14 results for 'cat:"Evidence" AND cat:"Firearms" AND cat:"Sentencing"'.
J. Gruender finds a lower court improperly allowed a defendant's motion to suppress evidence after he was charged with knowingly possessing a firearm, following a prior conviction of an offense punishable by imprisonment for more than a year. The defendant argued that the lower court properly allowed his motion to suppress evidence of a firearm located in a white vehicle in a tenant parking lot, which he was a passenger, and that police officers did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the parked vehicle. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that authorities were entitled to search the vehicle based on reasonable suspicion that defendant may have been engaging in criminal activity in a well known high crime area in the middle of the night. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Gruender, Filed On: May 13, 2024, Case #: 23-2720, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Gruender finds a lower court improperly allowed a defendant's motion to suppress evidence after he was charged with knowingly possessing a firearm, following a prior conviction of an offense punishable by imprisonment for more than a year. The defendant argued that the lower court properly allowed his motion to suppress evidence of a firearm located in a white vehicle in a tenant parking lot, which he was a passenger, and that police officers did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the parked vehicle. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that authorities were entitled to search the vehicle based on reasonable suspicion that defendant may have been engaging in criminal activity in a well known high crime area in the middle of the night. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Gruender, Filed On: May 13, 2024, Case #: 23-2720, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Gruender finds a lower court improperly allowed a defendant's motion to suppress evidence after he was charged with knowingly possessing a firearm, following a prior conviction of an offense punishable by imprisonment for more than a year. The defendant argued that the lower court properly allowed his motion to suppress evidence of a firearm located in a white vehicle in a tenant parking lot, which he was a passenger, and that police officers did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the parked vehicle. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that authorities were entitled to search the vehicle based on reasonable suspicion that defendant may have been engaging in criminal activity in a well known high crime area in the middle of the night. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Gruender, Filed On: May 13, 2024, Case #: 23-2720, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Welch finds the trial court properly convicted defendant, by no-contest plea, for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, sentencing him to 6 to 8 years in prison. After responding to an early morning report of gunshots, officers found a bullet in the flat tire of a vehicle involved in the altercation. The gun connected to the bullet was later found in defendant's girlfriend's vehicle during a traffic stop. All sentencing factors were properly considered, including defendant's criminal record and claims of posttraumatic stress disorder. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Welch , Filed On: April 23, 2024, Case #: A-23-817, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
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J. McCullough finds the lower court improperly reversed a defendant’s conviction for use of a firearm in the commission of a felon. The defendant fired a shotgun at an open window, badly wounding his girlfriend. He was indicted for several felonies; the most serious of those was aggravated malicious wounding, carrying the possibility of a life sentence. The defense strategy at trial was to contest only one issue: whether the defendant fired the gun with malice instead of accidentally or recklessly. The defendant pleaded not guilty to the other crimes but didn’t contest them when the evidence came in. The “approbate and reprobate” doctrine bars the defendant’s attempt to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on the charge of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Ends of justice may help a convicted defendant to overcome a conviction where his lawyer failed to object or raised an issue too late, but it doesn’t cover intentional, strategic choices like this one. Reversed.
Court: Virginia Supreme Court, Judge: McCullough , Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 230343 , Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Duncan finds the district court properly imposed an above-guidelines sentence for defendant's conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Defendant's story about how he came to have the gun changed multiple times, culminating in his unsuccessful attempt to persuade an acquaintance to sign an affidavit saying it is hers. With 14 adult convictions at the age of 33, all but three of the convictions had no recorded disposition or had been dismissed. All testimony was properly admitted, and all sentencing enhancements were properly applied. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: 23-30053, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
Per curiam, the Fifth Circuit finds the trial court properly convicted defendant by guilty plea for possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. Defendant was detained through a traffic stop a few days after his attempted lane change nearly resulted in a collision which moved him to shoot at the other vehicle 13 times, once grazing the other driver’s head. Defendant consented to a search and officers recovered a 9mm pistol loaded with a 50-round drum magazine. Defendant confirmed that it belonged to him, and shell casings recovered from the shot-at vehicle matched. All evidence supports the conviction and the court properly calculated the base offense level using a prior robbery conviction classified as a violent crime. Defendant’s repeated violation of his pretrial release terms supports the denial of an acceptance of responsibility reduction. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: November 7, 2023, Case #: 22-10892, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Colloton finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 180 months in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm. The defendant argued that the lower court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence based on mistaken identity at the hands of police officers who stopped him in traffic. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that police officers were entitled to pull him over based on a description of his identity, which linked him as a participant in a shooting. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Colloton, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 22-1912, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Colloton finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 60 months in prison after a jury convicted him for possessing a firearm as a felon. The defendant argued that his sentence is unreasonable and that he is entitled to exclude evidence concerning 911 phone calls placed by his girlfriend. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that his girlfriend was forced to place the call after the defendant threatened her with a gun in order to obtain a password to unlock a cell phone. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Colloton, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 22-2604, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Wilson finds the trial court properly imposed a four-level sentencing enhancement to defendant’s conviction by guilty plea for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The enhancements were applied for use or possession of a firearm in connection with another felony offense. The trial court thoroughly analyzed the factors for relevant conduct as to defendant’s repeated instances of firearm possession; that is: similarity, regularity and temporal proximity, finding the evidence weighs in favor of the enhancements. No abuse of discretion is found. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 22-40121, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Bush finds the trial court properly admitted evidence of defendant's 11 previous felony convictions at his trial on illegal possession of a firearm. The probative value of the evidence, which was used to prove defendant knew he was a felon precluded from possessing a gun, outweighed any chance of prejudice. Meanwhile, the trial court properly sentenced defendant as an armed career criminal because his North Carolina conviction for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill requires purposeful or knowing conduct and, therefore, qualifies as a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Bush, Filed On: June 9, 2023, Case #: 21-5811, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing
J. Stras finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 108 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a felon. The defendant argued that the lower court erred in applying a four-level enhancement to his sentence. However, police officers dragged the defendant out of a car he was hiding in, and then discovered a Taurus 9- millimeter pistol underneath the passenger seat, which he previously brandished in a Snapchat video. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Stras, Filed On: June 8, 2023, Case #: 22-1350, Categories: evidence, firearms, sentencing