Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Plaintiff filed suit against a state trooper under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging damages based on the trooper's unconstitutional initiation of a traffic stop and questioning, detainment, and arrest of plaintiff without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. After removal to federal court, the district court denied the trooper summary judgment based on qualified immunity. The court concluded, however, that the trooper was entitled to qualified immunity. In this case, the trooper pointed to objective, particular facts and explained why these facts led him to conclude he had reasonable suspicion to briefly extend defendant's detention to determine if a drug dog would alert to the exterior of a pickup truck traveling from Arizona to Illinois on Interstate 80. The court noted that more recent Eighth Circuit decisions have distinguished cases on which the district court primarily relied, and found no Fourth Amendment violations, let alone violations of clearly established Fourth Amendment law. The court explained that its prior cases have found reasonable suspicion upholding the extension of traffic stops by officers relying on similar facts. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "De La Rosa v. White" on Justia Law

The government appealed the district court's grant of defendant's motion to suppress evidence, a firearm in this case, found on his person incident to arrest for an unrelated crime. The court concluded that the district court did not err in finding that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest defendant for rape where the victim did not provide a positive identification of defendant sufficient to establish probable cause. The court explained that defendant lacked the essentially defining features of the victim's identification of her attacker, and the subsequently developed discrepancies were so significant that they constituted a significant obstacle to a finding of probable cause. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Evans" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for firearm possession and possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting a Facebook video showing defendant holding a firearm because it was relevant and the potential prejudice did not substantially outweigh its probative value; the handling of the firearm in the video was nearly identical to the manner in which defendant would have handled the firearm found in the vehicle based on the placement of his prints; the video was not overly remote in time; defendant's use of foul language in the video and the video's caption did not make the video unfairly prejudice in light of the district court's limiting instruction; and defendant's claim that the revocation of his Extended Juvenile Jurisdiction (EJJ) for Minnesota aggravated robbery does not constitute an "adult conviction" for purposes of the career-offender enhancement was foreclosed by United States v. Nash. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Rembert" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his 110 month sentence after pleading guilty to possessing firearms as a felon. The court concluded that the record supported the district court's conclusion that defendant's prior convictions for attempted-aggravated-assault in Kansas required violent force and fell under the force clause of USSG 4B1.2(a). The court also concluded that the district court did not err by applying a four-level enhancement under USSG 2K2.1(b)(6)(B) for possession in connection with another felony, possessing marijuana. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Price" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his sentence after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon. The court held that United States v. Pulliam is controlling law and rejected defendant's argument to the contrary. In Pulliam, this court held that a conviction for unlawful use of a firearm under Mo. Rev. Stat. 571.030 is a "violent felony" under the force clause of USSG 4B1.2(a)(1) for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e). Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Hudson" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his 98 month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and two counts of distribution of a controlled substance. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by giving more weight to defendant's criminal history than to the drug quantity in his charge; the district court did not give significant weight to an improper factor and the court rejected defendant's contention that it improperly weighed the unsubstantiated assertion that he got a "rush" from selling drugs; and the district court did not abuse its discretion in its final determination of defendant's sentence where the sentence was necessary to achieve the statutory aims of federal criminal punishment, which include deterrence. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Boykin" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed the district court's order denying his motion to suppress after he was convicted of possessing an unregistered short-barreled rifle. Officers discovered firearms in defendant's vehicle after they responded to a report of a road rage incident where a driver brandished a firearm. The court concluded that the warrantless search of defendant's vehicle was reasonable under the second exception in Arizona v. Grant. In this case, officers reasonably believed defendant's vehicle might contain evidence relevant to his arrest for terroristic threatening because defendant confirmed he was the driver of the SUV and involved in the earlier road rage incident, defendant told the officers he "probably" had a firearm in his vehicle, the 911 caller positively identified defendant as the driver who brandished a gun at him during the reported road rage incident, and a witness observed defendant concealing something in the rear hatch of his SUV. The court, along with its sister circuits, have held the hatchback or rear hatch area of a vehicle was a part of the passenger compartment as long as an occupant could reach that area while inside the vehicle. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Stegall" on Justia Law

In five consolidated appeals, defendants challenged the denial of their motions for sentence reductions under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2) for convictions of methamphetamine conspiracy offenses. At issue was whether section 3582(c)(2) relief was now available because Amendment 782 to the Guidelines retroactively reduced by two levels the base offense levels assigned to drug quantities, lowering the advisory guidelines range for most drug offenses. The court concluded that these defendants were not eligible for a section 3582(c)(2) reduction because their sentences were not "based on" a guidelines range subsequently lowered by the Sentencing Commission. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Koons" on Justia Law

Defendant pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon and was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e). On appeal, defendant challenged the district court's imposition of a minimum 15 year sentence. The court concluded that, based on the intervening circuit precedent in United States v. Bell, defendant's prior second-degree robbery in Missouri was not a violent felony under the ACCA, and defendant therefore does not qualify as an armed career criminal. Accordingly, the court vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Swopes" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of illegally reentering the United States and sentenced to 51 months in prison. The court concluded that the occupant of the apartment where defendant was found voluntarily consented to entry; articulable facts warranted the agents' lawful protective sweep where the agents knew that defendant had a prior conviction for aggravated assault on a police officer and that he may be present in the apartment; the totality of the circumstances demonstrated that defendant voluntarily consented to the search of his bedroom; and defendant's requests for suppression of all evidence was without merit. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Ortega-Montalvo" on Justia Law