Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Appellant Ricardo Martinez was convicted after pleading guilty to one count of distribution of methamphetamine. He appealed the sentence he received, contending the district court miscalculated his advisory Sentencing Guidelines range. Martinez claimed the district court erred, first, by adding a two-level sentencing enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1) for possession of a dangerous weapon in connection with a drug trafficking offense, and second, by refusing to apply a two-level “safety-valve” reduction under U.S.S.G. §§ 2D1.1(b)(18) and 5C1.2. The Tenth Circuit agreed Martinez was entitled to the safety-valve reduction but otherwise found no error. Accordingly, the Court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for resentencing. View "United States v. Martinez" on Justia Law

In 2019, defendant-appellant Larry Coates was caught possessing child pornography. At the time, he was serving supervised release for Kansas-state child exploitation violations. Coates pleaded guilty to a single count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B), (b)(2). In anticipation of sentencing, the probation office prepared a presentence investigative report (“PSR”) which recommended a pattern of activity enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(5). Coates objected to the enhancement, reasoning it could only apply if the Guidelines' commentary’s definition of pattern was used. In doing so, Coates advocated the district court rely on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kisor v. Wilkie, 139 S. Ct. 2400 (2019), which determined courts could only defer to commentary accompanying executive agency regulations when the associated regulation was “genuinely ambiguous.” Absent express guidance from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the district court declined to apply Kisor and it did not otherwise believe the commentary inconsistent with the guideline. The Tenth Circuit confirmed this approach in United States v. Maloid, 71 F.4th 795 (10th Cir. 2023). Concurring with the district court's judgment, the Tenth Circuit affirmed. View "United States v. Coates" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Michael David Jackson was convicted and sentenced for several offenses stemming from the sexual abuse of his young niece, including two counts of possession of child pornography. On appeal Jackson argued, and the government conceded, that the possession convictions were multiplicitous and violated the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause. To this the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and therefore remanded to the district court with instructions to vacate one of these convictions. Jackson also challenged his sentence, contending: it was procedurally unreasonable because the application of several sentencing enhancements constituted impermissible double counting; and it was substantively unreasonable. The Tenth Circuit noted the district court will have discretion to consider the entire sentencing package on remand. The Court rejected these challenges and concluded that the sentence imposed was both procedurally and substantively reasonable. View "United States v. Jackson" on Justia Law

A district court conducted two hours of voir dire in a courtroom closed to the public and broadcasted live over an audio feed. After Defendant Quentin Veneno, Jr. objected, the district court concluded that the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic justified its closure of the courtroom, but also provided a video feed for the rest of trial. Although Defendant objected to the initial audio-only feed after the initial two hours of voir dire, he never requested that the district court restart jury selection or moved for a mistrial. Defendant appealed both his conviction and challenged Congress’s constitutional authority to criminalize the conduct of Indians on tribal land, whether a previous conviction can be a predicate offense for 18 U.S.C. § 117(a)(1) convictions, and whether admission of other-act evidence met the rigors of Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b). Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court. View "United States v. Veneno" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Luis Leon was stopped by law enforcement after he was observed illegally driving in a passing lane. Leon was traveling eastbound on I-70 in Colorado when Colorado State Patrol Trooper Shane Gosnell observed him driving in the left lane while not passing another vehicle. Trooper Gosnell began to follow Leon’s 2006 Honda Ridgeline truck and noticed it had a Minnesota license plate. Trooper Gosnell initiated a traffic stop suspecting Leon was trafficking drugs. A search of his vehicle uncovered seventy-six pounds of methamphetamine, and Leon was charged with one count of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Following a failed motion to suppress, he pled guilty and was sentenced to seventy months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Leon challenged the denial of his suppression motion, arguing that the officer lacked reasonable suspicion to extend the stop and investigate the suspected drug trafficking. After review, the Tenth Circuit agreed and therefore reversed. View "United States v. Leon" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Jeffery Sumka was sentenced to 137 months’ imprisonment for sexual abuse of a minor. At sentencing, the district court applied several enhancements over Sumka’s objection after finding that Sumka had undue influence over his victim, engaged in a pattern of illegal sexual conduct, and committed an offense involving a vulnerable victim. On appeal, Sumka challenged the application of these enhancements. After review, the Tenth Circuit found the court did not err in applying the enhancements and affirmed. View "United States v. Sumka" on Justia Law

