In United States v. Fey, No. 22-11373 (Dec. 28, 2023) (William Pryor, Rosenbaum, Abudu), the Court affirmed the defendants’ convictions for distributing meth and for conspiring to and actually killing a cooperating witness by administering a lethal amount of meth and fentanyl. First, the Court found no reversible Rule 404(b) error. At trial, the government [...]
In United States v. Hurtado, No. 21-12702 (Dec. 20, 2023) (Grant, Tjoflat, and Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed the defendants’ MDLEA convictions. Judge Tjoflat wrote the opinion for the Court, with the exception of one point, which the other two panel members rejected in a concurrence. First, the Court held that there was jurisdiction over [...]
In United States v. Sotis, No. 22-10256 (Dec. 20, 2023) (William Pryor, Marcus, Mizelle (M.D. Fla.)), the Court affirmed the defendant’s convictions for illegally exporting scuba diving equipment to Libya. First, the Court held that the evidence was sufficient that he acted willfully and that he acted in conspiracy with another person. The Court also [...]
In United States v. McCoy, No. 21-13838 (Dec. 14, 2023) (Jordan, Newsom, Grimberg (N.D. Ala.)), the Court affirmed the denial of a motion for a reduced sentence under Section 404 of the First Step Act. The Court re-affirmed its prior precedent holding that a defendant is bound by pre-Apprendi, judge-made drug-quantity findings for purposes of [...]
In United States v. Kincherlow, No. 22-11980 (Dec. 13, 2023) (Jordan, Lagoa, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed the defendant’s conviction for enticing a minor under 18 U.S.C. 2422(b). First, the Court held that the evidence was sufficient. The Court rejected the defendant’s argument that he did not persuade, induce, coerce, or entice the minor to [...]
In United States v. Duldulao, No. 20-13973 (Nov. 29, 2023) (Jordan, Jill Pryor, Tjoflat), the Court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded in part for a new trial. This appeal was on remand from the United States Supreme Court in light of Ruan v. United States, 142 S. Ct. 2370 (2022). It concerns the criminal convictions [...]
In United States v. Steiger, No. 22-10742 (Nov. 27, 2023), the Court sua sponte ordered that the appeal be reheard en banc. The panel, in vacating Mr. Steiger's sentence, found itself bound by United States v. Parks, 823 F.3d 990 (11th Cir. 2016). Chief Judge William Pryor concurred, but urged the Court to rehear the case en banc [...]
In United States v. Perez, No. 22-10267 (Nov. 14, 2023) (Jordan, Lagoa, Ed Carnes), the Court affirmed Mr. Perez's sentence. While on bond pending trial, Mr. Perez was convicted of two felonies--violating 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(n) and 922(j). The government informed him that, pursuant to § 18 U.S.C. § 3147, it was going to seek a [...]
In United States v. McCall, No. 21-13092 (Oct. 27, 2023) (Rosenbaum, Branch, Brasher), the Court affirmed the denial of Mr. McCall's motion to suppress. The Court considered how the exclusionary rule's good faith exception applies to the search of a cloud storage account. The warrant in question--for Mr. McCall's iCloud account--permitted a search of almost all of [...]
In United States v. Pate, No. 20-10545 (Oct. 11, 2023), the en banc Court--in an opinion authored by Judge Newsom--vacated Mr. Pate's § 1521 convictions and remanded for resentencing. Mr. Pate filed liens against property owned by a number of people he thought wronged him, including a former Commissioner of the IRS and a former Secretary [...]