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

Pro se appellant Ronald Calhoun appealed the district court's dismissal of his habeas corpus petition. The district court held that appellant was not "in custody," as required to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Appellant argued he was in custody because he must register as a sex offender. The Tenth Circuit issued a certificate of appealability on whether appellant's ongoing registration obligations under Colorado’s Sex Offender Registration Act satisfied the custody requirement of section 2254. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal for lack of jurisdiction. View "Calhoun v. Colorado Attorney General" on Justia Law

In 2008, the IRS levied defendant John Williamson's wife's wages to collect his back taxes dating back thirty years. The IRS sent a notice of the levy, which Defendant returned, writing across the document: "Refused for cause. Return to sender, unverified bill." He enclosed an affidavit explaining why he did not need to pay income taxes. Subsequent notices of the levy were also returned. Later that year, Defendant sent an invoice for $909,067,650.00 to two IRS agents who had worked on the matter, listing the value of real and personal property allegedly seized by the IRS, added damages for various alleged torts, and then trebled the total "for racketeering." A grand jury indicted Defendant and Mrs. Williamson on two counts: (1) "endeavor[ing] to impede the due administration of the Internal Revenue Code by filing a false and fraudulent Claim of Lien;" and (2) "fil[ing] . . . a false lien and encumbrance against the real and personal property [of the IRS agents] on account of the performance of [their] official duties." Mrs. Williamson pled guilty to the second count in return for dismissal of the first count against her. Defendant, however, proceeded to trial. His defense was essentially that he genuinely believed his lien was proper. A forensic psychologist testified that Defendant suffered from a delusional disorder that prevented him from abandoning his beliefs even when confronted with overwhelming evidence that he was wrong. Defendant requested instructions that would support his "genuine belief" defense to both charges, but the court rejected them and the jury returned verdicts of guilty on the two charges. Defendant was sentenced to four months in prison and three years of supervised release. Defendant appealed his conviction, claiming the district court erred by not giving the requested jury instructions. Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed. View "United States v. Williamson" on Justia Law

The Internal Revenue Service and several oil companies agreed to settle a tax dispute over a jointly-developed pipeline system in a closing agreement. After entering the agreement, Phillips Petroleum Company (now ConocoPhillips Company) acquired Arco Transportation (one of the original signatories to the agreement). In 2000 and 2001, Conoco revisited the tax implications of its acquisition and claimed "going-forward" and "basis-increase" deductions on its amended consolidated tax returns. The IRS refunded Conoco's 2000 going-forward deductions, but disputed the remaining deductions. The parties took the dispute to federal district court, where the district court decided the issue on cross-motions for summary judgment. The court rejected Conoco's position and granted summary judgment to the IRS. Conoco appealed. After its review, the Tenth Circuit concluded that "going-forward" deductions were impermissible for interests that Arco Transportation did not own as of July 1, 1977, and "basis-increase" deductions were impermissible because the Closing Agreement did not fix the amount of a liability or exempt that liability from section 461(h) of the Internal Revenue Code. Thus, the Court held that Conoco was not entitled to the going-forward or basis-increase deductions. View "United States v. ConocoPhillips Company" on Justia Law

Defendant Richard Wyss pled guilty in December 2008 to one count of making false statements to the Federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Defendant concealed from TSA that he was working full-time for the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) while also employed full time by TSA. In his plea agreement and at his plea hearing, Defendant agreed he owed DPS $188,548.92 in restitution. The district court sentenced Defendant to three years probation. Over 40 months after his sentencing hearing, Defendant filed a motion asking the district court to grant him credit against the order of restitution. He claimed he was entitled to credit based on annual, sick, and holiday leave he earned while at DPS. DPS objected to Defendant’s motion; the Government did not submit a response. At an evidentiary hearing two weeks later, the district court squarely rejected the Government’s argument that the court lacked authority to reduce the amount of restitution Defendant owed DPS. The issue before the Tenth Circuit on appeal was whether 18 U.S.C. 3563(c) authorized the court to modify the restitution order imposed pursuant to the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act (MVRA) over three years after the judgment of sentence became final. The Tenth Circuit concluded section 3563(c) did not authorize the district court to modify the order and reversed. View "United States v. Wyss" on Justia Law

A grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging Safiyyah Tahir Battles with: (1) making a false statement to a financial institution (Count I); (2) committing wire fraud (Count II); and (3) laundering money (Count III). Battles exercised her right to a jury trial, and the jury returned a verdict of guilty on Counts II and III. The jury failed to reach a verdict on Count I. As a result, the district court declared a mistrial on Count I and subsequently granted the government's unopposed motion to dismiss that count without prejudice. Battles was sentenced to thirty months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. The district court also ordered her to make restitution to the victim of her crimes. Battles appealed her convictions and sentence on numerous grounds. Upon careful consideration of the facts of this case and the district court record, the Tenth Circuit upheld the district court's judgment and affirmed Battles's convictions and sentence. The Court dismissed the portion of Battles's appeal pertaining to her Brady claim for lack of jurisdiction. View "United States v. Battles" on Justia Law

A grand jury indicted defendants Michael Calhoun, Tommy Davis, and William Tucker on 60 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. The indictment was based on Calhoun's grand jury testimony in which he incriminated himself, Davis, and Tucker. Calhoun testified upon the advice of his counsel at the time, Tom Mills, who was paid by Texas Capital Bank (the alleged victim of the fraud). After Calhoun secured new counsel, defendants moved to quash the indictment and suppress Calhoun's grand jury testimony, arguing the indictment was obtained in violation of the Fifth Amendment Indictment Clause, the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, and Calhoun's Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. The district court denied the motion. In consolidated, pretrial interlocutory appeals, the defendants challenged the denial of their motion to quash, arguing that the Tenth Circuit should exercise its jurisdiction under the "collateral order" exception to the final judgment rule, ("Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp.," (337 U.S. 541, 546-47 (1949)). However, the Tenth Circuit concluded that the collateral order doctrine did not apply, and dismissed these appeals for lack of jurisdiction. View "United States v. Tucker" on Justia Law

Defendant-Appellant Thomas Evans was a property manager and organizer of real estate investment funds, and was owner and president of Evans Real Estate Group, LLC. V R. 212. At first, Evans' business conduct was legitimate (if highly risky), but by April 2005, Evans experienced cash flow problems and was unable to make the high interest payments to investors. He pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and was sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment and five years’ supervised release. He appealed the sentence. Because the district court erred in calculating loss and failing to award an offense level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, the Tenth Circuit remanded the case back to the district court to vacate the sentence and resentence. View "United States v. Evans" on Justia Law

Denver police arrested Marvin Booker on a warrant for failure to appear at a hearing regarding a drug charge. During booking, Booker died while in custody after officers restrained him in response to alleged insubordination. Several officers pinned Booker face-down to the ground, one placed him in a chokehold, and another tased him. The officers sought medical help for Booker, but he could not be revived. Booker’s estate sued Deputies Faun Gomez, James Grimes, Kyle Sharp, Kenneth Robinette, and Sergeant Carrie Rodriguez, alleging they used excessive force and failed to provide Booker with immediate medical care. Defendants moved for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. The district court denied their motion because disputed facts precluded summary judgment. The Defendants appealed, but finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed. View "Estate of Marvin L. Booker, et al v. Gomez, et al" on Justia Law

A jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff-appellee Storagecraft Technology Corporation for $2.92 million when it found that former founder and director, defendant-appellant James Kirby misappropriated the company's trade secrets. Defendant argued on appeal that the verdict was excessive, and that the district court should have overturned it. Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed. View "StorageCraft Tech. Corp. v. Kirby" on Justia Law

Defendant Scott Fonseca was convicted of possessing stolen firearms and was sentenced to seventy months' imprisonment. On appeal, defendant argued: (1) the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence of the stolen firearms because they were found as the result of a detention that exceeded the permissible scope of a Terry stop; and (2) the district court erred in allowing the government's introduction of certain testimony (which was contrary to the court's grant of defendant's earlier motion in limine, but without a concurrent objection by defendant) that he had previously sold several guns that were stolen at the same time as the eight firearms found as a result of the Terry stop. Finding no reversible error, the Tenth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence. View "United States v. Fonseca" on Justia Law