Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Defendant's prior conviction for possession with intent to distribute ecstasy under O.C.G.A. 16-13-30 qualifies as a felony punishable under the Controlled Substances Act.The Eleventh Circuit denied a petition for review of the BIA's order affirming an IJ's determination that petitioner's prior state conviction qualified as an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), rendering him removable and ineligible for cancellation of removal. The court held that O.C.G.A. 16-16-30 is divisible, and that the modified categorical approach applies. The court also held that the BIA did not err in determining that ecstasy is a federally controlled substance under Georgia law. View "Gordon v. U.S. Attorney General" on Justia Law

After defendant, representing himself, pleaded guilty to one charge of bank fraud and one charge of money laundering, he appealed his convictions and the district court's orders directing him to reimburse the United States Treasury.The Eleventh Circuit held that defendant waived his right to counsel knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. The court rejected defendant's argument that 18 U.S.C. 3006A(f) did not authorize the district court to seize money from his jail account, holding that the district court followed the proper procedures under section 3006A before directing that defendant's money be paid from the court registry to the Treasury. The court also held that it lacked jurisdiction to consider defendant's argument that the district court could not use this money to reimburse the Treasury for his counsel's fees and expenses. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part and dismissed in part. View "United States v. Owen" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit granted a petition for panel rehearing of this court's opinion reversing defendant's sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). The court vacated its previous opinion and substituted the following opinion.Defendant pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon under 18 U.S.C. 922(g) and 924(a)(2). Based, in part, on his prior Georgia conviction for making terroristic threats under O.C.G.A. 16-11-37(a) (2010), defendant was sentenced under the ACCA to 180 months in prison.The court held that O.C.G.A. 16-11-37(a) is divisible under Mathis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2243, 2249 (2016), and that a threat to commit "any crime of violence" under Georgia law always includes an element requiring threatened violent force against another. Therefore, the court held that defendant's terroristic-threats conviction qualifies as a violent felony under the ACCA's elements clause. The court affirmed the district court's judgment. View "United States v. Oliver" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of relief under the First Step Act of 2018 to Defendants Jones and Jackson, holding that the district court did not err in refusing to allow Jones to relitigate his drug-quantity finding and that the district court correctly concluded that it could not reduce Jackson's sentence because his drug-quantity finding meant that he would face the same statutory penalty of life imprisonment under the Fair Sentencing Act.The court vacated the denials of relief to Defendants Allen and Johnson, holding that their orders do not make clear that the district court understood that it could reduce the sentences. Therefore, the court vacated the orders denying Allen and Johnson's motions and remanded for further proceedings. View "United States v. Steven Jones" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit held that the district court erred in issuing an injunction against the County and the Director of the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitations Department (MDCR), requiring defendants to employ numerous safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and imposing extensive reporting requirements. Metro West inmates had filed a class action challenging the conditions of their confinement under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and seeking habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. 2241 for the named plaintiffs with a "medically vulnerable" subclass of inmates.The court held that plaintiffs failed to show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their constitutional claim for deliberate indifference. The court explained that the district court erred in relying on the increased rate of infection, and in concluding that defendants' inability to ensure adequate social distancing constituted deliberate indifference. In this case, the court simply could not conclude that, when faced with a perfect storm of a contagious virus and the space constraints inherent in a correctional facility, defendants acted unreasonably by "doing their best." The court also agreed with defendants that the district court erred in its likelihood-of-success-on-the-merits analysis because it failed to consider "two threshold issues": (1) the heightened standard for municipal liability under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978), and (2) exhaustion under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. Finally, the court held that the district court erred in holding, without any meaningful analysis, that plaintiffs would suffer irreparable injury absent an injunction. Furthermore, the district court erred in its determination of the balance-of-the-harms and public-interest factors. View "Swain v. Junior" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court's grant of defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained after officers, pursuant to arrest warrants, arrested defendant and his wife, secured them outside of their home, and then reentered the home to conduct a protective sweep without a warrant. The court found that the totality of the circumstances demonstrates that the officer had a reasonable suspicion that a dangerous person might have been in the house and that the protective sweep was justified. In this case, multiple cars indicated multiple people on the property; the tips about the drugs indicated multiple people who may have had access to weapons; and the wife's refusal to follow police directions indicated that, if other people were in the house, they might have likewise been non-compliant. View "United States v. Yarbrough" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment overruling defendant's objection to the admission of the firearm evidence. The court rejected defendant's contention that the probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice where the firearm was found in close proximity to the personal identifying information (PII) in a small closet, it tied defendant directly to the PII, and it had substantial probative value in proving that defendant actually possessed the PII. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that firearms are not so inherently prejudicial as to substantially outweigh the probative value here. View "United States v. McGregor" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's convictions and sentence for distribution of methamphetamine, conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.The court held that defendant failed to establish good cause sufficient to overcome the untimely filing of his motion to suppress. The court also held that the district court did not plainly err by denying defendant's motion to suppress where the officer had probable cause to stop defendant's vehicle for a traffic infraction because the vehicle was following too closely to another vehicle. Furthermore, the investigating officers' collective knowledge of the ongoing criminal investigation justified the stop of defendant's vehicle. Finally, the court held that there was no clear error in the district court's finding that defendant did not accept responsibility for purposes of USSG 3E1.1. View "United States v. Andres" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for possession with intent to distribute marijuana, assaulting a federal officer, discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.The court joined five sister circuits and held that an assault conviction in violation of 18 U.S.C. 111(b) qualifies as a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. 924(c); the district court did not abuse its discretion by excluding evidence relevant to defendant's self-defense theory at trial; the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction on the section 111 and 924(c) counts; defendant's prior Georgia convictions for possession with intent to distribute marijuana qualified as predicate offenses for both the Armed Career Criminal Act and the Sentencing Guidelines; the district court did not clearly err in denying defendant a two-level sentencing reduction for acceptance of responsibility by pleading guilty to the possession charges; defendant's 360-month sentence was substantively reasonable and the district court did not abuse its discretion; and Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), does not require vacating defendant's conviction for possessing a firearm as a felon. View "United States v. Bates" on Justia Law

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed defendant's convictions for distributing furanyl fentanyl, a controlled substance analogue, in counterfeit oxycodone pills that caused the death of a 34-year-old woman. The court held that the government introduced sufficient evidence to permit a reasonable jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the furanyl fentanyl defendant distributed caused the woman's death; the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the first two drug counts of the indictment; the district court did not err, much less plainly err, in instructing the jury on scienter; the district court did not clearly err in finding that defendant voluntarily consented to the search of his bags at the airport and in denying the motion to suppress; the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to further investigate any juror misconduct; and there was no cumulative error requiring reversal. View "United States v. Benjamin" on Justia Law