant presently suffered from a mental disease or defect as a result of which his release from custody posed a substantial risk of bodily injury to another person or serious damage to the property of another.   The Eighth Circuit affirmed, concluding that the findings underlying the commitment were not clearly erroneous. The court explained that the district court’s finding that Defendant posed a substantial risk to persons or property was adequately supported in the record. The court relied on the unanimous recommendation of the experts. The experts observed that the most reliable predictor of future violence is past violence, and they detailed Defendant’s history of random and unpredictable violent actions. The court further found that the parties have not made a sufficient showing to justify sealing the briefs in this appeal. View "United States v. Dewayne Gray" on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. On appeal, Defendant challenged an order of the district court denying her motion to suppress evidence obtained during a traffic stop.   The Eighth Circuit affirmed and concluded there was no error. The court explained that probable cause “is not a high bar: It requires only the kind of fair probability on which reasonable and prudent people, not legal technicians, act.” In this case, the detective was not required to exclude all reasonable possibilities that Defendant was ignorant of the scale; he needed only a fair probability that she knew what was in the console. The combination of Defendant’s control over the vehicle, her proximity to the console, her history of an arrest for drugs, and her association with a backseat passenger who possessed drugs was sufficient to establish probable cause for an arrest. View "United States v. Jessica Mathes" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of attempted enticement of a minor, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and transfer of obscene material to a minor. The district court sentenced him to 144 months in prison. He appealed his conviction. Defendant argued that the district court erred in admitting parts of his signed plea agreement that the court had not accepted.   The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that at trial, Defendant’s prior counsel testified that Defendant knowingly and voluntarily signed the plea agreement, noting that he read, discussed, and explained each paragraph to him, specifically covering the waiver. Defendant believes the district court should not have relied on his prior counsel’s testimony alone because it contradicted Defendant’s testimony. But it is the district court’s role to determine the credibility of testimony, and that determination is “virtually unassailable on appeal.” Accordingly, the court found that the district court did not err in finding Defendant waived his Rule 410 rights and admitting parts of the plea agreement.   Further, because Defendant waived his attorney-client privilege on communications about the plea agreement and because his prior counsel properly testified to refute Defendant’s testimony, the district court did not err in allowing the testimony. Finally, the court held that the district court did not err in finding the evidence sufficient to show Defendant took a substantial step toward the enticement of a minor under 18 U.S.C. Section 2422(b). View "United States v. Jeremy Hahn" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Defendant of possessing at least five kilograms of cocaine. Defendant retained new counsel and moved for judgment of acquittal or a new trial, raising numerous issues. The district court denied the motion. Defendant appealed. His principal argument, raised for the first time in the post-verdict motion, is that law enforcement violated the Fourth Amendment by using expired tracking warrants to locate him when he was arrested returning to the Twin Cities from a trip to Chicago with thirteen pounds of cocaine in his vehicle.   The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that it is undisputed that the Fourth Amendment argument at issue was an issue reasonably available for a pretrial motion to suppress that Defendant did not raise. However, the court agreed to review for plain error.  The court reasoned that nothing seriously affected the fairness or integrity of this prosecution. Whether the tracking warrants expired when Defendant was arrested, interviewed, and released on October 7 is an issue the court does not decide. However, it is hardly free from doubt, so any error in not reaching the issue was not plain. Moreover, Defendant fled when the police attempted to stop him on November 1, leading them on a hazardous high-speed chase that provided probable cause to arrest Defendant for resisting arrest, failing to stop after a collision, and reckless driving. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal or a new trial based on the alleged expiration of the tracking warrants. View "United States v. John Pickens, Jr." on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his 2021 conviction for various sex-trafficking offenses. He argues that the Government was prohibited from prosecuting him based on a “No Further Prosecution” clause in a prior 2018 plea agreement that resolved heroin-related charges against him.The Eighth Circuit dismissed the indictment and vacated Defendant’s conviction. The court concluded that the prior plea agreement’s promise of no further prosecution encompasses the sex-trafficking convictions appealed here. The court explained that it considers three actors in considering a defendant’s demand for specific performance of a plea agreement after the defendant has pleaded guilty: (1) the possible prejudice to the defendant, (2) the conduct of the government, and (3) the public interest. Here, the prejudice is clear. Defendant pleaded guilty in 2018 to one drug offense in exchange for the Government dismissing the remaining drug offenses and promising not to bring further charges arising from or directly relating to the investigation. The Government reneged on that promise by pursuing the sex-trafficking prosecution, which relied on facts that were part of and arose out of the 2018 investigation. As a result, Defendant faced charges he would not otherwise have faced had the Government stuck to its bargain. The public also has an interest in safety from criminal behavior and in the prosecution of crimes. But that does not outweigh constitutional due-process interests, and the Government’s breach of the plea agreement violated Defendant’s due-process rights. View "United States v. Marlin Thomas" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Defendant of 15 child pornography-related offenses. On appeal, Defendant argued his possession and receipt of child pornography convictions violate the Double Jeopardy Clause, and he contends his sentence violates Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000). Defendant raised an additional argument in a pro se supplemental brief, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence for his convictions.   