33 results for 'cat:"Drug Offender" AND cat:"Evidence" AND cat:"Sentencing"'.
J. Witt finds the lower court properly convicted defendant of delivering and selling .5 grams or more of methamphetamine for selling to a confidential informant in a controlled buy conducted by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. The lower court considered defendant’s criminal history, and applied applicable enhancements, as she was classified as a Range III persistent offender. Evidence is sufficient to support her conviction and sentence of 25 years incarcerated. Affirmed.
Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Witt, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: M2023-00225-CCA-R3-CD, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Hoyle finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for possession of codeine. Defendant was arrested after officers saw him "hanging out" by a dumpster in a parking lot. Officers discovered three pills containing codeine after defendant consented to a search, and database documentation regarding codeine levels is sufficient to show the codeine content falls within a particular penalty group. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Hoyle , Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 12-23-00145-CR, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Shepherd finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 92 months in prison following a conviction for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. The defendant argued that he is entitled to suppress evidence located by authorities in a traffic stop. However, the government sufficiently showed in court that a patrol officer discovered meth, cocaine, and drug paraphernalia inside the defendant's vehicle with the help of a drug sniffing canine, and had reasonable suspicion to pull him over for running a stop sign and speeding. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Shepherd, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 23-2121, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Kobes finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 292 months in prison after a jury convicted him for possession with intent to distribute meth. The defendant argued that he was entitled to an acquittal for lack of evidence on two drug convictions. However, the government sufficiently showed in court that he constructively possessed and distributed meth which was located in his apartment, and that he established dominion over the residence by paying utilities and a power bill in his name. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kobes, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 22-3573, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
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J. Kobes finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 180 months in prison for engaging in a conspiracy to traffic thousands of oxycodone and fentanyl pills, travelling from Michigan to North Dakota. The defendant argued that his three level sentence enhancement is unreasonable. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that he acted as a manager in the drug trafficking ring when he directed a new recruit to distribute opioid tablets and other pills. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kobes, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 23-1522, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Wood finds the lower court properly sentenced defendant to 66 years in prison for convictions on charges of meth possession with purpose to deliver, drug paraphernalia possession and possession of marijuana. After drugs were found in defendant's vehicle during a traffic stop, more drugs were found at his home. The evidence was properly admitted and supports the conviction along with testimony given by defendant's accomplice. An investigator's testimony involving community impact was not prejudicial because defendant was not sentenced to the maximum term despite haven been tried as a habitual offender. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wood , Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: CR-23-281, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Colloton finds a lower court properly convicted a defendant for conspiracy to distribute meth. The defendant argued that his 300-month sentence is unreasonable. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that the defendant played a major role in a meth trafficking conspiracy alongside his co-conspirator, who testified in court that he accompanied her on out-of-town drug runs, trafficking at least 120 kilograms. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Colloton, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 23-1542, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Neeley finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for meth possession. Though defendant was found not guilty for intent to deliver, because the possession conviction was enhanced by prior felony convictions designating him as a habitual offender, defendant was sentenced to 99 years. The possession conviction, enhanced to the punishment range for a first-degree felony, is as serious as the offenses committed by a defendant in a cited case who received a life sentence. Defendant's 99-year sentence is not more severe. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Neeley , Filed On: January 24, 2024, Case #: 12-23-00205-CR, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Zmuda finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to limit out-of-court testimony provided by a confidential informant who purchased drugs. Defendant admitted in his own testimony to all of the drug sales mentioned by the informant. Meanwhile, defendant's argument he was a small-time dealer who only sold drugs to feed his own addiction did not require the court to impose concurrent sentences, as the serious nature of his conduct and status as a repeat offender allowed for consecutive sentences, especially considering the court made all required findings. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Zmuda, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-115, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Hoyle finds the trial court properly sentenced defendant following his conviction for possession of a controlled substance. All evidence supports the conviction, all sentencing factors, including the jury's finding of an enhancement as true, were properly considered, and his sentence is within statutory guidelines. