Justia U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Defendant, a physician who operates a medical clinic, was under investigation for healthcare fraud and related charges. During the investigation, law enforcement officers obtained a search warrant permitting them to search the clinic. During the search, one officer found a bag of videotapes. The officer played the tapes, which led to Defendant being charged with several child pornography offenses. Defendant unsuccessfully sought suppression of the tapes at trial.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of Defendant's motion to suppress. The search warrant application specifically mentioned "videotapes" among the items to be searched. Thus, the officer's search of the tapes was covered by the search warrant.The Eleventh Circuit also rejected Defendant's claim that his right to a public trial was violated when the district judge closed the courtroom during several witnesses' testimony. Defendant agreed to most of the closures and failed to object to any of the other closures. View "USA v. Ronald Tai Young Moon, Jr." on Justia Law

Petitioner, a federal prisoner, appealed the district court’s denial of his timely 28 U.S.C. Section 2255 motion to vacate. In his motion, Petitioner challenged his felon-in-possession conviction, arguing that the district court erred when it instructed the jury on aiding and abetting even though the government failed to prove that Petitioner knew his co-defendant was a convicted felon.The Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of Petitioner’s Section 2255 motion, vacated the felon-in-possession conviction, and remanded. The court held that Rehaif applies retroactively to Petitioner’s initial Section 2255 motion, that Petitioner’s Rehaif claim is neither procedurally barred nor defaulted, and that the district court’s error was not harmless. The court reasoned it is likely that the jury listened to the government’s guidance, asked a question about Petitioner's principal liability, received an answer suggesting Petitioner could not be convicted under that theory, opted for the aiding and abetting instruction, and convicted Petitioner based on that theory of liability. As a result, the court expressed grave doubts about whether the district court’s error substantially influenced the jury verdict, and thus it found that the error actually prejudiced Petitioner, and cannot be deemed harmless. View "Isaac Seabrooks v. USA" on Justia Law

Petitioner, a Florida pretrial defendant awaiting trial on state criminal charges, filed a petition in federal court alleging that his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial was violated as a result of temporary measures suspending criminal jury trials in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He sought the dismissal of all of his criminal charges, traveling under the federal habeas provision found in 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2241.   The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the court’s dismissal of Petitioner’s Sixth Amendment claim, finding that Petitioner gave the court no basis for intervening in his state criminal prosecution. The court held that it cannot say that Petitioner’s speedy-trial filings, which expressly referenced only the Florida rule, fairly raised a federal constitutional speedy-trial claim. Further, there is not any indication that the state court somehow surmised that Petitioner had raised a federal constitutional claim-it never discussed the Sixth Amendment claim, even implicitly.   Further, the court held that Petitioner’s petition is barred under the application of the abstention doctrine under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971). The court reasoned that Younger established that, based on principles of comity and federalism, a federal court should not interfere with ongoing state criminal proceedings where the state court conviction and/or sentence is not yet final. View "James Russell Johnson v. State of Florida" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, possessing methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. On appeal, he raised five claims as to why he should either receive a new trial or, alternatively, be resentenced.   The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Defendant’s conviction holding that Defendant did not experience a cumulative error required to reverse a jury trial verdict. The court concluded that the only errors it identified were invited errors with respect to the jury instruction and potential harmless error with respect to the handling of the records of conviction.   The court reasoned that while the special agent’s misconduct in handling evidence in a previous case was egregious enough for him to be barred from bringing cases in at least one United States Attorney’s Office, it is not clear that the failure to disclose his prior mishandling of evidence would serve to render this trial unfair. Further, the court found that Defendant’s contentions sought to impermissibly heighten the probable cause standard to require officers to have perfect memory as to why they stopped an individual. Finally, the court held that Defendant cannot show that his trial outcome would have been different if all these supposed errors had not been made. View "USA v. Freddie Clark" on Justia Law

In 2018, Defendant entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fifty grams or more of methamphetamine and one kilogram or more of heroin. Defendant's role in the conspiracy was to deliver the narcotics to customers and by making narcotics sales at a stash house. At his arrest, Defendant had a key to the stash house in his possession.The pre-sentence report ("PSR") determined that the base offense level was 36. The PSR also suggested various enhancements, including a two-level enhancement under U.S.S.G Sec. 2D1.1(b)(12) for maintaining a house for the purposes of manufacturing or distributing narcotics. Applying the Sec. 2D1.1(b)(12) enhancement, the district court sentenced Defendant to 120 months of incarceration.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Defendant's sentence, finding that the district court did not err in applying a two-level enhancement for maintaining a drug premises or by denying safety valve relief. When determining the applicability of a Sec. 2D1.1(b)(12) enhancement, the court looks to whether a defendant had a possessory interest in the premises and the extent to which they controlled access to the premises. Here, although Defendant did not own or live at the stash house for the entire duration of the conspiracy, he lived at the house for at least some portion of the conspiracy. Additionally, although the district court erred in concluding the application of the 2D1.1(b)(12) enhancement barred Defendant from safety valve relief, Defendant was not entitled to relief because he failed to cooperate against his codefendants. View "USA v. Trini Thomas, Jr." on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his sentence for possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sections 922(g) and 924(a)(2). He argued that the district court did not elicit objections as required by United States v. Jones, 899 F.2d 1097 (11th Cir. 1990).   The Eleventh Circuit vacated Defendant’s sentence and remanded to the district court for further proceedings. The court explained that under Jones, a district court must fully articulate objections to the court’s ultimate findings and conclusions of law following the imposition of a sentence. Here, the court found that the district court did not follow the procedures set forth in Jones. It explained that during the sentencing hearing, no one addressed the firearm being stolen from a police department. Rather, when read together, the allegations explained that the gun in question was reported stolen in the sheriff’s office county, not that it was stolen from the sheriff. Because the district court first announced this conclusion after the sentencing hearing when it issued the written document, the district court did not provide Defendant an opportunity to object to its finding as to the victim of the theft.   The court noted that in most cases a discrepancy between a court’s real-time pronouncement and later-filed form would not support a Jones claim. However, here, the district court failed to fully state its basis for departing during the sentencing hearing. Thus, in this situation, the post-sentencing form exposed an error. View "USA v. Karijmah Tremaine Mosely" on Justia Law

