In United States v. Litzky, No. 20-10709 (Nov. 23, 2021) (Jordan, Newsom, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed defendant's convictions for possessing child pornography, producing it, and conspiring to do the same. Defendant raised two issues on appeal: (1) the district court violated her constitutional right to present a defense by excluding expert testimony related to her intellectual disability; [...]
In United States v. Grady, No. 20-14341 (Nov. 22, 2021) (Branch, Grant, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed defendants' convictions and sentences for conspiracy, destruction of property on a naval installation, depredation of government property, and trespass. Defendants, members of the Plowshares Movement--equipped with spray paint, bolt cutters, hammers, blood, banners, crime scene tape, Go-Pro cameras, and [...]
In United States v. Ramirez, No. 20-10564 (Nov. 1, 2021) (Wilson, Rosenbaum, Hull), the Court vacated the defendant's sentence and remanded. Defendant purchased firearms and firearm parts and components, often through straw purchasers, and sold them throughout Colombia. Six firearms found themselves into the hands of members of the National Liberation Army ("ELN"), which the U.S. State [...]
In United States v. Wheeler, No. 17-15003 (Oct. 21, 2021) (Wilson, Lagoa, Brasher) (per curiam), the Court reversed a judgment of acquittal for two defendants and affirmed the convictions and sentences for three defendants involved in a telemarketing scheme that tricked investors into making stock purchases. First, notwithstanding the district court’s judgment of acquittal, the [...]
In United States v. Giron, No. 20-14018 (Newsom, Lagoa, Anderson) (Oct. 13, 2021), the Court—without oral argument or defense counsel—affirmed the denial of a pro se motion for compassionate release. First, the Court held that the district court did not err by relying on the policy statement in USSG 1B1.13. The Court held in Bryant [...]
In United States v. Perry, No. 16-11358 (Sept. 29, 2021) (Grant, Marcus, Axon (N.D. Ala.)), the Court affirmed the defendants' convictions and sentences. Defendants were indicted on numerous charges related to their involvement in a multi-year, multi-state drug distribution organization--namely, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 5kg of cocaine and in excess of [...]
In United States v. Tinker, No. 20-14474 (Sept. 28, 2021) (Wilson, Newsom, Branch) (per curiam), the Court held that a district court does not procedurally err when it denies a request for compassionate release based on the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) sentencing factors (or U.S.S.G. 1B1.13's policy statement) without first explicitly determining whether the defendant could present [...]
In Somers v. United States, No. 19-11484 (Sept. 28, 2021) (Jill Pryor, Anderson, and Marcus), the Court granted the petition for rehearing, vacated its previous opinion and judgment, substituted this opinion in its place, and certified to the Florida Supreme Court the following two questions about the nature of Florida's assault statutes: Does the first element of [...]
In United States v. Watkins, No. 18-14336 (Sept. 16, 2021) (Luck, Ed Carnes, Marcus), on remand from the en banc Court, the Court reversed and remanded to the district court for further proceedings. The Court originally reversed the district court's order granting the defendant's motion to suppress on the government's interlocutory appeal. Though the government conceded that [...]
In United States v. Braddy, No. 19-12823 (Aug. 31, 2021) (Rosenbaum, Lagoa, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed the denial a motion to suppress. First, the Court held that the officer had reasonable suspicion make the traffic stop after observing bicycles obstructing the car’s Florida license plate. The defendant argued that Alabama traffic law did not [...]