Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Defendants appealed their convictions stemming from charges related to their scheme to fraudulently obtain mortgage loans. The primary issue on appeal was whether the wire fraud convictions and money laundering convictions merged to result in convictions for two crimes on the same facts, when the facts should support convictions for wire fraud. The court held that the district court correctly found that the wire fraud and money laundering convictions did not merge. The wire fraud crimes were complete before the conduct forming the basis of the money laundering convictions began, and defendants used only profits from the underlying wire fraud to promote further wire fraud crimes. Finally, defendants have failed to identify any reversible error. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court. View "United States v. Kennedy, et al" on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to a one-count indictment charging him with illegal reentry of a removed alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326(a). On appeal, defendant challenged his sentence of twelve months imprisonment. The government conceded that the district court's lack of notice that it intended to depart upward from the Sentencing Guidelines was a clear and obvious error in violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(h). Even assuming that the error affected defendant's substantial rights, defendant has not met his burden of showing that the error seriously affected the fairness, integrity or public reputation of the judicial proceedings. The court also held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing defendant where the district court was permitted to consider the need for deterrence as a sentencing factor and defendant's previous immigration encounters and removals in departing upward from his sentencing range. Accordingly, the court affirmed the sentence. View "United States v. Zelaya-Rosales" on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Defendant subsequently violated the conditions of his supervised release and was sentenced to 24-months of imprisonment to be followed by 24-months of supervised released. Defendant appealed. The court held that 18 U.S.C. 3582(a) applied to a revocation sentence and the district court erred under Tapia v. United States by considering defendant's rehabilitative needs in imposing his prison sentence. Further, the error affected defendant's substantial rights. Therefore, the court vacated and remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Garza" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed her convictions of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, wire fraud, and money laundering. Defendant's convictions stemmed from her involvement in an insurance annuity scheme with her son to defraud customers. The court held that defendant cited no authority in support of her contentions as to the impropriety of admitting a certain witness's testimony and therefore, waived this argument; the record showed that the Government presented significant evidence, albeit circumstantial, that demonstrated defendant was actually involved in her son's scheme or deliberately indifferent to it; given that this evidence was cumulative of the factual resume, the trial court's error in admitting it was harmless and did not warrant reversal; the deliberate ignorance instruction was proper; and no rational trier of fact could have found that the evidence established all of the essential elements of 18 U.S.C. 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore, the court vacated defendant's money laundering conviction (Count 27). View "United States v. Demmitt" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence on two counts of retaliating against and threatening a witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1513(e) and 876(c). The court found that the evidence was sufficient to convict defendant on both counts. However, because his crime of retaliation could not be a crime of violence under the career offender guideline, the court misapplied the longest noted guidelines range. Accordingly, the court affirmed the conviction, vacated the sentence, and remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Stoker" on Justia Law

Claimant appealed an order of criminal forfeiture. Claimant is the minor child of Omar Alvarez, who pleaded guilty to drug charges and in his plea agreement, agreed to forfeit his interest in certain property, which he admitted to using in furtherance of the conspiracy. Because the petition was untimely under 21 U.S.C. 853(n)(2), the court affirmed the dismissal of claimant's claim. View "United States v. Alvarez" on Justia Law

Defendants were convicted on charges stemming from a sting operation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Defendants worked with an undercover agent to plan an armed home invasion with the aim of stealing a large quantity of drugs. On appeal, defendants challenged their convictions and sentences on a number of grounds. The court held that the district court's only error occurred when it applied a two-level sentence enhancement to the drug conspiracy charge that should not have been applied. Defendants' other arguments lacked merit. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Cervantes, et al" on Justia Law

Defendant, a New Orleans Police Department Captain and Traffic Division commander, was convicted of crimes related to his involvement with a scheme to defraud Entergy, a New Orleans-based utilities provider. The court held that the district court's issuance of the deliberate ignorance instruction was erroneous, but the error was harmless; the district court correctly recognized that the standard Rule 404(b) instruction to the jury on "other acts" would need to be modified; to the extent the introduction of the Rule 404(b) evidence was erroneous, the doctrine of invited error applied; there was no Confrontation Clause violation nor abuse of discretion in limiting defendant's counsel's cross-examination of the codefendant; the district court did not clearly err in applying either the public official sentencing guidelines enhancement or the high-level or sensitive position enhancement; the district court erred in finding more than one bribe, and it should have therefore declined to apply the corresponding two-level sentencing guidelines enhancement; the district court erred in its calculation of the expected benefit; the district court's consideration of the 30-year statutory maximum was improper but it was harmless; and the sentencing guidelines enhancement errors were not harmless. Accordingly, the court affirmed the conviction and vacated and remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Roussel" on Justia Law

Defendant plead guilty to illegal reentry into the United States. On appeal, defendant contended that the district court erroneously enhanced his sentence based on his conviction under Georgia Code 16-5-70(b), which the district court concluded was a crime of violence. The court vacated and remanded for resentencing, holding that the statute under which defendant was convicted did not require a showing of physical force. View "United States v. Resendiz-Moreno" on Justia Law

Petitioner, a native and citizen of Mexico, petitioned for review of the decision of the BIA that he was removable for having been convicted of an aggravated felony. The IJ concluded that petitioner's conviction for attempted sexual assault under Texas Penal Code section 22.011 was a crime of violence as defined in 18 U.S.C. 16(b) because the offense presented a substantial risk of the use of physical force against another. When petitioner appealed the IJ's order of removal, the BIA dismissed the appeal. Because the record did not establish that petitioner was convicted of an aggravated felony, as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43), the court granted his petition and vacated the order of removal. View "Rodriguez v. Holder, Jr." on Justia Law