Justia U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction in the United States District Court for the District of Maine for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, holding that the district court did not err in denying Defendant's motion for a hearing under Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 (1978).After he was charged, Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence discovered during a search of his home due to what he claimed were false statements and omissions in the affidavit supporting the application for the search warrant. The district court denied the suppression motion, including Defendant's request for an evidentiary hearing. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the district court did not err in denying Defendant's Franks motion. View "United States v. Alexandre" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court denying Appellant's petition to vacate his conviction and sentence stemming from a 2003 plea agreement for being a felon in possession of a firearm, holding that the district court did not err.In his petition, citing 28 U.S.C. 2255, Appellant argued that because Criminal Procedure Rule 7 provides that an indictment "must be signed by" a government lawyer and because an assistant United States attorney in his case signed the indictment in 2003 despite having a suspended license to practice law, the indictment was invalidated, stripping the district court of jurisdiction. The district court denied the petition. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that Appellant was not entitled to relief. View "Kelley v. United States" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction for possession of child pornography, holding that the Government's evidence was sufficient to convict Defendant.The district court denied Defendant's motions for judgment of acquittal, filed during the trial and then after the verdict, and then sentencing him to a prison term of time served followed by supervised release. On appeal, Defendant argued that the district court erred by denying his motions because the evidence was not sufficient to convict him. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that, even under the standard of review most favorable to Defendant, his sufficiency of the evidence challenge failed. View "United States v. Torres-Monje" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction of unlawful possession of a firearm, holding that there was no error in the proceedings below.Law enforcement officers stopped Defendant as he drove by in a vehicle that the officers believed matched the description of a vehicle that had just been involved in a shooting. The officers arrested Defendant and then deployed a firearm-detecting dog to inspect the outside of the vehicle. The dog sniff results where then used to obtain a search warrant for the vehicle. Based on the results of the search, Defendant was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not err by denying Defendant's motion to suppress; and (2) Defendant was not entitled to a new trial due to certain evidentiary rulings because there was no error, either individually or cumulatively. View "United States v. Centeno-Gonzalez" on Justia Law

The First Circuit reversed the decision of the district court granting Defendant's motion to suppress the evidence discovered during an inventory search of a vehicle that a Massachusetts State Police trooper stopped on a highway, holding that the trooper had reasonable suspicion to make the stop.In his motion to suppress, Defendant argued that the warrantless search of his vehicle violated the Fourth Amendment. In response, the government argued that the inventory search fell within the community caretaking function. The district court disagreed, holding that there was no non-investigatory reason to conduct the inventory search. The First Circuit reversed, holding that the district court erred in granting Defendant's motion to suppress. View "United States v. Rivera" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court revoking Defendant's supervised release and sentencing him to six months of imprisonment and an additional eight years of supervised release, holding that Defendant's constitutional rights were not violated.On appeal, Defendant argued that the revocation of his release violated his privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment and that his suspension from treatment violated his Fifth Amendment due process right. The First Circuit disagreed, holding (1) a court in this circuit can impose mandatory periodic polygraph examinations in connection with sex offender treatment programs as a condition of supervised release, where the condition prohibits basing revocation in any way on the defendant's assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination; (2) in this case, no penalty was attached to Defendant's potential invocation of the Fifth Amendment privilege, and therefore, his privilege was not violated; and (3) Defendant's suspension from sex offender treatment did not violate his Fifth Amendment right to due process. View "United States v. Rogers" on Justia Law

The First Circuit vacated Defendant's sentence and remanded this case for resentencing, holding that the district court must recalculate the Guidelines sentencing range.Defendant pleaded guilty to charges of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute cocaine. Before sentencing, Defendant argued that this prior conviction as a joint venturer for an otherwise violent crime did not qualify for career-offender status. The district court sentenced Defendant to thirty months' imprisonment and six years of supervised release. The government appealed, arguing that the district court erred in deciding not to apply the career-offender enhancement. The First Circuit vacated the sentence, holding that the case must be remanded for resentencing in light of United States v. Capelton, 966 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2020). View "United States v. Maldonado" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, holding that the district court did not err in sentencing Defendant but should have provided a sealed copy of the written statement of reasons (SOR) upon Defendant's request.Defendant's guidelines sentencing range (GSR) was thirty-three to forty-one months. The district court sentenced Defendant to 120 months' imprisonment and three years of supervised release - the statutory maximum - and denied Defendant's request to access the SOR. The First Circuit affirmed the sentence but remanded the case to give defense counsel access to the SOR, holding (1) the sentencing court did not err in relying on Defendant's criminal history and the type of weapon he possessed in sentencing Defendant; (2) the district court properly considered other relevant factors; and (3) Defendant should have been allowed to access the SOR. View "United States v. Gonzalez-Flores" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, holding that the district court did not err in concluding that the police officers had reasonable suspicion to approach the vehicle in which Defendant was a passenger and direct its occupants to exit.Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence of cash and drugs that were recovered from him and the other occupant of the car after officers instigated an investigatory motor vehicle stop. The district court denied the motion, holding that reasonable suspicion existed to support the traffic stop. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the police officers had reasonable suspicion that the vehicle's occupants were involved in illegal drug activity, and therefore, the officers' decision to approach the car and search Defendant did not violate the Fourth Amendment. View "United States v. Tom" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court revoking Defendant's supervised release after he was acquitted of a criminal assault charge arising from the same incident leading to his revocation, holding that the evidence supported a finding of revocation and that the sentence imposed was reasonable.The probation office petitioned for the arrest of Defendant for violating his supervised release by committing the offense of assaulting a U.S. Probation Office employee. A criminal complaint was also issued for the alleged assault. A jury acquitted Defendant of the criminal assault charge. The district judge proceeded to revoke Defendant's supervised release on the basis of the same conduct and sentenced him to twenty-four months' imprisonment followed by eight months of supervised release. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) acquitted conduct can be used to revoke supervised release due to the differing burdens of proof; (2) the evidence was sufficient to prove that Defendant committed an assault; and (3) Defendant's sentence was substantively and procedurally reasonable. View "United States v. Frederickson" on Justia Law