Justia U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

The case involves Richard Lewis, a man convicted in 2004 for conspiracy to traffic in illegal drugs and unlawful firearm possession. Lewis began serving two concurrent 5-year terms of supervised release in 2010 after serving roughly seven years in prison. During the supervised release, Lewis was arrested and convicted under state law for three counts of manufacturing or distributing illegal drugs and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment. Based on these violations, the district court revoked Lewis’s supervised release and sentenced him to 20 months’ imprisonment, to be served consecutively to his state sentence. Lewis appealed, arguing that the district court improperly considered the need for punishment and the seriousness of the violation, which he contended are factors prohibited under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e).The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit disagreed with Lewis's arguments. It held that the district court did not base Lewis's revocation sentence predominantly on the retributive factor, and the sentence was not plainly unreasonable. It also rejected Lewis's argument that Chapter 7 of the Sentencing Guidelines must be struck down as inconsistent with § 3583(e). The Court explained that Lewis's argument relied on the incorrect premise that "the offense" in § 3553(a) should be read as including the defendant’s supervised release violation. The Court affirmed the district court's revocation sentence. View "US v. Lewis" on Justia Law

In the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit involving four defendants—Dricko Dashon Huskey, Renaire Roshique Lewis, Jr., Alandus Montrell Smith, and Jonathan Wray—all were members of the United Blood Nations (UBN) gang and were charged with conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act and related crimes. They were all found guilty following a trial. The defendants appealed their convictions and sentences, alleging various procedural and substantive errors. The Court of Appeals, after considering each of the defendants' arguments, affirmed the district court's judgments. The Court found that there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions, and that the defendants' challenges to certain evidentiary rulings, closing arguments, jury instructions, and sentencing decisions lacked merit. View "US v. Huskey" on Justia Law

Angel Centeno-Morales, a federal prisoner with a long history of criminal offenses involving drugs and violence, filed a motion for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c) after his wife, who was the primary caregiver for their minor son, died of COVID-19. Centeno-Morales argued that his wife’s death constituted an extraordinary and compelling reason for release and that a reassessment of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors also favored his release given his changed circumstances and his post-sentencing rehabilitative conduct. The district court agreed that the death of Centeno-Morales’ wife constituted an extraordinary and compelling reason for relief, but found that the § 3553(a) factors strongly weighed in favor of his continued incarceration. Centeno-Morales appealed this decision.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision. The appellate court found that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Centeno-Morales' motion for compassionate release. The court found that the district court had properly evaluated the relevant § 3553(a) factors and provided sufficient reasoning for its decision. The court emphasized that Centeno-Morales had failed to meet his burden of persuasion to show that the § 3553(a) factors justified a modified sentence. The court further noted that the same judge who sentenced Centeno-Morales also ruled on his motion for compassionate release, which suggested the judge had a comprehensive understanding of Centeno-Morales' circumstances. View "US v. Centeno-Morales" on Justia Law

The defendant, Rodriquies Evans, was convicted of four criminal offenses related to his involvement in a multistate conspiracy to transport and distribute methamphetamine and other controlled substances. The district court sentenced him to the statutory maximum of 80 years in prison. The Fourth Circuit United States Court of Appeals found that the district court had erred in calculating Evans’s Sentencing Guidelines range and vacated his sentence, remanding the case for resentencing. The court determined that the district court had incorrectly attributed nearly three kilograms of crystal methamphetamine seized from a co-conspirator to Evans. The court held that for sentencing purposes under the Sentencing Guidelines, only acts that fall within the scope of the criminal activity the defendant agreed to jointly undertake can be considered relevant conduct. The district court had attributed the drugs based on the broader standard of substantive liability under Pinkerton, which allows a defendant to be held liable for the acts of co-conspirators if they are within the scope of the overall conspiracy and reasonably foreseeable to the defendant. The court also found that the district court had erred in applying a threat enhancement in calculating Evans's Sentencing Guidelines range, as the possession of a firearm enhancement could not by itself be the basis for a threat enhancement. View "US v. Evans" on Justia Law

In this case, the defendant, Jahsir Claybrooks, pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen firearm. The probation office determined that at the time of the offense, Claybrooks was an unlawful user of controlled substances and under indictment for a felony, making him a "prohibited person" not allowed to possess a firearm. As a result, his sentence was calculated based on this status. Claybrooks challenged this designation, arguing that he was not an unlawful drug user and that the statute was unconstitutionally vague. He also asserted that the district court erred in determining he was under indictment at the time of his offense and in imposing a sentence above the recommended guidelines. Finally, Claybrooks argued that the district court should have conducted an analysis of the firearms statutes at issue in accordance with a recent Supreme Court case. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision, concluding that the district court did not commit reversible error. The court found that the district court correctly determined that Claybrooks was an unlawful user of controlled substances at the time of the offense, the relevant statute was not unconstitutionally vague, and the district court did not err in imposing an above-guidelines sentence. The court also dismissed Claybrooks' argument regarding the need for an analysis of the firearms statutes, as he raised this issue for the first time on appeal. View "US v. Claybrooks" on Justia Law

