Topic
Every decision we've filed under Criminal.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed an 84-month prison sentence for a defendant convicted of dogfighting conspiracy and felon-in-possession of a firearm. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing an upward variance based on the extreme cruelty of the offense and the defendant's history of fatal drug distribution.
The Tenth Circuit enforced an appeal waiver in Kenneth Tillman's plea agreement, dismissing his challenge to a sentence below the advisory guidelines. The court also granted his counsel's motion to withdraw under the standards established in Anders v. California.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of a defendant's motion for compassionate release, ruling that the district court's reliance on sentencing factors outweighed any potential error in assessing extraordinary circumstances. The court held that the seriousness of the offense and the nature of the drugs involved provided an independent, valid basis to deny relief.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's revocation of supervised release and the imposition of a 14-month prison sentence. The court rejected the appellant's claim that the sentence was substantively unreasonable, finding no abuse of discretion in the lower court's application of sentencing factors.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed Oscar Bernabe-Martinez's conviction for possessing a firearm while unlawfully in the United States. The court held that his Second Amendment challenge is legally foreclosed by the panel's recent decision in United States v. Vazquez-Ramirez.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed Desmonte Dwayne Leonard's conviction for felon-in-possession of a firearm, ruling that his facial Second Amendment challenge is foreclosed by binding precedent. The court granted the government's motion for summary affirmance, citing United States v. Diaz as controlling authority.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a sentence for illegal reentry, rejecting the argument that concurrent sentencing for a prior false-statement conviction precludes applying an eight-level sentencing enhancement. The panel held that the text of the Sentencing Guidelines requires using the actual sentence length imposed for the prior non-reentry offense, regardless of how grouping rules affected the original sentence.
The Fifth Circuit summarily affirmed a conviction and sentence for illegal reentry, rejecting a constitutional challenge to a statutory sentencing enhancement. The court held that the defendant's argument was foreclosed by Supreme Court precedent in Almendarez-Torres v. United States.
The Third Circuit affirmed Rohan Lyttle's criminal conviction for operating an advance-fee lottery scam targeting elderly victims through wire and mail fraud. The court rejected Lyttle's challenges regarding the sufficiency of evidence, a managerial sentencing enhancement, and the admission of YouTube videos as proof of knowledge.
The Fifth Circuit affirmed William Flanagan's 235-month sentence for methamphetamine trafficking, finding no clear error in the district court's criminal history score calculation. The court held that Flanagan failed to demonstrate that any miscalculation regarding prior convictions affected the outcome of his sentencing.