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Hoyle , Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 12-23-00220-CR, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Windhorst affirms defendant’s convictions for possession of heroin and cocaine, noting the trial court did not abuse its discretion when allowing the state to submit unredacted scientific analysis showing traces of methadone, methamphetamine and fentanyl in defendant’s drugs. Because of inconsistencies in the sentencing between the transcript and the minute entry, the sentence is vacated and the case is remanded for resentencing. Affirmed in part, vacated in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Windhorst, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: 23-KA-263, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Wright finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for possession of a controlled substance based on sufficient evidence. The arresting officer discovered defendant living in a purportedly stolen RV while investigating a report of a stolen RV, and found baggies of meth, glass pipes with meth residue, digital scales and used syringes during a search. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Wright , Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: 09-21-00266-CR, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Johnson finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance after defendant pleaded guilty to the charge, but "not true" to sentencing enhancements for a prior burglary offense. However, an investigator's testimony comparing fingerprints and other evidence shows defendant was previously convicted of burlgary. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Johnson , Filed On: December 13, 2023, Case #: 09-22-00400-CR, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Moore finds the trial court properly sentenced defendant by plea-based conviction for attempted possession of meth with intent to deliver. During a routine traffic stop, the officer discovered $18,000 and one pound of meth in the vehicle. After receiving a Miranda warning, defendant agreed to speak and admitted to delivering several pounds of meth and marijuana, and that the money was from the sale of the drugs. All evidence supports conviction, and the sentences were within the statutory range. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Moore , Filed On: December 12, 2023, Case #: A-23-277, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Baldwin finds the detective's testimony at trial identifying the voices of he and defendant on an audio recording of the arrest that led to drug charges properly authenticated the recording and allowed the trial court to enter it into evidence. Meanwhile, the trial court properly imposed consecutive sentences because it not only made all required findings, but defendant's lengthy history of criminal conduct, coupled with the variety and amount of drugs found in his possession, supported the sentence. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Baldwin, Filed On: November 27, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4263, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Kelly finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 132 months in prison and five years probation after he conditionally pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to sell fentanyl. The defendant argued that the lower court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized by authorities at a Greyhound Bus station, which resulted in a drug sniffing dog alerting to narcotics in his backpack. However, authorities properly obtained a warrant based on suspicion that the defendant was armed and dangerous, his nervous demeanor, and the probability that he may attempt to flee. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: November 20, 2023, Case #: 22-3006, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Griffis finds the lower court improperly affirmed the trial court judgment in this matter of alleged drug possession. A jury found defendant guilty of possession of a controlled substance after a grand jury indicted him for knowingly, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously possessing 30 grams or more of ethylone, a Schedule I controlled substance, discovered during the course of a traffic stop. Defendant was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment with 10 years suspended and 20 to serve. But the instant court finds that ethylone is not a Schedule I controlled substance, and as such the indictment does not charge a crime, and defendant's motion for post-conviction relief was timely filed. Defendant’s conviction and sentence are reversed, and the judgment dismissed. Reversed.
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court, Judge: Griffis, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: 2021-CT-00306-SCT, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. McCullough finds the lower court improperly determined it was precluded from reconsidering a case after another court granted the defendant's motion to strike. The defendant, accused of drug distribution, argued against a sentence enhancement because he claimed he was not the person with prior convictions in another state that shared his name. The lower court granted his motion to dismiss the evidence regarding the other convictions despite the defendant providing no proof that the other person wasn't him. While Virginia law directs a lower court to enter a judgment of acquittal upon striking the evidence, the initial decision to strike was interlocutory, and the court had the authority to reconsider it. Reversed.
Court: Virginia Supreme Court, Judge: McCullough, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: 220715, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Lawrence finds the lower court properly convicted defendant of possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, but improperly convicted him for conspiracy to sell methamphetamine, as evidence was insufficient to support the conviction. Defendant’s 60-year sentence as a habitual offender for the possession conviction remains intact, but his concurrent 20-year sentence for the conspiracy conviction is reversed. Reversed in part.