While investigating a suspected drug trafficking conspiracy, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent secured a wiretap authorization order from a state judge. The wiretap ultimately implicated nine people in the conspiracy. When federal authorities prosecuted them based on this state-gathered evidence, the defendants asked the district court to suppress it. The district court denied their motions, the defendants pleaded guilty to federal drug crimes, and each defendant expressly reserved his suppression arguments for appeal.The defendants argue that the recordings were never properly sealed both because the judge did not issue a separate, written sealing order after receiving the recordings and because the government “maintained access” to the original recordings after sealing. The court found that the state judge properly sealed the wiretap recordings, reasoning that the recordings were “made available to the [authorizing] judge” and “sealed under his directions.” No one accessed them after they were physically sealed.Further, Section 2518(8)(a) requires that the recordings be sealed “[i]mmediately upon the expiration of the period of the order or extensions thereof.” The statute states that a delay in sealing should be excused if the government provides a “satisfactory explanation” for the delay. Considering the absence of tampering, the government’s good faith, the short delay, the lack of tactical advantage to the government or prejudice to the defendants, and the objective reasonableness of the agents’ actions, the court found that the government provided a satisfactory explanation for any delay in sealing. Thus, the court affirmed the district court’s ruling. View "USA v. Mario Demitric Stowers" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of possession with intent to distribute and use a firearm during the commission of a drug trafficking crime. The district court sentenced him to a term of 210 months of imprisonment on the narcotics offense and a consecutive term of 84 months of imprisonment on the firearm offense. Defendant wrote a letter to the district court asking whether he was eligible for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act and requesting the appointment of counsel to file a motion under the Act. Defendant appealed the district court's adverse decision.The court found that Defendant is eligible for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act. The court reasoned that under the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, made retroactive by the First Step Act, a narcotics offense involving less than 28 grams of crack cocaine now carries a statutory penalty of up to 20 years with no mandatory minimum. Thus, because Defendant’s statutory penalty for his crack cocaine offense has been modified by the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act, his conviction is a “covered offense” under Sec. 404(a) of the First Step Act. The court further found that the district court erred when it issued its alternative ruling that Defendant did not merit a reduction of his sentence it did so without hearing from him. Thus, the court reversed the district court’s order denying the construed motion and remanded. View "USA v. Tydearain Smith" on Justia Law

A jury found Defendant guilty of three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file a federal income tax return. Defendant was represented by counsel at trial, but he lacked representation during the pretrial process. At his arraignment, Defendant expressed his desire to waive his right to counsel and to represent himself. The magistrate judge found that Defendant’s waiver was knowing, even after misinforming him that the maximum sentence he could receive if convicted was 12 months of imprisonmentThe court found the magistrate judge’s statements were materially incorrect. Instead of “unambiguously” informing Defendant of the penalties he faced, the magistrate judge incorrectly asserted that “we’re not talking about a felony involving imprisonment beyond one year”—when the true maximum sentence was three times longer. Thus, the court held that there was no knowing and intelligent waiver of the right to counsel. Next, the court found that the deprivation of Defendant’s right to counsel at all pretrial stages of the proceedings against him was a structural error. As such, the court vacated Defendant’s conviction and remanded to the district court for further proceedings. View "USA v. Saleem Hakim" on Justia Law

Several young girls were locked out of their social media accounts. Shortly after being locked out, Defendant would contact them, demanding pornographic images. Defendant threatened to release the images to the girls' social media followers if they did not follow his instructions. One of the girls called the police, which eventually led them to Defendant's residence. The officer told Defendant he was not under arrest but that he was investigating a crime. Defendant admitted to taking over about 20 girls' social media accounts and provided details about the involvement of several other men. The district denied Defendant's motion to suppress the statements he made to police. Defendant was convicted and sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment followed by a life term of supervised release.The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court denial of Defendant's motion to suppress, holding Defendant was not under arrest at the time he made the statements to the police. The court also affirmed Defendant's sentence, finding it was not procedurally and substantively reasonable. View "USA v. Joseph Isaiah Woodson, Jr." on Justia Law