Justia U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

On March 2, 2022, Rondell Yokenya Baker was stopped twice by Deputy Lloyd while driving through Wyoming. The first stop was for speeding, during which Baker failed to produce a rental agreement for the car. After issuing a warning, the officer let Baker go but suspected drug trafficking. About 50 miles later, Baker was stopped again for speeding. This time, a K-9 unit was present, and the dog alerted to drugs in the car, leading to the discovery of methamphetamine, fentanyl pills, and cocaine.Baker moved to suppress the evidence, arguing that the second stop was unreasonably prolonged to conduct the dog sniff, violating the Fourth Amendment as per Rodriguez v. United States. The District Court for the District of Wyoming initially granted the motion, finding no reasonable suspicion for the second stop. However, upon the government's motion to reconsider, the court reversed its decision, ruling the stop was a valid pretextual stop under Whren v. United States and that the dog sniff did not unreasonably prolong the stop.The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reviewed the case. The court held that the actions taken by Deputy Lloyd, including asking Baker to exit the vehicle and rolling up the windows, were reasonable safety measures related to the traffic stop. The court found that these actions did not divert from the traffic mission and that the dog sniff occurred contemporaneously with the traffic stop, thus not prolonging it. The court affirmed the district court's denial of Baker's motion to suppress the evidence. View "United States v. Baker" on Justia Law

Eligius Montano pleaded guilty to robbing a Metro PCS store in Belen, New Mexico, in 2022. During the robbery, Montano and his father created the impression they were armed by positioning their hands inside their sweatshirts. They stole approximately $8000 in merchandise and fled in a getaway car driven by Daniel Montano’s girlfriend, Jennah Payne. During the police pursuit, Payne drove recklessly, allegedly at Montano’s urging, before the vehicle was stopped by spike strips. Montano and his father were apprehended after attempting to carjack other vehicles.The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico sentenced Montano, applying two sentencing enhancements: one for creating the impression of possessing a firearm and another for reckless endangerment during the getaway. The court also assigned three criminal history points to each of five consolidated state cases from a prior judgment, resulting in a criminal history category of VI. Montano appealed, challenging the application of the sentencing enhancements and the calculation of his criminal history points.The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reviewed the case. The court upheld the district court’s application of the sentencing enhancements, finding sufficient evidence that Montano created the impression of a firearm and induced reckless driving during the getaway. However, the appellate court found that the district court erred in assigning three criminal history points to each of the five consolidated state cases without sufficient evidence to support this allocation. The Tenth Circuit concluded that Montano’s appropriate criminal history category should be V, not VI.The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s application of the sentencing enhancements but reversed the criminal history calculation. The case was remanded to the district court with instructions to vacate the judgment and resentence Montano based on a criminal history category of V. View "United States v. Montano" on Justia Law

David Lesh, a social media content creator and owner of an outdoor apparel brand, posted photos on Instagram of himself snowmobiling at Keystone Resort, Colorado, during its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States charged him with using an over-snow vehicle on National Forest Service (NFS) land off a designated route and conducting unauthorized work activity on NFS land. A magistrate judge convicted him of both counts after a bench trial.The magistrate judge found Lesh guilty of using an over-snow vehicle on NFS land off a designated route, taking judicial notice of a publicly available map indicating that Keystone Resort was not designated for snowmobile use. Lesh's argument that the map's undated nature failed to provide sufficient notice was not preserved for appeal. The district court affirmed the magistrate judge's decision.The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reviewed the case. The court affirmed Lesh's conviction for using an over-snow vehicle on NFS land off a designated route, finding that Lesh had waived his challenge to the judicial notice of the map. However, the court reversed his conviction for unauthorized work activity under 36 C.F.R. § 261.10(c). The court held that the regulation was impermissibly vague as applied to Lesh's conduct, as it did not provide fair warning that posting images on social media could constitute a federal crime. The court also found insufficient evidence to prove that Lesh's primary purpose in posting the photos was to sell goods or services, as required by the regulation. The court concluded that Lesh was not deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial, as the maximum penalty he faced did not exceed six months of imprisonment. View "United States v. Lesh" on Justia Law

