45 results for 'cat:"Obstruction"'.
J. Land finds that the trial court properly granted defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained when police approached him in a public area after receiving an anonymous phone tip. Defendant was charged with obstruction of an officer, terroristic threats, interference with government property and possession of a drug-related object. The trial court correctly found that defendant's detention by two police officers was illegal. The officers had no basis for suspecting defendant of being engaged in criminal activity at the time of his initial detention. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Land, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: A24A0331, Categories: Search, obstruction
J. Millett vacates defendant's sentence following his conviction for his part in the January 6 riot of the Capitol Building. The administration of justice enhancement does not apply to the interference with the legislative process of certifying electoral votes. Vacated.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Millett, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 23-3045 , Categories: Sentencing, obstruction
J. Clement finds the district court improperly applied a sentencing enhancement for obstruction of justice after defendant pleaded guilty to child pornography possession when his wife discovered images on his phone and reported him. Defendant's wife later decided to defend him, and the enhancement was applied based on a conversation they had about a letter of support she was writing for his sentencing proceeding. A case cited by the government is distinguishable in that defendant coordinated with his wife, not a criminal counterpart, telling her to use her own words. No obstruction exists in defendant's answering his wife's questions about what he thought she should say. Vacated.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Clement , Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 23-50100, Categories: Sentencing, obstruction, Child Pornography
Per curiam, the appeals court grants the petition for a writ of certiorari in which defendant challenges the court's denial of her appeal from a conviction for obstruction. Defendant yelled something unclear, but to the effect of "being a witness," at officers involved in a potentially life-threatening matter with a juvenile. Though the relevant statute applies to physical conduct and threatening words specifically meant to hinder an officer, and is not unconstitutionally vague, the district court did not consider whether there was sufficient evidence.
Court: Nevada Court of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 84353-COA, Categories: Constitution, Evidence, obstruction
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Per curiam, the circuit upholds the district court's denial of former President Trump’s motion to dismiss the government’s criminal indictment against him related to the January 6th breach of the Capitol Building. “For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.” Affirmed.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 23-3228, Categories: obstruction, Conspiracy
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of obstruction of governmental administration and driving while impaired because defense counsel secured acquittal of one count of the indictment, which suggests defendant received meaningful representation. Meanwhile, evidence indicates defendant had refused to exit his vehicle during a traffic stop and that he had seemed confused and glassy-eyed, with slurred speech, when asked about his registration, and that he even dropped his card. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: KA 22-01849, Categories: Evidence, obstruction, Dui
J. Durrant the trial court properly refused to dismiss defendant's obstruction charge. A jury found his shooting death of his friend was self-defense. But an acquittal on underlying murder and other charges did not insulate him from an obstruction of justice charge. In hiding the shotgun he used to shoot the friend, he had the specific intent to hinder an investigation into an act he believed would be seen as a separate crime, even if he lacked the intent to commit the separate crime. The appeals court should have considered the jury instructions on obstruction but the error was harmless, and it correctly concluded that the verdicts were not legally impossible. Trial counsel was not ineffective for deciding not to pursue further relief at trial. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Supreme Court, Judge: Durrant, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 20220039, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Murder, obstruction
J. Waldick finds defendant's statement to police he would not be handcuffed and his decision to kick one of the police officers in the head even though he told them he would no longer kick after the three fell to the ground was sufficient to prove he acted knowingly and to convict him of the assault and obstruction charges. However, because the verdict form did not mention the aggravating element of the assault offenses - that the victims were peace officers - or cite the degree of the felonies at issue, it did not comply with statutory requirements and defendant's convictions must be vacated and reduced to the lowest form of the offenses. Reversed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Waldick, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-296, Categories: Evidence, Assault, obstruction
[Consolidated.] J. Watkins finds that the trial court properly denied defendants' motions for new trials following defendant's obstruction and firearm conviction and the co-defendant's firearm conviction. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions, including evidence that she was close enough to the firearm in the truck to access it and that she resisted the officer's instructions to exit the vehicle. Defendant failed to show that her trial counsel's performance was deficient. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Watkins, Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: A23A1239, Categories: Firearms, Ineffective Assistance, obstruction
