Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

In the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the appellant, Brian Jackson, challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his guilty plea for attempted interference with commerce by robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a). Jackson and two co-conspirators had attempted to rob a convenience store, and in the course of the incident, the store was closed for about three hours, causing it to lose $600 in potential earnings. Jackson argued that the record did not sufficiently show that the attempted robbery impacted interstate commerce.The court, however, ruled that Jackson's plea agreement contained sufficient factual admissions to satisfy the Hobbs Act’s commerce element. It noted that Jackson admitted to attempting to rob the store with the intent to affect interstate commerce. In addition, the court found that the temporary closure of the store resulting from the attempted robbery affected interstate commerce, as it depleted the store's assets by $600, impeding its ability to engage in future interstate commerce. The court also inferred from the record that the store likely dealt in goods originating from outside Texas and therefore engaged in interstate commerce.Jackson's argument that he would not have pled guilty if he had known the facts were insufficient under the commerce element was dismissed by the court. The court noted that Jackson had pled guilty despite believing that the facts were insufficient to support the commerce prong, and he had admitted that his purpose in pleading guilty was to avoid potential conviction under a statute carrying longer sentences.The court thus found no reversible error and affirmed the lower court's decision. View "USA v. Jackson" on Justia Law

The case involves James Pierre, the sole doctor at a Houston pill mill, who was convicted of multiple federal drug crimes. He was charged with seven counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances and one count of conspiring to do the same. Pierre's defense argued that he had been deceived by the clinic's employees and only provided medicine for people he believed were in pain. However, the jury did not believe him and he was convicted on all counts.Pierre appealed his conviction on two grounds: that the district court erred in admitting improper profiling evidence and in instructing the jury. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, however, found no reversible error and affirmed the conviction. The court held that the testimony about the mill operations was not profiling evidence, as it helped the jury understand the evidence. The court also held that any error in the jury instructions did not affect Pierre's substantial rights, as there was overwhelming evidence to prove that Pierre knew the prescriptions he was writing were medically unauthorized. View "USA v. Pierre" on Justia Law

Derrick Durrell Jones, a convicted felon, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and appealed his conviction to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Jones argued that the law under which he was convicted, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), was unconstitutional because it violated the Commerce Clause and the Second Amendment. Addressing the Commerce Clause argument, the court stated that their circuit precedent has consistently upheld the constitutionality of § 922(g)(1), and that Jones had not presented any Supreme Court decisions that had expressly overruled this.In response to the Second Amendment argument, the court noted that Jones' challenge came in light of a new test for assessing the constitutionality of a statute under the Second Amendment as set forth by the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen. However, the court pointed out that it had previously held that § 922(g)(1) did not violate the Second Amendment, and a concurring opinion in Bruen had stated that the decision should not cast doubt on prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons. The court also observed that there was no binding precedent holding that § 922(g)(1) was unconstitutional, and that two other federal circuits have reached conflicting conclusions on the issue.Given these considerations, the court concluded that Jones had failed to demonstrate that the district court’s application of § 922(g)(1) constituted clear or obvious error, and thus affirmed the decision of the lower court. View "USA v. Jones" on Justia Law

This case involves Rolando Villarreal who pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. His sentence was enhanced under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) due to a prior burglary and two prior aggravated assaults. Villarreal challenged the enhancement under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, arguing that his sentence was improperly enhanced under the ACCA's elements or force clause based on the predicate offense that allowed conviction for reckless conduct, a claim subsequently termed a "Borden claim."The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that Villarreal did assert a Borden claim in his § 2255 motion and that his sentence was "in excess of the maximum authorized by law." This was due to the fact that, after the ruling in Borden v. United States, the convictions under the relevant aggravated assault statute could not constitute predicate offenses under the ACCA as they do not require the "physical use of force against the person of another."As a result, the Court of Appeals vacated Villarreal’s sentence and remanded the case back to the district court with instructions to resentence Villarreal without consideration of the ACCA. View "USA v. Villarreal" on Justia Law

In this case, the defendant, Sterling Robinson, was convicted by a jury on one count of possessing a firearm or ammunition as a convicted felon and one count of attempted obstruction of a federal proceeding. He appealed these convictions on the grounds of sufficiency challenges, errors relating to evidence admitted at trial, the trial court's jury instructions, and the prosecutor's remarks during opening and closing arguments. Robinson also appealed his sentence, arguing that the district court misunderstood its authority to order that his sentence run concurrently with another federal sentence.The case originated from an incident where Robinson's ex-girlfriend, Candace Anderson, accused him of shooting at her car while her nine-year-old son was inside. After the incident, Robinson repeatedly urged Anderson to change her story during phone calls from jail.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed Robinson's convictions, stating that there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude that Robinson was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the stated charges. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in its admission of evidence, the failure to give an impeachment instruction, or any improper remarks by the prosecutor.However, the court agreed with Robinson's argument that the district court misunderstood its sentencing authority. The district court initially stated that Robinson’s sentence would run concurrently with a sentence imposed upon his revocation of supervised release, but later retracted this after the government pointed out that another judge had ordered the sentences to run consecutively. The appellate court clarified that one district court has no authority to instruct another district court on how to impose its sentence for a different offense in a different case. As a result, the court vacated Robinson’s term of imprisonment and remanded the case for a narrow resentencing limited to the sole issue of whether Robinson’s prison sentence in this case should run concurrently or consecutively with his other federal sentence. View "USA v. Robinson" on Justia Law