Feng Tao, a tenured professor at the University of Kansas (KU), was involved in federally funded research while secretly developing a relationship with Fuzhou University in China. Tao was charged with ten federal crimes, including making false statements and wire fraud. A jury convicted him of making a materially false statement to his employer, KU, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2), by failing to disclose his relationship with Fuzhou University on an institutional-responsibilities form.The United States District Court for the District of Kansas initially denied Tao's motions to dismiss the indictment. At trial, the jury found Tao guilty on three wire-fraud counts and one false-statement count but acquitted him on the other four counts. Post-trial, the district court acquitted Tao on the wire-fraud counts, leaving only the false-statement conviction. Tao was sentenced to time served and two years of supervised release.The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reviewed the case and found that the government provided insufficient evidence to prove that Tao's false statement was material to any decision by the Department of Energy (DOE) or the National Science Foundation (NSF). The court noted that the funding decisions by these agencies were made before Tao submitted the false form, and no proposals were pending at the time. Additionally, the court found no evidence that Tao's relationship with Fuzhou University created a disclosable financial interest under the NSF's conflict policy. Consequently, the Tenth Circuit reversed Tao's conviction and remanded the case for the district court to enter a judgment of acquittal. View "United States v. Tao" on Justia Law

The case involves Alexander Sweet, who initiated online communications with a 15-year-old girl, M.L.C., when he was 26. Over time, their relationship escalated to include the exchange of sexually explicit photos, sexual activities over video chat, and eventually, an in-person intimate relationship. Sweet was arrested by the FBI while on the run with M.L.C., with whom he had attempted to get married. He was charged, tried, and convicted on seven counts, including coercion and enticement of a minor, production of child pornography, receipt and distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography. The district court sentenced him to life imprisonment for coercion and enticement of a minor, 30 years each for four counts of production of child pornography, 20 years for receipt and distribution of child pornography, and 10 years for possession of child pornography.Sweet appealed his conviction, arguing that the enticement charge in the indictment was insufficient because it did not provide adequate notice of the facts underlying the charged crime. He also claimed that the prosecution committed misconduct by making improper comments during closing arguments that prejudiced him. Lastly, Sweet argued that the cumulative error doctrine should be applied to grant him a new trial.The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision. The court found that the indictment was not insufficient and that the prosecution's comments during closing arguments did not constitute misconduct. The court also rejected Sweet's argument for a new trial based on the cumulative error doctrine, as Sweet failed to establish any error. View "United States v. Sweet" on Justia Law

In February 2021, Salvador Salas, Jr. was accused of giving methamphetamine to a 13-year-old girl, sexually abusing her, and photographing the incident. The police obtained a warrant to search Salas's home and vehicle for drugs and related evidence. During the search, they seized Salas's iPhone and a hard drive. Suspecting Salas of producing or possessing child pornography, the officers obtained a second warrant to search for such evidence. They seized a laptop and another hard drive from Salas's residence. A digital forensic analyst found child pornography on Salas's iPhone and on the laptop and hard drive. Salas was charged with six federal counts of possessing and producing child pornography.Salas argued that the second warrant lacked probable cause and violated his Fourth Amendment rights. He also argued that the child pornography on his iPhone, seized under the first warrant, would not have been inevitably discovered because the first warrant only authorized the seizure, not the search, of his iPhone. The district court agreed that the second warrant lacked probable cause but declined to suppress the child pornography evidence. It found that the first warrant allowed for both the seizure and search of Salas's iPhone and therefore child pornography would have been inevitably discovered by the officers as part of their investigation into Salas's drug activities. Salas was convicted on all counts and appealed.The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision. The court held that the first warrant was sufficiently particular to justify a search of Salas's iPhone and the search would have been conducted reasonably. The court also held that the child pornography on Salas's iPhone would have been inevitably discovered because the first warrant allowed for both the seizure and search of Salas's iPhone. The court concluded that Salas's child pornography would not have indefinitely stayed hidden behind his iPhone's locked passcode. It would have inevitably been discovered. View "U.S. v. Salas" on Justia Law