Defendant Diamond Britt was convicted of first-degree murder in Indian Country, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Britt appealed, arguing, in pertinent part, that the district court erred by refusing his counsel’s request to instruct the jury on the theory of imperfect self-defense. After review of the trial court record, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Britt that the district court erred in this regard. Consequently, the Court remanded the case to the district court with directions to vacate the judgment and conduct a new trial. View "United States v. Britt" on Justia Law

Petitioner-appellant Isaiah Tryon accosted Tia Bloomer, his estranged girlfriend and the mother of his son, in a bus station and stabbed her seven times, resulting in her death. A jury convicted Tryon of first-degree murder. At sentencing, the State of Oklahoma (“State”) presented evidence of Tryon’s lengthy criminal history and impulsively violent behavior, including testimony about him physically abusing Bloomer on other occasions, discharging a firearm at a crowd of fleeing people, and fighting while in custody in 2009 and 2013. In a mitigation effort, Tryon highlighted his difficult upbringing, his parents’ substance abuse, his history of depression, several head injuries, and his low Intelligence Quotient (“IQ”). Tryon also presented expert testimony from John Fabian, a neuropsychologist who testified that Tryon was not intellectually disabled, and conceded that while an IQ score of 68 was low, it did not reflect Tryon’s full intellectual capacity. A jury sentenced Tryon to death. On direct appeal, appellate counsel raised twenty claims of error, none of which involved ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (“OCCA”) affirmed Tryon’s conviction and sentence. In an application for state post-conviction relief, Tryon argued appellate counsel was ineffective for not arguing that trial counsel was ineffective for: (1) not presenting an intellectual disability defense; (2) not obtaining neuroimaging of Tryon’s brain; and (3) not countering the 2009 jail fight evidence. The OCCA rejected these claims and affirmed the sentence. Tryon next sought federal habeas relief, while also filing a successive application for post-conviction relief with the OCCA. As to the successive application for post-conviction relief, the OCCA concluded all of Tryon’s claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel were procedurally barred because he could have raised them in his original application for post-conviction relief. The federal court also denied relief on thel habeas petition. The issues Tryon's petition presented for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals centered on: (1) appellate counsel's decision not to present an intellectual disability defense; (2) whether appellate counsel was ineffective for not arguing trial counsel was ineffective for not obtaining and presenting neuroimages; (3) whether appellate counsel was ineffective for not arguing trial counsel was ineffective for not countering the 2009 jail fight evidence; and (4) cumulative error based on ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. Having considered each of these issues, the Court found no reversible errors and affirmed Tryon's sentence. View "Tryon v. Quick" on Justia Law

Petitioner-appellant Daniel Cortez-Lazcano was convicted by jury of child sexual abuse. After unsuccessfully appealing his conviction to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA), Cortez-Lazcano sought habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in federal court. He argued, among other things: (1) the prosecution used its peremptory strikes to remove prospective jurors based on their race, in violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986); and (2) that defense counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to notify him of a favorable plea offer, in violation of his Sixth Amendment rights under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). Applying the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996, the district court denied habeas relief but granted Cortez-Lazcano a certificate of appealability (COA) on his Batson and Strickland claims. Because the OCCA’s decision did not involve an unreasonable application of federal law or rest on an unreasonable determination of the facts, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. View "Cortez-Lazcano v. Whitten" on Justia Law

Defendant Earl Hardy Morrow appeals his convictions for distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography. On appeal, defendant argued the district court erred in: (1) permitting the government to present evidence that his electronic devices contained pornographic anime, contrary to the restrictions on the use of other-act evidence under Fed. R. Evid. 403 and 404(b); (2) preventing him from offering statements against interest by his brother Kory under Fed. R. Evid. 804(b)(3); and (3) failing to correct the government’s statement at closing argument that Kory had not yet been prosecuted when charges against him had in fact been dropped. Defendant also argued the cumulative effect of these errors required reversal of his conviction. The Tenth Circuit affirmed: the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the government’s other-act evidence or in excluding Kory’s statements against interest, nor did it commit reversible error in failing to correct the government’s misstatement during closing argument. "There being at most one error, Mr. Morrow’s cumulative-error argument also fails." View "United States v. Morrow" on Justia Law