Court: Mississippi Court Of Appeals, Judge: Lawrence, Filed On: October 10, 2023, Case #: 2022-KA-00179-COA, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Thompson finds that defendant was properly convicted of distribution of cocaine and marijuana. In this case, there was police officer testimony that defendant sold drugs to a confidential informant. Further, based on surveillance video, the confidential informant was seen getting into defendant's vehicle, and the containers for the cocaine and marijuana can clearly be seen. Also, defendant's sentence as third felony offender of 20 years on each count, to run concurrently, is the minimum sentence on each charge under the statute for a third felony. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Thompson, Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: 53,345-KA, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Joyce finds the post-conviction court properly denied relief to defendant, convicted of drug offenses. “Given that petitioner has admitted that he was guilty of the substantive crime, the validity of his convictions cannot be affected by any antecedent constitutional infirmity of the police’s search because his convictions do not rest in any way on evidence that may have been improperly seized; instead, his convictions rest on his guilty plea.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Joyce, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: A175317, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
[Consolidated]. J. Kelly finds a lower court improperly sentenced three defendants after they pleaded guilty to federally controlled drug crimes. The government argued that the lower court properly convicted all three defendants on five counts of conspiracy to sell meth and imposed sentences of 240, 190, and 300 months in prison respectively. However, the defendants presented sufficient evidence in court that their convictions for "offer-to-sell" may have fallen short based on an incomplete drug transaction. Vacated.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: 21-3524, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Wedemeyer finds the lower court properly convicted defendant of sale and delivery of cocaine for selling crack cocaine to a confidential informant. While defendant argues evidence is not sufficient and substitute evidence for the prerecorded funds used in the transaction should not have been allowed, other evidence presented in the case is sufficient and the court gave the jury instructions requested by defendant regarding the prerecorded funds evidence. Evidence is sufficient to support defendant’s convictions and 28-year sentence. Affirmed.
Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Wedemeyer, Filed On: August 2, 2023, Case #: M2022-00512-CCA-R3-CD, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Shepherd finds a lower court properly imposed concurrent sentences of 240 months and 420 months on a defendant who was indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute heroin and two counts of distribution of fentanyl, which resulted in the death of two civilians. The defendant argued that there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to justify his sentences. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that a forensic specialist located the cell phone of one of the defendant's deceased victims, turned it over to authorities who downloaded and uploaded deleted text messages, which revealed that the defendant sold them both the deadly drugs. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Shepherd, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 22-2733, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
Per curiam, the Fifth Circuit properly sentenced defendant for his conviction for possession with intent to distribute meth. Defendant was pulled over by an officer assigned to tail him on suspicion of meth distribution. Defendant and his passenger ran as the officer began his search and were subdued, found with 116 grams between them. The court correctly observed that defendant agreed that drugs found at his residence would be included at sentencing. By objecting to that found on him, he frivolously and falsely contested conduct clearly attributable to him, justifying the court’s removal of a reduction. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 22-30258, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
J. Fisher finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of drug possession, using drug paraphernalia, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. Defendant contends his prior convictions should not have been raised at trial, but such was permissible when counsel tried to shift blame for drugs found during a search of defendant's home to his wife, who died soon after defendant's indictment. However, sentencing on two counts should not have been imposed consecutively, as all counts should run concurrently. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Fisher, Filed On: June 15, 2023, Case #: 112308, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing
[Consolidated]. J. Benton finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 262 months in prison after he was convicted as a career criminal in possession of a firearm. The defendant argued that the government failed to present sufficient evidence in court. However, police officers obtained a valid warrant to search his home, where they found baggies containing meth and heroin, cutting tools, and a digital scale. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Benton, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 22-2385, Categories: drug Offender, evidence, sentencing