The case revolves around the defendant, Maurice Williams, whose supervised release was revoked after evidence was presented that he sold fentanyl to a confidential informant (CI) during a controlled buy. Williams had previously pleaded guilty to charges of distributing crack cocaine and unlawful possession of a firearm. His supervised release was revoked in 2020 due to violation of his release conditions, and he was sentenced to an additional 18 months’ imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release. In 2023, his supervised release was recommended for revocation again due to alleged violations including unlawful possession of a controlled substance and committing another crime.The United States District Court for the District of Kansas held a revocation hearing where the government introduced evidence of the controlled buy, including testimony from Kansas City Police Officers and a video of the controlled buy. The court found that Williams sold fentanyl and therefore committed a Grade A violation, but did not find a violation related to the firearm. The court revoked his term of supervised release and sentenced him to 24 months’ imprisonment.On appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Williams argued that the district court erred by admitting evidence of the controlled buy without conducting an interest-of-justice balancing test under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.1(b)(2)(C) to determine whether the CI should have been required to be available for cross-examination at the hearing, and that the evidence was insufficient to show that he sold fentanyl. The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's decision, stating that no balancing test was required because the court did not rely on any hearsay statements by the CI, and the evidence was sufficient to establish guilt by a preponderance of the evidence. View "United States v. Williams" on Justia Law

The case involves Megan Hess and Shirley Koch, who were convicted of mail fraud for fraudulently obtaining, selling, and shipping dead bodies and body parts to medical research and body-broker companies. The United States District Court for the District of Colorado sentenced Hess to the statutory maximum of 20 years and Koch to 180 months. Both defendants appealed their sentences, arguing that the district court erred in its loss calculations and in applying sentencing enhancements.The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit agreed with some of their arguments. The court found that the district court erred in calculating the loss suffered by the body-parts purchasers and in refusing to offset the actual loss suffered by the next-of-kin victims with the value of legitimate goods and services provided to them. The court also found that the district court erred in applying the large-number-of-vulnerable-victims enhancement and the sophisticated-means enhancement to Koch's sentence.The court vacated the sentences of both defendants and remanded the case for further proceedings. The court declined to reassign the case to a different judge on remand. View "United States v. Hess" on Justia Law

The case involves Angel Landa-Arevalo, who was indicted for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fifty grams or more of methamphetamine. He was tried alongside nine co-defendants. Landa-Arevalo was in pretrial confinement for 1,196 days, during which he objected to the protracted timeline and moved to sever his trial from his co-defendants to protect his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. He also requested a mental competency hearing, arguing that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated by not providing him with a second, more extensive evaluation.The district court denied his motions and proceeded with the trial. A forensic psychologist was appointed to examine Landa-Arevalo and concluded that he was competent to stand trial. The court found him competent and proceeded with sentencing.On appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Landa-Arevalo argued that the district court violated his Fifth Amendment rights by not ordering a second competency evaluation and his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. The appellate court affirmed the district court's decision. It held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining Landa-Arevalo's competency and denying another evaluation. The court also found that Landa-Arevalo's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial was not violated, as the delays were caused by co-defendants and not the government. View "United States v. Landa-Arevalo" on Justia Law

The defendant, Darnell Tyree-Peppers, was on supervised release after pleading guilty to stealing a firearm from a federally licensed dealer. During his supervised release, his probation officer filed a petition to modify the conditions of his supervision due to alleged violations. Later, the probation officer filed a petition for his arrest and revocation of supervision based on three alleged violations of his supervision conditions. The district court issued the requested warrant. The probation officer later submitted an amended petition alleging that Tyree-Peppers had been arrested by state police officers on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, and aggravated robbery, potentially violating the condition that he not commit another federal, state, or local crime.The district court for the District of Kansas did not conduct the hearing on the petition until after the expiration of Tyree-Peppers' supervised release term. The court granted the petition in part and ordered an additional one year of supervised release. Tyree-Peppers challenged the district court’s jurisdiction to revoke his supervised release, arguing that the delay in the revocation proceedings was not “reasonably necessary for the adjudication,” as required by 18 U.S.C. § 3583(i).The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit disagreed with Tyree-Peppers. The court found that the delay was attributable to an ongoing state prosecution of Tyree-Peppers on the very serious charge of first-degree murder. The outcome of that proceeding was directly related to the question of whether Tyree-Peppers violated the condition of his supervised release forbidding him from committing a state crime. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court’s exercise of jurisdiction. View "United States v. Tyree-Peppers" on Justia Law