Every decision we've summarized from United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed Robert Harris's conviction for distributing fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury, ruling that sharing a drug line constitutes distribution under federal law. The court rejected the argument that a physical hand-to-hand transfer is required to prove the offense.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the defendant's sentence for drug and firearm offenses, finding no substantive unreasonableness under an abuse of discretion standard. The court independently reviewed the record and found no non-frivolous issues to support the appeal, granting counsel leave to withdraw.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed Corey Deandra Thomas's substantive sentence, ruling that the district court did not abuse its discretion by imposing an upward variance. The appellate court found the judge properly weighed all statutory sentencing factors through an individualized assessment of the offense and the defendant's history.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of qualified immunity to Officer Harris, holding that no clearly established law prohibited his warning against using foul language in public near children during a noise complaint investigation. The court found that Ward's belligerent conduct provided arguable probable cause for a disorderly conduct arrest, defeating his constitutional claims.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of Christian Archer's motion for compassionate release, finding he failed to demonstrate extraordinary and compelling reasons for a sentence reduction. The court granted counsel's motion to withdraw and left Archer subject to his original sentence.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed consecutive sentences for federal escape and supervised release revocation, finding the district court did not abuse its discretion in weighing sentencing factors. The court also granted counsel's motion to withdraw after an independent review found no non-frivolous issues for appeal.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed an 18-month prison sentence imposed after revoking Macy Renee Patterson's supervised release. The court held the sentence was substantively reasonable because the district court properly weighed sentencing factors without clear error.
The Eighth Circuit certified a novel question of law to the Minnesota Supreme Court regarding whether Amazon is strictly liable for defective products sold by third parties under its Fulfillment by Amazon program. The court determined that state law requires the highest state court to resolve this issue rather than allowing the federal court to make an Erie guess.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed Damion Hallmon's conviction for being a felon in possession of ammunition, rejecting his challenges to the traffic stop, the search of his vehicle, and the exclusion of jail call evidence. The court held that the officers had probable cause for the stop and search, that Hallmon was not in custody during his initial statements, and that the evidence sufficiently proved the ammunition traveled in interstate commerce.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed Oscar Hudspeth's conviction for sex abuse in Indian country, ruling that excluding polygraph evidence did not violate his constitutional right to present a complete defense. The court held that while the defendant sought to explain his incriminating statements as reactions to a failed polygraph, the exclusion of the test results was proper and did not prevent him from presenting his overall defense strategy.