In a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, a foreign service officer and a non-citizen were convicted of conspiring to fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship for the non-citizen and making false statements in the process. The defendants, Laura Anne Gallagher and Andrey Nikolayevich Kalugin, were married in 2015. They were accused of conspiring to achieve naturalization and proof of citizenship for Kalugin by making false statements and submitting fraudulent documents. The jury found them guilty on all counts. On appeal, the court concluded that the evidence was sufficient to support each defendant’s convictions. However, it found that the jury was allowed to consider a legally inadequate theory on one count and an erroneous evidentiary ruling prevented the defendants from offering certain evidence on the remaining two counts. As a result, the court vacated the convictions and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "US v. Gallagher" on Justia Law

In the case before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the defendant, Keyon Paylor, appealed from the decision of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, which denied his petition to vacate his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Paylor had entered a guilty plea, which he later sought to vacate, asserting that his plea was not knowing and voluntary. He claimed that law enforcement officers involved in his arrest planted the firearm and stole thousands of dollars from him, and that his plea was induced as a result of egregious law enforcement misconduct. The district court denied his petition, concluding that Paylor did not produce enough evidence to establish that information regarding former Detective Daniel Hersl’s misconduct materially influenced his decision to plead guilty. The Court of Appeals disagreed with the district court's decision and vacated it, concluding that Paylor is entitled to discovery and an evidentiary hearing in order to attempt to gather evidence to support his claim. The case was remanded back to the district court for further proceedings. View "US v. Paylor" on Justia Law

In this case, Daniel N. Kemp, Sr. was charged with nine counts of sexually abusing his adopted children. Kemp pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual abuse under a plea agreement and the remaining charges were dismissed. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina sentenced Kemp to life imprisonment and a lifetime term of supervised release. Kemp appealed his conviction and sentence. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Kemp's conviction. The court found that the district court's plea colloquy did not comply with Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in multiple respects, but Kemp failed to demonstrate a reasonable probability that, but for the error, he would not have entered the plea. As for Kemp's sentence, the Court of Appeals found that the district court improperly failed to orally pronounce multiple discretionary conditions of supervised release that it subsequently imposed in Kemp's written judgment. This constituted error under United States v. Rogers, 961 F.3d 291 (4th Cir. 2020), violating Kemp's right to be present at sentencing. Therefore, the Court of Appeals vacated Kemp's sentence and remanded for the district court to resentence the defendant. View "US v. Kemp" on Justia Law

In this case, Eric Henderson, a convicted felon, was charged with one count of possession of a firearm, violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Henderson pleaded guilty to the charge, but objected to the sentencing enhancements applied by the district court. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court's decision and remanded the case for resentencing.The court held that the district court erred in applying a four-level sentencing enhancement under § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. This enhancement was based on Henderson's possession of a firearm "in connection with another felony offense," namely, possession of a firearm while under a domestic violence protective order. The court noted that a person cannot be punished more severely for violating multiple provisions of § 922(g) with the same act of possession.The court also ruled that the district court made a mistake in applying a two-level enhancement under § 3C1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines for reckless endangerment during flight. The court found that Henderson's conduct did not meet the definition of recklessness as established by prior court decisions, which require "flight-plus-something more" for the enhancement to apply. In Henderson's case, there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate reckless behavior or substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury during his flight. View "US v. Henderson" on Justia Law

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, sentencing Joshua Aaron Roy to 120 months imprisonment and five years of supervised release for unlawful possession of a firearm and aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute at least 40 grams of fentanyl. The court rejected Roy's claim that his sentence was procedurally unreasonable, holding that the district court did not rely on clearly erroneous facts or evidence outside the record. The specifics of the case involved Roy driving his stepdaughter and her partner in the latter's vehicle, suspected by law enforcement to be transporting narcotics. Following a traffic stop, the officers seized 447 fentanyl capsules weighing 61.98 grams from the partner. Roy was subsequently arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm after being identified on surveillance footage following a report of shoplifting. The court found that the district court's statements about the lethality of fentanyl and the connection between the two offenses constituted permissible reliance on facts within the record. It concluded that any error in the reference to multiple firearms did not alter the court's understanding that Roy had possessed a single firearm and was therefore harmless. View "US v. Roy" on Justia Law