J. Brasher finds that the district court properly convicted defendant of impeding law enforcement during a civil disorder. Defendant's charge arose after she smashed the window of a police car that was blocking protesters from walking onto the interstate during a 2020 Alabama protest against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death. The district court correctly denied defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment on the basis that the statute underlying her offense is unconstitutional. The jurisdictional element of the statute requiring that the civil disorder obstruct commerce is enough to limit the law's scope to constitutional applications. The criminalized act in the statute is sufficiently connected to interstate commerce. Defendant's actions required commercial vehicles to be rerouted as they transported hazardous materials. The statute does not violate the First Amendment. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Brasher, Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: 21-13136, Categories: obstruction, Civil Rights
J. Wood finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for rape, introduction of a controlled substance into the body of another and tampering based on sufficient evidence. Though the victim and defendant had previously been in a consensual relationship, this evidence was properly denied as irrelevant. All evidence presented shows that defendant injected the victim with ketamine and had sex with her while she was physically helpless. He then encouraged her to recant statements made to the police. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge: Wood , Filed On: January 18, 2024, Case #: CR-22-418, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender, obstruction
J. Heytens finds the lower court improperly did not provide a sufficient explanation of its rationale for applying an obstruction of justice enhancement. The defendant is accused of trading gunshots with another man late at night. When police arrived on the scene, they found the defendant, who claimed not to be a victim, rather than one of the two men firing shots. The defendant not sharing that he had also fired shots does not count as concealment to obstruct justice. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Heytens, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 21-4281, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing, obstruction
J. Wicker finds the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion to withdraw guilty please in connection with convictions for manslaughter, obstruction of justice and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, but did find his 20-year sentence for manslaughter was illegally harsh, as it restricted the defendant’s benefits. Affirmed as amended.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Wicker, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: 23-KA-233, Categories: Firearms, obstruction, Manslaughter
J. Waldick finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress in his robbery and obstruction trial. Police had reasonable suspicion to detain him when they arrived at his apartment following a 911 call and, therefore, the subsequent arrest after defendant resisted was supported by probable cause. Defendant became combative when police asked him to step outside and confirm he did not have a knife, and the officers were entitled to attempt to handcuff him temporarily even though they had witnessed no criminal activity, which rendered the eventual arrest lawful. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Waldick, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4609, Categories: Evidence, Robbery, obstruction
J. Patton finds defendant's obstruction conviction was supported by sufficient evidence, including testimony from the arresting officer that he turned around when he saw the officer approach his hotel, deadbolted the door behind him and jumped out the window into bushes following his refusal to appear at a halfway house to receive a GPS ankle monitor. Meanwhile, the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress firearms discovered in his hiding space under a furnace because the weapons were immediately visible when officers shone flashlights in the space and, therefore, were subject to the plain view doctrine. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Patton, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4484, Categories: Evidence, Search, obstruction
J. Higginson finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for being a felon in possession of a firearm and attempted obstruction of a federal proceeding. The government presented sufficient evidence to support the convictions. However, the judge did not have the authority to order that the sentence run concurrently with a previous revocation sentence, as a retraction of the order resulted in 27 months greater time. Affirmed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginson , Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 22-30442, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing, obstruction
J. Walker reverses the lower court's order dismissing defendant's appeal of his 2019 no-contest plea to obstructing an officer from Monongalia Magistrate Court stemming from his arrest on July 31, 2019, for disrupting a West Virginia University Board of Governor's meeting. Absent certain exceptions as specified in state code, appeals from magistrate court are de novo, so the judge erred by failing to entertain the appeal and rule on the merits of the case. Reversed.
Court: West Virginia Supreme Court Of Appeals, Judge: Walker , Filed On: November 7, 2023, Case #: 21-972, Categories: Criminal Procedure, obstruction, Trespass
J. Heavican dismisses this appeal from the juvenile court’s order for electronic monitoring of defendant after an altercation with a police officer, as well as her staff secure detention order for noncompliance with electronic monitoring. Originally charged as a minor in possession of alcohol, obstructing an officer and attempted assault on an officer, the court ordered that defendant wear a monitoring device which she eventually cut off, leaving her residence without permission. As the juvenile was not detained, but subject to alternative detention by electronic monitoring, and the eventual detention was meant to be temporary, the appeal is dismissed for lack of a final, appealable order.
