In United States v. Clowers, No. 20-13074 (Mar. 14, 2023) (Jill Pryor, Grant, Anderson), the Court affirmed the denial of a motion for reduced sentence under Section 404 of the First Step Act. The Court first agreed with the parties that engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise involving crack under 21 U.S.C. 848 was a [...]
In United States v. Shamsid-Deen, No. 20-11877 (Mar. 6, 2023) (Jill Pryor, Branch, Ed Carnes), the Court, on a government appeal, reversed the district court’s order granting the defendant’s motion to suppress. The defendant was prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9) for possessing a firearm after having previously been convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic [...]
In United States v. Turner, No. 20-12364 (Mar. 1, 2023) (Rosenbaum, Tjoflat, Moody), the Court affirmed the defendant’s felon in possession conviction. At trial, the defendant raised an insanity defense. Over the defendant’s objection, the government’s expert psychologist who had evaluated the defendant testified that he was able to appreciate the nature and quality and [...]
In United States v. Heaton, No. 20-12568 (Feb. 14, 2023) (Wilson, Jill Pryor, Hull), the Court affirmed Dr. Heaton's convictions. Dr. Heaton was charged with one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(C), 843, & 846; 102 counts of unlawful dispensing of controlled substances to patients, in violation [...]
In United States v. Jackson, No. 19-11955 (Feb. 3, 2023) (William Pryor, Grant, Jung (M.D. Fla.)), the Court, on remand from the Supreme Court post-Concepcion, reinstated its prior decision affirming the denial of relief. Jackson moved to reduce his sentence under the First Step Act, arguing that he was eligible for a sentence reduction because a [...]
In In re: Grand Jury Subpoena, FGJ-21-01-MIA, No. 21-13651 (Jan. 31, 2023) (Wilson, Jordan, Brasher), the Court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. The appellant was the custodian of business entities that were served with subpoenas to appear before a grand jury, produce documents, and certify that the documents satisfied the business records exception [...]
In United States v. King, No. 21-12963 (Jan. 23, 2023) (Rosenbaum, Grant, Tjoflat), the Court—without oral argument—affirmed the defendant’s 36-month sentence for violating his supervised release. The Court rejected the defendant’s arguments that his sentence was substantively unreasonable. Although the defendant argued that the sentence was a major upward variance from the guideline range of [...]
In United States v. Scott, No. 21-11467 (Jan. 20, 2023) (Jordan, Rosenbaum, Newsom), the Court affirmed the defendant’s healthcare fraud convictions. First, and assuming that de novo review applied, the Court rejected the defendant’s belated challenge to the indictment on the ground that Medicare actually covered the testing he performed. And even if it did, [...]
In United States v. Dupree, No. 19-13776 (Jan. 18, 2023), the en banc Court held that the definition of “controlled substance offense” in U.S.S.G. 4B1.2(b) does not include inchoate offenses like conspiracy. In an opinion by Jill Pryor, and joined by Chief Judge Bill Pryor and Judges Wilson, Jordan, Rosenbaum, Newsom, Lagoa, and Brasher, the [...]
In United States v. Oudomsine, No. 22-10924 (Jan. 18, 2023) (Lagoa, Brasher, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed the defendant’s 36-month sentence for providing false information to obtain pandemic-related benefits. The district court varied upward to 36 months from a guideline range of 8-14 months. The sentence was not procedurally unreasonable because the district court adequately [...]