In this case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a state pretrial detainee, Rashaud L. Robinson, scheduled for a second trial, sought a writ of habeas corpus. Robinson claimed that when a poll of jurors at his 2021 trial showed ten of its members would acquit on four of five counts, retrial on those counts became barred under then-existing Louisiana law. The state trial court judge declared a mistrial instead, and the federal district court denied any relief.On appeal, the Court of Appeals held that that Robinson's claim was not about his release from or reduction in length or level of custody. Once it became clear that the arguments about acquittals did not apply to all counts, the suit was not about a release from or reduction in length or level of custody. The question was whether nonunanimous verdicts of acquittal prevented Robinson’s retrial on four counts. He was not requesting release from detention as he awaits trial on only one charge. Therefore, the court concluded that this Section 2241 habeas proceeding must be dismissed. The court did not evaluate the district court’s finding that when the state courts held Robinson had not been acquitted, those courts had relied at least in part on state law. The decision was based only on the unavailability of any relief appropriate in a habeas proceeding for Robinson’s claims. That was the only issue the court considered, and, solely for that reason, the court affirmed the district court’s denial of habeas relief. Though the court could not rule on the merits of Robinson’s arguments, nothing in this opinion should be interpreted as preventing Robinson from presenting similar arguments in the future as appropriate. View "Robinson v. Lopinto" on Justia Law

The case at hand involves Bradley Lane Croft, who owned and operated Universal K-9, a school primarily training handlers and dogs for police work. Seeking to expand his business, he applied for certification from the Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) to receive G.I. Bill funds for veteran students. The certification required that the organization employed qualified dog trainers, and Croft submitted an application listing four instructors. However, three instructors testified at trial that they had not given permission to be named in the application and had not served as instructors. The fourth instructor had died two years before the application. Croft was convicted of several counts, including four counts of aggravated identity theft, under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A.The case was remanded from the Supreme Court for reconsideration in light of its decision in United States v. Dubin, which clarified the meaning of "during and in relation to" in § 1028A. The Court held that a defendant "uses" another person's means of identification "in relation to" a predicate offense when this use is central to the criminality of the conduct.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, upon reconsideration, affirmed Croft's convictions under § 1028A. The court found that Croft's misrepresentations about "who" was teaching courses were the basis of his wire fraud convictions. Croft's fraudulent conduct lied in misrepresenting who would be teaching the classes, not in who received the services. Thus, there was a direct link between the use of the four men's names and information and the predicate felony of wire fraud. Consequently, the court also affirmed the district court's denial of Croft's motion for a new trial and denied his motion for release pending appeal. View "USA v. Croft, No. 21-50380 (5th Cir. 2023)" on Justia Law

Defendant contested her convictions for transferring a firearm to a prohibited person and for making false statements while purchasing a firearm, as well as the sentence imposed on her resulting from these convictions. She argued that these convictions run afoul of In New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen,(“Bruen”), and that her upwardly varying sentence was substantively unreasonable.   The Fifth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that Defendant’s arguments concerning her convictions failed plain error review because there was no clear or obvious error, and the District Court did not abuse its discretion in imposing an upwardly varying sentence. The court explained that the district court gave a fulsome explanation of the reasons underpinning its decision to vary on Defendant’s sentence. The court explained that it made clear that it was prepared to upwardly vary even more but for the very factors to which Defendant says it did not give sufficient weight. According to the district court, the “sentence would be much higher” had it not considered these factors. Moreover, the court explained that the sentence imposed was well within a reasonable variance from the guidelines. It was only 36 months above the top of the guidelines range and 15 years below the statutory maximum sentence. View "USA v. Sanches" on Justia Law

In 2010, Petitioner was convicted of three counts of juvenile molestation in violation of La. Rev. Stat. Section 14:81.2. Petitioner appealed of the denial of his Section 2254 petition challenging those convictions and his sentence—specifically, his claim on appeal that the evidence at trial was legally insufficient for a conviction on the last count.   The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of his Section 2254 petition. The court wrote that it did not find that the state court was objectively unreasonable in rejecting Petitioner’s claim that there was insufficient evidence to convict him on Count III. The court explained that the evidence was clearly sufficient for a rational jury to find that the described acts were “lewd and lascivious”—and Petitioner’s alternative explanations do not disturb this conclusion. Petitioner’s counsel’s argument, for instance, that it can be normal for adults to “squeeze and pinch” a child’s behind under their clothes flies in the face of common sense. Petitioner provided examples of when such behavior might occur—such as when a child needs help with the restroom—are far afield of the facts before the court. Equally unavailing is counsel’s suggestion that acts must be painful in order to be obscene or indecent. Finally, Petitioner contends that the evidence was insufficient to establish that any molestation occurred in Louisiana as opposed to Mississippi. The court explained that the place of the crime is not an element of the offense of molestation of a juvenile under Louisiana law. View "Terry v. Hooper" on Justia Law

Defendant was charged with conspiracy to obstruct commerce by robbery, obstruction of commerce by robbery, and using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging firearms during and in relation to a crime of violence, causing death. Defendant was charged alongside several others. The district court severed the trial of the then-capital defendants. Defendant’s first trial, in July 2021, ended in a mistrial after the jury could not reach a verdict. At his retrial in March 2022, a jury convicted Defendant of each of the three counts charged. Defendant appealed.   The Fifth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that it rejected Defendant’s assertion that his substantial rights were affected “because the government’s case was almost entirely premised on DNA evidence.” The court explained that the government also presented eyewitness testimony that, on the morning of the robbery, Defendant helped load a bag of firearms into the vehicle used in the robbery, and the government properly introduced a statement from a non-testifying co-defendant that Defendant was one of the shooters who emerged from the vehicle. Further, the court wrote that Defendant’s vague assertion does not establish that “there is a reasonable probability that the result of the proceedings would have been different but for the error.” View "USA v. Johnson" on Justia Law