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court, Judge: Heavican, Filed On: November 3, 2023, Case #: S-23-071, Categories: Juvenile Law, Assault, obstruction
J. Riedmann finds the trial court properly convicted defendant by no-contest plea for burglary and obstruction. Defendant was caught in the act of stealing an Xbox from an apartment when police responded to the apartment manager’s call. The minimum limit of defendant’s combined concurrent sentences is 16 months and the court’s statement of parole eligibility was nine months. Pronounced terms prevail over any conflict with truth-in-sentencing advisements. Without loss in good time, defendant is parole eligible after eight months. Because the truth-in-sentencing statements are not part of the sentence, no modification is required. The record does not disclose conversations between counsel and defendant and the court of appeals is unable to review claims of ineffective assistance. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Riedmann, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: A-23-170, Categories: Burglary, Sentencing, obstruction
[Consolidated.] J. Arterburn finds the trial court properly convicted defendant by no contest plea for flight to avoid arrest, obstructing a peace officer, failure to appear on bond in another case, and to criminal mischief and domestic assault. Even if defendant’s claims of ineffective assistance were true, he was still not prejudiced by counsel’s performance. New charges which defendant says counsel failed to investigate were not considered by the court. The court considered defendant’s age, mentality, past criminal record and other relevant factors fully, noting that he had a lengthy criminal history and a history of failing to appear in court. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Arterburn, Filed On: October 3, 2023, Case #: A-22-910, Categories: Assault, obstruction, Escape
J. Stephens finds that defendant was properly sentenced to 60 years on his guilty plea to manslaughter and obstruction of justice. The trial court took defendant's lengthy criminal history into consideration as well as the deliberate cruelty of stabbing the victim, whom he had been raised with, in the chest with a knife. Further, the PSI showed that defendant would have been considered a fourth felony offender and would have been exposed to the possibility of a life sentence if sentenced as a habitual offender. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Stephens, Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: 55,265-KA, Categories: obstruction, Manslaughter
J. Gruber finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant for manslaughter and tampering with evidence. Defendant was arrested pursuant to an investigation involving phone records after the victim was found in his residence with nine stab wounds, his corpse and the room covered in blood spatter. Defendant admitted to officers that he accidentally stabbed the victim twice after being sexually propositioned. There is nothing to connect the presence of drugs found in the victim's system to the murder, and a toxicology report was properly excluded. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Gruber , Filed On: September 27, 2023, Case #: CR-22-749, Categories: Evidence, obstruction, Manslaughter
[Consolidated] J. Gill finds the circuit court improperly denied defendant's motions to dismiss 17 felony bail jumping charges he faced in his consolidated cases across at least three counties. In part because defendant's alleged bail jumping offenses were committed after he had been released from jail and re-arrested on a bench warrant but before he had returned to court, he no longer technically qualified as "having been released from custody" under Wisconsin's bail statutes, as a bench warrant being issued is among the types of court actions establishing that a defendant is no longer "released from custody." The circuit court's non-final orders are overturned and the case is remanded to dismiss the 17 bail jumping counts. Reversed.
Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Judge: Gill, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: 2022AP000658-CR, Categories: Criminal Procedure, Bail, obstruction
J. Celebrezze finds defendant's struggle with the police officer and his decision to run constituted affirmative acts sufficient to support the guilty verdict on his obstruction charge, while the officer's use of force in the situation was reasonable, given defendant was in a public area wearing a mask and handling a firearm. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Celebrezze, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3244, Categories: Evidence, obstruction
J. Lee finds that the lower court properly sentenced defendant to 300 months in prison for distributing meth, including an obstruction of justice enhancement. The evidence clearly shows that defendant made a phone call instructing an associate to "get the stash out of the house" and hide evidence of drug trafficking after he found out the house was going to be searched. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Lee, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 22-2131, Categories: Drug Offender, Sentencing, obstruction
[Consolidated.] J. Livingston finds that the district court properly convicted two Long Island county prosecutors for their roles in covering up an ex-police chief's assault of a man who had been placed in custody for burglarizing cars, including the ex-chief's vehicle, because subordinate police officers were properly allowed to testify that they feared retaliation if they failed to keep to the cover story. Affirmed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Livingston, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 21-1999-cr (L), Categories: obstruction, Conspiracy
J. Pyle finds that defendant was properly convicted of leaving the scene of an accident and obstruction of justice because evidence indicates defendant left the scene of an accident with the injured party's limb attached to his truck and attempted to conceal the evidence by placing the limb in a trash can. Given defendant's 40-year criminal history, he was properly given a total sentence of four years. Affirmed.
Court: Indiana Court Of Appeals, Judge: Pyle, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 22A-CR-2813, Categories: Evidence, obstruction, Vehicle