Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The Eleventh Circuit granted appointed counsel's motion to withdraw from representing the defendant in a direct criminal appeal. The court affirmed the defendant's convictions and sentences after an independent review found no arguable issues of merit.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued an opinion in the case of United States v. Richard Sims. Judgment has been entered in accordance with the court's decision.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit dismissed an appeal challenging a magistrate judge's order finding the defendant incompetent to stand trial. The court ruled it lacked jurisdiction because the defendant had simultaneously filed a motion in the district court to vacate the underlying order.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued an opinion in the case of United States v. Carl Markley. Judgment has been entered in accordance with the court's decision.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a federal sentence of 24 months for supervised release violations, ruling that the district court properly ordered it to run consecutively to an existing state sentence. The court held that federal judges retain broad discretion to select consecutive sentences and that the Sentencing Guidelines explicitly favor this approach for release violations.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Christopher Stanton Jr.'s convictions for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and as a convicted felon. The court rejected Stanton's novel Second Amendment challenge, ruling that binding precedent forecloses the argument regarding felon possession while the drug trafficking enhancement argument failed to meet the plain error standard.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Arthur Young's 168-month sentence for felon in possession of a firearm, rejecting all five sentencing enhancement challenges. The court held that the district court properly applied the Sentencing Guidelines and that the sentence was substantively reasonable given the danger Young posed to society.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the denial of a federal prisoner's motion for sentence reduction, ruling that time served and rehabilitation efforts do not constitute extraordinary and compelling reasons. The court granted the government's motion for summary affirmance, noting the appeal was frivolous given the defendant's prior unsuccessful attempts to raise these same claims.
The First Circuit affirmed a fifty-seven-month sentence for conspiracy to traffic firearms, rejecting the appellant's argument that the district court erred by applying a sentencing enhancement based on a co-conspirator's out-of-court statements. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining the reliability of the co-conspirator's testimony regarding the defendant's role in the scheme.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Kimberly Kiehl's conviction and sentence, ruling that her prior failure to object to the magistrate judge's report waived her challenge to the voluntariness of her guilty plea. The court further held that the sentence appeal waiver was enforceable because the magistrate judge explicitly explained its scope during the plea colloquy.
