Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals
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After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of one count of conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute marijuana. Defendant appealed, claiming (1) the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction, and (2) the district court erred in giving a "willful blindness" instruction. The First Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, holding (1) the record did not establish that Defendant was willfully blind to drug-related activity; and (2) the Government, therefore, did not meet its burden of poof with respect to the second element of the charged conspiracy - that Defendant "had knowledge of the conspiracy." Remanded to the district court with instructions to enter a judgment of acquittal. View "United States v. Burgos" on Justia Law

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Appellant was charged with five criminal offenses based on the discovery of marijuana plants and pipe bombs in his home. Appellant filed motions to suppress the evidence seized from his home and his statements to law enforcement. The district court denied both motions. Appellant thereafter pled guilty to four counts of the indictment conditioned on his right to appeal the denial of his motions to suppress. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the district court did not err in denying Appellant's suppression motions, as (1) the evidence seized from Appellant's home was discovered pursuant to a warrantless search justified pursuant to the emergency exception to the warrant requirement; and (2) Appellant's statements to investigators were correctly admitted into evidence, as Appellant was not in custody during the interviews, obviating the need for Miranda warnings and for heeding Appellant's invocation of his rights to remain silent and to have counsel present. View "United States v. Infante" on Justia Law

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Defendant was indicted on one count of possessing five or more grams of cocaine base. After his motion to suppress evidence was denied, Defendant entered a conditional plea of guilty and was sentenced to 180 months' imprisonment. Defendant appealed the denial of his suppression motion as well as the use of certain prior convictions in calculating his sentence guideline range. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the district court, holding (1) the district court correctly denied Defendant's motion to suppress the evidence, as (i) the police had reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle in which Defendant was riding, (ii) the stop did not escalate into a de facto arrest, and (iii) the district court's finding that the drugs on Defendant's person were in plain sight was not clearly erroneous; and (2) the district court properly considered Defendant's 1997 conviction for assault and battery of a police officer and 1997 felony drug conviction in calculating Defendant's sentence guideline range. View "United States v. Jones" on Justia Law

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After a three-day trial, a jury convicted Defendant of being a felon in possession of a firearm and knowingly possessing a firearm with an altered serial number. Defendant appealed, claiming (1) the district court erroneously precluded his proposed entrapment defense and improperly admitted certain evidence at trial, and (2) because the Commerce Clause does not endow Congress with the requisite authority to regulate the conduct covered by the underlying statutes of conviction, those statutes were invalid and unenforceable. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) the district court's denial of Defendant's pretrial motions to unveil and subpoena an alleged confidential informant did not deprive Defendant of his constitutional right to present a complete defense; (2) the district court's admission of the disputed evidence was not error; and (3) the underlying statutes of conviction were valid and constitutional. View "United States v. Roszkowski" on Justia Law

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A jury convicted Appellant on nine counts growing out of a conspiracy to commit armed robbery and the unlawful killing of a guard during a robbery. In an earlier multi-defendant appeal, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Appellant's convictions and sentences on eight of the nine counts. As to the remaining count, however, the First Circuit affirmed Appellant's conviction but vacated his sentence in order to afford him an opportunity to allocute. At resentencing on that count, the district court heard Appellant's allocution and proceeded to reinstate the original sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release. On appeal, the First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the district court's failure to fully explain its reason for imposing its sentence on count eight was not plain error, and Appellant's sentence on count eight was substantively reasonable; and (2) Appellant's conviction and sentence on count nine did not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. View "United States v. Medina-Villegas" on Justia Law

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Appellant served several prison terms for sex-related crimes. Before Appellant was released from custody in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the federal government commenced the effort to have him certified as a sexually dangerous person and to commit him civilly under the Adam Walsh Act. The federal district court determined that Appellant met the conditions for certification as a sexually dangerous person and ordered him civilly committed. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) Appellant was legitimately in BOP custody when the commitment proceeding began, as required by statute; and (2) the district court correctly found that Appellant suffered from the requisite mental disorder and that he satisfied the statutory dangerousness test. View "United States v. Wetmore" on Justia Law

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Appellant appealed a judgment of the U.S. district court sentencing him to thirty-three months' imprisonment for failing to register as a sex offender. In calculating a range for his sentence under the sentencing guidelines, the district court included two additional criminal history points because Appellant was under a criminal justice sentence when he failed to register. Appellant contended that he was not under a criminal justice sentence at that time. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that Appellant was under a criminal justice sentence when he failed to register, and therefore, the district court's sentencing calculation was sound. View "United States v. Peters" on Justia Law

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A jury convicted Defendant of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Defendant was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) to 216 months in prison. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's rulings, holding that the district court did not err in (1) refusing to suppress Defendant's statement regarding a bag containing firearms, as Defendant was not in custody for Miranda purposes when he made the statement; (2) admitting an audio recording of a telephone call to a police chief where the court properly authenticated the evidence; and (3) determining Defendant was convicted of two predicate offenses in Virginia and Florida and sentencing Defendant under the ACCA. View "United States v. Murdock" on Justia Law

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Defendant was arrested and ordered to be detained on criminal charges. An initial indictment and several superseding indictments followed charging Defendant with several drug offenses. The last indictment was filed in October 2011. Defendant filed motions seeking dismissal of the fourth superseding indictment and release from custody under the section 3164 of the Speedy Trial Act. The district court ordered Defendant's discharge. Fifteen minutes later, Defendant was re-arrested on a new criminal complaint for drug possession. Defendant was re-indicted on four counts virtually identical to the counts charged in the October 2011 indictment and again pled not guilty. Pursuant to the Ninth Circuit's decision in United States v. Tirasso, the district court found that re-indictment on the same offense does not restart section 3164's ninety-day clock and granted Defendant's motion for release. The First Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding that when an indictment is dismissed upon the motion of a defendant, the dismissal is without prejudice and that defendant is again detained awaiting trial, section 3164's ninety-day clock restarts at the moment that Defendant is re-arrested, regardless of the nature of the charges in the new complaint. View "United States v. Worthy" on Justia Law

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An undercover United States Customs Task Force operation involving efforts on land, at sea, and in the air ended with the arrests of Defendants, Saturnino Tatis-Nunez, Cesar Hernandez-De la Rosa, Carols Espinal-Almeida, and Jacobo Peguero-Carela. Each defendant was indicted on, and ultimately convicted of, one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and one count of conspiracy to import, 418 kilograms of cocaine. All Defendants appealed, raising a myriad of challenges that spanned jury voir dire to sentencing. After considering each claimed error, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Defendants' convictions and sentences, holding that none of Defendant's claims of error had merit. View "United States v. Espinal-Almeida" on Justia Law