18 results for 'cat:"Murder" AND cat:"Conspiracy"'.
[Consolidated.] Per curiam, the court of appeals reverses, in part, certain convictions in a case against four defendants on charges arising from a gang-related shooting that led to two deaths and injuries to two additional victims. Certain convictions predicated on underlying conspiracy convictions must be vacated, as they underlying convictions are misdemeanors. Furthermore, one defendant's second-degree murder conviction must be vacated due to insufficient evidence. Reversed in part.
Court: DC Court of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 14-CF-0667, Categories: murder, conspiracy, Gangs
J. McConnell finds the trial court improperly convicted a man for premeditated attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle stemming from a gang-related drive-by shooting. The man argues the court erred by allowing the lead investigator to give an improper opinion testimony, because he was not qualified to testify that the man fired a ghost gun, striking the decedent. The jury likely relied on this prejudicial evidentiary error. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: McConnell, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: D080114, Categories: murder, Sentencing, conspiracy
J. Stargel finds the trial court erred in granting a minor child’s motion to suppress and motion to limine to exclude co-conspirator statements regarding threats the child made on school property. The child was later charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The state argues they were deprived a chance to present statements before the case was suppressed. Therefore, this case is remanded for the state to a new hearing to present the statement on the motion in limine. Reversed.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Stargel, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 6D23-520, Categories: murder, conspiracy
J. Rosen finds a lower court properly dismissed a defendant's motion for recusal to change judges. The defendant, who was charged with two counts of attempted first- degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, argued that he was entitled to an order of recusal against a judge who he believed was biased against him. However, the State presented sufficient evidence in court that a judge is not obligated to recuse himself when a defendant alleges bias for feeling "belittled or threatened" during proceedings. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge: Rosen, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 123097, Categories: murder, conspiracy
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Sanchez finds that the district court properly entered a conviction against an individual on one count of conspiracy to aid and abet his brother to Mexico to avoid prosecution for the murder of a police officer. The evidence was sufficient to show that the individual knew about and specifically intended to help his brother cross the border to Mexico to avoid prosecution. Affirmed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Sanchez, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 21-10109, Categories: Evidence, murder, conspiracy
[Consolidated.] J. Mackey finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder, conspiracy and weapon possession in a murder-for-hire scheme to collect on a life insurance policy because circumstantial evidence established defendant agreed to drive codefendant from Delaware to New York, met with the insurance beneficiary before the murder, accompanied defendant to the victim's apartment, and drove him back to Delaware. However, his sentence should be modified by setting weapon counts to run concurrently to murder and conspiracy counts to result in an aggregate term of 25 years to life. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Mackey, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 110698, Categories: murder, Sentencing, conspiracy
J. Reynolds Fitzgerald finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder, conspiracy, weapon possession, and life settlement fraud in a murder-for-hire scheme to collect on an insurance policy taken out on an employee. Evidence supported the verdict, including cell phone records, surveillance footage, and license plate readers that mapped codefendants' trip from defendant's house in Delaware to the victim's neighborhood in New York and then back to Delaware. Meanwhile, testimony supported the fraud count since defendant initially alleged he and the victim were domestic partners before admitting to an insurance agent that they were not. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Reynolds Fitzgerald, Filed On: January 25, 2024, Case #: 112096, Categories: Fraud, murder, conspiracy
[Consolidated.] J. Pinson finds that the trial court properly convicted defendants of murder, armed robbery and other offenses. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendants' convictions, including evidence that a witness identified one defendant as the shooter. The trial court did not commit any error in instructing the jury on conspiracy over the objection of one defendant because there was ample evidence supporting the jury charge. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Pinson, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: S23A0881, Categories: murder, Robbery, conspiracy
J. Menashi finds that the district court properly declined to vacate defendant's conviction and sentence on firearm charges. Defendant contends such had been based on a now-invalid conspiracy predicate, but the conviction rested on a valid predicate crime of violence since the jury found that defendant committed both substantive murder and murder conspiracy in a retaliatory killing he organized. Affirmed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Menashi, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 21-2632, Categories: Firearms, murder, conspiracy
J. Yegan finds the county court properly denied defendant’s second petition for resentencing. Defendant was convicted for murder and conspiracy to commit murder, with both convictions involving the same victim. The conspiracy conviction shows that, as a matter of law, the target offense is murder. This holding is the law of the case, conclusively establishing that defendant is not entitled to resentencing. Affirmed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Yegan, Filed On: October 30, 2023, Case #: B324567, Categories: murder, Sentencing, conspiracy
J. Hess finds the state followed the proper chain of custody for DNA evidence found on a cloth Crown Royal bag, including checking the item in and out of the police evidence room, and that the bag was properly admitted into evidence. The prosecution was not required to prove how the bag arrived at the crime scene but was only required to track it once it came into its possession. Meanwhile, although defendant was properly convicted of murder and attempted murder, those charges and convictions could not be used by the state to support the conspiracy to commit murder charge, which must be vacated in light of the state's failure to include in the indictment an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Affirmed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3566, Categories: Dna, murder, conspiracy
Per curiam, the Nebraska Supreme Court finds the trial court properly overruled defendant’s motion for postconviction relief without an evidentiary hearing after his conviction for bank robbery, conspiracy and murder. During the robbery, four bank employees and one customer were shot and killed, with defendant firing shots that killed at least one of the people. Defendant alleges that the prosecution used false testimony in obtaining the conviction, but even if this is proved true there is no reasonable likelihood that such false testimony could have affected defendant’s death sentences. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: S-21-419, Categories: murder, Robbery, conspiracy
J. Rogers finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for a three-level sentencing guideline reduction because the reduction - granted in cases where members of the conspiracy do not complete all the acts necessary to achieve their goal - is applicable only when a criminal offense is not covered by a specific guideline. Therefore, because defendant's convictions were expressly covered by the conspiracy to commit murder sentencing guidelines, he was properly denied the reduction. Affirmed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Rogers, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: 21-4106, Categories: murder, Sentencing, conspiracy
J. Gregory finds the lower court properly denied the defendant's motion to dismiss his life sentence for hiring a friend to kill his mistress's husband. The defendant argues that recent Supreme Court decisions mean his predicate offenses, aiding and abetting carjacking resulting in death and murder with a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, no longer qualify as crimes of violence. Aiding and abetting a carjacking resulting in death remains a crime of violence under either the law's force or elements clause. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 21-7171, Categories: murder, Sentencing, conspiracy
Per curiam, the Fifth Circuit finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for a murder-for-hire plot that was executed by mail while he was incarcerated and awaiting trial for alleged sexual abuse of his stepdaughters. A former inmate at the correctional facility received a letter from defendant describing his ex-wife, instructing him to make it “look like a robbery,” with “2 in the chest, 2 in the head.” Defendant claimed that another inmate forced him to write the letter, though this testimony was objected to as hearsay. Defendant consistently failed to show why the evidence was admissible. The probative value of evidence from defendant’s sex crime trial is also found to be low and potentially confusing to the jury. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 19, 2023, Case #: 22-30089, Categories: murder, Sex Offender, conspiracy