The Eighth Circuit held that Apprendi requires the resentencing of Defendant for the possession of child pornography conviction. In all other respects, the court affirmed the district court’s judgment. The court explained that there was sufficient evidence submitted to the jury establishing the victims were minors, including (1) W.S. testified he was 11 years old; (2) K.A. testified she was 15 and she informed Defendant she was 15 years old, and (3) N.W. and A.C. informed Defendant they were 13 years old, and their birth certificates introduced at trial corroborate their ages. Also, the material depicting all victims demonstrates they were minors based on their physical characteristics. However, here the jury made no finding of a qualifying minor victim, so the statutory maximum sentence the district court can impose is 10 years. Because the district court’s sentence on the possession conviction runs afoul of Apprendi, the court vacated the sentence and remanded it for resentencing. View "United States v. Kyle Soto" on Justia Law

While on supervised release after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, Defendant reportedly assaulted his girlfriend and therefore violated the conditions of his release. At the ensuing revocation hearing, the government did not call Defendant’s girlfriend to testify but instead related her statements through a different witness. The district court revoked Defendant’s supervised release and sentenced him to 24 months. Defendant maintains that the government's introduction of this hearsay denied him his due-process right to confront adverse witnesses.   The Eighth Circuit affirmed, holding that any error the district court may have committed in allowing the government to introduce this hearsay was harmless. The court reasoned that Defendant’s admission that he participated in a physical altercation with his girlfriend, coupled with the apparent injuries that resulted and the threatening messages sent in the immediate aftermath, supports a reasonable inference that he intentionally or knowingly committed the assault. Thus, the government has offered sufficient evidence apart from the girlfriend’s statements to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant committed a grade A violation of the conditions of his supervision. View "United States v. Calvin Starr" on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to two child pornography offenses. The district court sentenced him to 600 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Defendant challenges the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence, and the sentence imposed. Defendant argued that the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress statements from his interview.   The Eighth Circuit affirmed the judgment, concluding there was no reversible error. The court explained that circumstances do not establish that Defendant was in custody during the interview. Agents did not physically restrain him in the vehicle. Only two agents questioned him, and they repeatedly told Defendant that he was not under arrest and was free to leave. The agents were not deceptive or threatening, and Defendant voluntarily answered their questions. The court reasoned with the district court that a reasonable person in Defendant’s position would have believed that he was free to terminate the interview if he wished. Considering the totality of the circumstances, the court concluded Defendant was not in custody for purposes of Miranda, and that the district court properly declined to suppress incriminating statements made during the interview before agents informed Defendant that he would be arrested.   Further, the court held that the district court properly considered the factors under 18 U.S.C. Section 3553(a), and elected to impose Defendant’s advisory guideline sentence. The court saw no compelling circumstances in support of a shorter sentence that demonstrate an abuse of the district court’s discretion. View "United States v. Justin Treanton" on Justia Law

Defendant admitted to violating the terms of his supervised release. The district court sentenced him to nine months in prison. Defendant appealed, claiming that his sentence is substantively unreasonable. The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court reasoned that the district court explained the applicable Guidelines range, and that Defendant’s supervised release was being revoked because he used a controlled substance more than three times in the past year. The district court also heard Beckwith’s counsel talk about Defendant’s substance abuse, the fact that he hadn’t violated his supervised release for two years, his difficulty understanding the court’s authority over him, and more. This is enough to infer that the court considered the factors. The district court also properly considered Defendant history and characteristics in determining his sentence. View "United States v. Carl Beckwith, Jr." on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute at least 50 grams of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine and as part of his plea agreement he agreed to waive some of his rights to appeal his conviction and sentence. He nonetheless appealed his sentence, arguing that the district court erred in applying the Sentencing Guidelines despite their harsh and disparate treatment of methamphetamine offenders, erred in treating the Guidelines as mandatory, and imposed an unreasonable sentence.   The Eighth Circuit concluded that the appeal waiver bars most of his appeal. As for the remainder, the court affirmed. The wrote that because the appeal waiver precludes appeal of the court's "abuse of discretion, or the imposition of an unreasonable sentence," the court dismissed this claim of error.   Further, even assuming that the district court erred in not sua sponte declaring the relevant methamphetamine Guidelines unconstitutional, the court concluded that any error was not plain. Defendant has cited scattered opinions from district courts across the country that take issue with the difference in treatment between those caught with pure methamphetamine and those with mixtures containing methamphetamine, but he hasn't shown that any of these courts held the relevant Guidelines unconstitutional. Those decisions instead appear to come from district courts that have taken these matters into consideration when selecting a sentence. Defendant has not pointed to any Supreme Court or circuit court authority to support his contention. View "United States v. Rene Lugo-Barcenas" on Justia Law