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

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for illegal gun possession. The court held that, under the totality of the circumstances, the police officers had probable cause to arrest defendant. Furthermore, defendant's age, intelligence, sobriety, and experience with the criminal justice system, coupled with his Miranda warning, supported a finding that he voluntarily consented to a cheek swab for a DNA sample. Therefore, the district court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress the DNA evidence.The court also held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence of the synthetic marijuana evidence, because it made it more likely that defendant knew of and possessed the firearm. Finally, the court rejected defendant's argument under Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), and held that it was not reasonably probable that, if the government had to prove defendant's knowledge of a previous conviction for "a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year," he would have been acquitted. View "United States v. Welch" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for one count of felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, one count of maintaining a premise for the purpose of distributing a controlled substance, and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence seized after a warrantless protective sweep under the plain view doctrine; defendant failed to show that the government deleted any exculpatory evidence; defendant validly waived his right to proceed with a jury trial; and the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to proceed pro se. View "United States v. Williams" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit reversed the district court's revocation of defendant's supervise release, holding that the district court denied him the right to confront the key witness against him at his revocation hearing. The court held that the government failed to provide a reasonably satisfactory explanation for not producing the witness and failed to show that the witness's recorded police statement was inherently reliable. Finally, denying defendant the opportunity to confront the witness was not harmless. The court declined to remand to the district court for a new hearing without providing the government the opportunity to expand the record and bring in live testimony from the witness. View "United States v. Timmons" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit reversed defendant's conviction for possessing a firearm while being an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States. The court held that, based on Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), the district court plainly erred by accepting defendant's guilty plea under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11, because the district court failed to advise defendant that the government would need to establish beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that he knew that he was illegally present in the United States, or to examine the record to determine whether there was a factual basis for finding such knowledge. Furthermore, the error affected defendant's substantial rights where, but for the error, he would not have pleaded guilty. Accordingly, the court vacated defendant's plea and remanded for further proceedings. View "United States v. Jawher" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for one count of receipt of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion to compel discovery requiring the government to produce the source code, manuals, and software for Torrential Downpour. In this case, defendant's mere speculation that the software program could possibly access non-public areas of his computer or that there was a possibility that it malfunctioned during the officers' investigation into defendant's sharing of child pornography was insufficient to meet the requisite threshold showing of materiality to his defense.The court also held that the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress evidence that officers obtained while using the program where a defendant has no legitimate expectation of privacy in files made available to the public through peer-to-peer file-sharing networks; the magistrate judge did not abuse her discretion in denying defendant's request for a Franks hearing; and defendant's motion to suppress his post-Miranda statements was properly denied. Finally, the court held that defendant's disagreement with the weight the district court gave to his age and sex offender treatment history was insufficient to rebut the presumption of reasonableness of his sentence. View "United States v. Hoeffener" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of a third successive federal habeas corpus petition challenging petitioner's state law murder conviction. The court held that the district court did not err in finding that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the petition because he failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence it was more likely than not that no reasonable jury would have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Because petitioner failed to make out a colorable claim under 28 U.S.C. 2254(e)(2)(B), he was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing. View "Rhodes v. Smith" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for three counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and one count of money laundering. The court held that the district court did not err in failing to sua sponte revoke defendant's right to self-representation on the first day of trial or to hold a competency hearing, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to grant a new trial on that basis.The court also held that the district court did not err by terminating defendant's self-representation during the third day of trial and in directing standby counsel to take over his defense. In this case, the totality of defendant's behavior supported the district court's decision to terminate defendant's self-representation. Finally, the court held that the district court adequately explained the basis for the upward variance in light of the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) factors; defendant's sentence was not substantively unreasonable; and the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing defendant. View "United States v. Luscombe" on Justia Law

The Eighth Circuit reversed defendant's sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty to distributing methamphetamine. The court held that the district court erred in finding that defendant's prior Arkansas conviction for terroristic threatening was a crime of violence under USSG 4B1.1(a). In this case, the available materials suggest that the "injury to persons" and "injury to property" components of the Class B felony's mens rea requirement are different means of satisfying a single mens rea element and not alternative elements defining different crimes. Therefore, the court concluded that the categorical approach's "demand for certainty" has not been met. However, the court held that the district court did not err in finding defendant's conviction for second degree battery qualified as a crime of violence under section 4B1.1(a). Accordingly, the court remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Harris" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against current and former members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, alleging that adverse employment actions were taken against him in retaliation for his protected First Amendment speech.The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to defendants, holding that plaintiff's non-testimonial speech was not entitled to First Amendment protection. In this case, although it was undisputed that plaintiff spoke as a private citizen and his speech was of public concern, the highway patrol has shown sufficient evidence of disruption to the efficiency of its operations. Under the Pickering balancing test, the court held that the factors weighed in favor of the highway patrol's interest in efficiency and indicated that plaintiff's speech activity was more likely than not impeding his ability to perform his job duties as a police officer. Therefore, defendants were entitled to qualified immunity regarding plaintiff's speech to the family of the victim of a drowning accident, on social media, and to the news reporter. The court also held that the remaining testimonial speech was not a substantial or motivating factor in the adverse employment actions against plaintiff. Finally, plaintiff's civil conspiracy and failure to supervise claims failed as a matter of law. View "Henry v. Johnson" on Justia Law

Ali shot and killed three people during an attempted robbery in Minneapolis. He was given three consecutive life sentences, each permitting his early release after 30 years so that Ali must remain in prison for at least 90 years. Relying on recent Supreme Court precedent, Ali argued that the Eighth Amendment forbids life-without-parole sentences for juvenile defendants unless they are irreparably corrupt and that a sentencing court must conduct a hearing to consider the juvenile defendant’s youth as a mitigating factor before imposing a life-without-parole sentence. Ali claimed his sentence was the “functional equivalent” of life-without-parole. The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected Ali’s argument. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the denial of Ali’s petition for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. 2254. Ali’s case is distinguishable from the Supreme Court cases; Ali received three life sentences for three separate murders, each permitting possible release. Ali does not face a life-without-parole sentence and the Supreme Court has not “clearly established” that its ruling apply to consecutive sentences functionally equivalent to life-without-parole. View "Ali v. Roy" on Justia Law