In United States v. Stefan Eberhard Zappey, 164 F.4th 1348 (11th Cir. 2026) (Abudu, Rosenbaum, Wilson), the Court affirmed Zappey’s convictions for multiple counts of aggravated sexual abuse, and abusive sexual contact with children under 12. For 20 years, Zappey taught German language classes to children at an American school on a military base in [...]
In In re Bowe, No. 24-11704 (Feb. 6, 2026) (Ed Carnes, Grant, Wilson), the Eleventh Circuit granted Bowe’s request for authorization to file a second or successive 2255 motion challenging his 924(c) conviction based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Davis. This case was on remand from the Supreme Court, which held that the [...]
In United States v. Starr, 159 F.4th 901 (11th Cir. 2025) (Newsom, Jordan*, Honeywell (MDFL)), the Court affirmed the defendants’ interstate murder for hire convictions, in violation of 18 U.S.C. s. 1958, arising from the murder of Jason Starr’s ex-wife, Sara Starr. In affirming the murder for hire convictions, the Court also held: The [...]
Update: “After considering the government’s petition for panel rehearing, we vacate our earlier opinion and issue this one in its place. Our holding is unchanged. The only modifications to our opinion are in Part II.B.1, clarifying that while we conclude that the prosecutor engaged in reversible misconduct by relying on an unadmitted exhibit during [...]
In United States v. Keegan, No. 22-13019 (11th Cir. Dec. 17, 2025) (Grant, Newsom, Abudu), the Court affirmed Keegan’s conviction for CP production, after a conditional guilty plea preserving Keegan’s right to appeal the district court’s pre-trial evidentiary ruling. The district court had excluded a defense expert psychologist’s proffered testimony about Keegan’s post-indictment statements, made [...]
In United States v. Erica Kelley Day, No. 24-13312 (11th Cir. Dec. 23, 2025) (Pryor CJ, Lagoa, Kidd)—also a government appeal—the Court held that a district court, when considering a government motion to depart from a statutory minimum for substantial assistance on one count, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) & USSG 5K1.1, may not [...]
In United States v. Karen Altagracia Perez & Jovan Rivera Rodriguez, No. 23-12977 (11th Cir. Dec. 2, 2025) (Pryor CJ, Branch, Abudu)—a government appeal—the Court held that a district court, when considering a government motion to depart from a statutory minimum for substantial assistance, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) & USSG 5K1.1, may not [...]
In United States v. Jy’Quale Samari Grable, No. 23-10544 (11th Cir. Jan. 5, 2026) (Jordan, Lagoa, Tjoflat) the Court held “that a taking of property does not constitute robbery under the Hobbs Act unless force or threatened force is used before or during the taking.” And, because Mr. Grable had “used force” (shot and killed [...]
In US v. Barry, No. 23-12101 (11th Cir. Jan. 7, 2026) (Kidd, CJ Pryor, Grant), the Court vacated and remanded Mr. Barry’s sentence, including the restitution amount, after he was convicted by a jury for his involvement in a credit card fraud conspiracy. In reversing Mr. Barry’s sentence, the Court held that: The district court [...]
In United States v. Mims, No. 22-13215 (J. Pryor, Branch, Grant), the Court held that a district court, even after a defendant completes her probation term, maintains ancillary jurisdiction over a criminal case to enforce unsatisfied restitution obligations that had been included in the defendant’s sentence. Applying the plain error standard, the Court also held [...]