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

The First Circuit reversed the order of the district court dismissing the indictment against Defendants after a first trial ended in a mistrial, holding that the district court erred in concluding that Defendants were protected from a retrial by double jeopardy principles.Four defendant were charged with multiple counts of wire fraud, honest-services wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit both species of wire fraud. After trial began, one juror was diagnosed with a brain tumor requiring immediately surgery. The government was unwilling to consent to a reduced jury, and the court subsequently declared a mistrial. Defendants moved to preclude retail and to dismiss the indictment under the Double Jeopardy Clause on the ground that the government could not establish manifest necessity for its decision to force the mistrial. The court granted the motion to dismiss the indictment. The First Circuit reversed as to three of the four defendants, holding that the district court's decision to declare a mistrial rested on manifest necessity, and because the mistrial was not the produce of any purposeful instigation or other government misconduct, double jeopardy principles did not prohibit the government from retrying the defendants. View "United States v. Garske" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction of RICO conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. 1962(d) and sentencing him to 228 months' imprisonment and three years of supervised release, holding that the district court correctly instructed the jury.On appeal, Defendant argued that the district court erred by not following a statement of the law contained in United States v. Ramirez-Rivera, 800 F.3d 1, 18 (1st Cir. 2015) and, more generally, challenged the jury instructions for failing to require the jury to make an affirmative finding as to which predicate acts he in fact committed. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) Defendant's arguments regarding the jury instructions were inconsistent with Salinas v. United States, 522 U.S. 52 (1997); (2) the district court did not err when it instructed the jury on the requirements of a withdrawal defense; and (3) Defendant's remaining claims were without merit. View "United States v. Leoner-Aguirre" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendants' convictions for conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), conspiracy to possess and distribute narcotics, use and carry of a firearm in relation to a drug-trafficking crime, and related offenses, holding that no prejudicial error occurred in the proceedings below.Defendants in this case were five members of La Rompe ONU, one of the largest and most violent of Puerto Rico's street gangs. The First Circuit affirmed Defendants' convictions, holding (1) the evidence was sufficient to support the RICO-conspiracy, drug-conspiracy, and firearms convictions; (2) the trial court did not commit reversible error by admitting out-of-court statements about a murder-by-choking incident; (3) Defendants failed to show that the trial judge's general RICO-conspiracy instructions resulted in a miscarriage of justice; and (4) the two sentences challenged on appeal were reasonable. View "United States v. Rodriguez-Torres" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Appellants' convictions for drug trafficking under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA), 46 U.S.C. 70501-70508, holding that the protective principle of international law permitted the United States to arrest and prosecute Appellants even if, as they argued, their vessel possessed Costa Rican nationality.Appellants were on a small speed boat in the western Caribbean Sea when they were interdicted by the U.S. Coast Guard and subsequently arrested. Appellants moved to dismiss their indictment under the MDLEA, which allows U.S. law enforcement to arrest foreign nationals for drug crimes committed in international waters, arguing that the statute exceeds Congress's authority under Article I of the Constitution and violates the Due Process Clause. The district court denied the motion to dismiss, and Appellants pleaded guilty. On appeal, Appellants again challenged the constitutionality of the MDLEA, arguing that their vessel was not properly deemed stateless. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the protective principle of international law, as applied by the First Circuit, permits prosecution under the MDLEA even of foreigners on foreign vessels; and (2) there was no abuse of discretion in the sentence imposed. View "United States v. Davila-Reyes" on Justia Law

The First Circuit vacated Defendant's conviction of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS but affirmed his remaining convictions, holding that the court erred in instructing the jury on the conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS count and that the error was not harmless.Defendant was conviction of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS (Count One), conspiracy to obstruct justice (Count Two), obstruction of justice (Count Three), conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries (Count Four), and obstruction of justice (Count Five). The First Circuit vacated the conviction on Count One and affirmed the remaining convictions, holding (1) the instruction as to count one with respect to the definition of "coordination" constituted legal error, and the error was not harmless; and (2) Defendant was not entitled to reversal on his remaining convictions. View "United States v. Wright" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Appellants' suit for declaratory and injunctive relief in federal court against the FBI seeking an order directing the FBI to upload a DNA profile to the national DNA database and to report the results, holding that the FBI's determination that the profile was ineligible for upload was not arbitrary or capricious.Appellant were convicted of murder and spent twenty years incarcerated. Appellants were granted a new trial after new testing of trial evidence cast doubt on the verdicts. Thereafter, DNA testing was conducted on a swab taken from the inside of a condom recovered in the vicinity of the victim during the initial investigation. The testing revealed an unknown male DNA profile. The FBI refused to upload the profile into the National DNA Index System, determining that it was ineligible for upload. Appellants then filed this suit seeking to compel the FBI to upload the profile. The district court dismissed the suit, concluding that the FBI's eligibility determination was unreviewable. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that, assuming that the FBI's eligibility determination was reviewable, the determination was not arbitrary and capricious. View "Cowels v. Federal Bureau of Investigation" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court denying Defendant's motion to suppress approximately twenty pounds of methamphetamine that a postal inspector delivered in two United States Postal Service Priority Mail Express packages, as well as the fruits of the packages' search, holding that the warrant authorizing one package's search was valid and that the warrantless search of the other package was constitutional.The district court assumed arguendo that Defendant held a reasonable expectation of privacy in the searched packages then concluded that neither search was unconstitutional. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the warrant authorizing the search of one package was not facially invalid despite the government's attachment of the incorrect attachment because the error was a mere technical error and the package was described with sufficient particularity and there was no reasonable probability of another package being searched; and (2) the warrantless search of the second package was justified by both the private search doctrine and the consent of the package's addressee. View "United States v. Moss" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's sentence of ninety-five-month incarcerate terms on each of sixty-three bank fraud counts and sixty-month incarcerate terms on the two remaining counts of which Defendant was convicted, with all sentences to run concurrently, and the order of restitution in the amount of $815,496.27, holding that Defendant's sentence was neither procedurally nor substantively flawed.Defendant pleaded guilty to sixty-three counts of bank fraud, one counts of use of an unauthorized device, and one count of tax evasion. The district court found that the government had shown by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant had attempted to obstruct justice for his feigned incompetency and, therefore, an obstruction-of-justice enhancement was appropriate. The enhancement supported an upward offense-level adjustment under U.S.S.G. 3C1.1. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not err in applying the obstruction-of-justice enhancement on the basis of Defendant's feigned incompetency; and (2) the court did not err in refusing the shrink Defendant's offense level for acceptance of responsibility. View "United States v. Nygren" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendants' convictions of violating the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering (VICAR) statute, a statute banning the use or carry of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and other gang-related crimes, holding that Defendants were not entitled to reversal of their convictions.Defendants, "La ONU" gangbangers, were convicted of helping murder a "La Rompe ONU" gangbanger and other crimes. Defendants later filed a motion for a new trial, claiming newly-discovered evidence on allegations that the gangbanger died at the hands of La Rompe, not La ONU. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the trial judge applied the correct legal standard and that there was no abuse of discretion in denying Defendant's motion for a new trial. View "United States v. Laureano-Salgado" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendants' convictions of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act; aiding and abetting violent crimes in aid of racketeering, namely murder or attempted murder under Puerto Rico law; conspiring to engage in drug trafficking; and other offenses, holding that Defendant's challenges to their convictions were unavailing.The three defendants in this case were members of a vicious Puerto Rican gang called La ONU. Defendants appealed their convictions, bringing a variety of claims. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not err in denying a motion to suppress a cache of guns and drugs seized during a warrantless search of a house; (2) the judge did not err in finding that no courtroom closure occurred during the proceedings; (3) the judge did not err in denying Defendants' motion for a mistrial; and (4) the remainder of Defendants' arguments on appeal did not entitle them to reversal of their convictions. View "United States v. Lanza-Vazquez" on Justia Law