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

The First Circuit affirmed the decision of the district court granting the government's motion in limine to admit a recording of a 911 call placed by Defendant's girlfriend, holding that the Confrontation Clause was not implicated and that the district court did not abuse its discretion in applying a hearsay exception.Defendant was indicted for possessing a stolen firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Prior to trial, the government filed a motion in limine seeking to introduce the 911 recording without calling Defendant's girlfriend as a witness. The district court granted the motion. Defendant then entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving his right to appeal the district court's order granting the motion. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the Confrontation Clause was not implicated by the non-testimonial statements and that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the 911 recording. View "United States v. Estes" on Justia Law

In these consolidated cases, the First Circuit affirmed the decision of the district court rejecting Plaintiffs' suits seeking to enjoin the enforcement of Section 12616 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which bans the sponsorship and exhibition of cockfighting matches in Puerto Rico, holding that Section 12616 is a valid exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause power and does not violate Plaintiffs' individual rights.On their complaints, Plaintiffs argued that Section 12616 violated their First Amendment and Due Process rights and that Congress exceeded its powers under the Commerce and Territorial Clauses and further lodged both facial and as-applied pre-enforcement challenges to the statute. The district court granted the government's motion for summary judgment. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) Plaintiffs had standing to bring these lawsuits; (2) Section 12616 is a legitimate exercise of the Commerce Clause power; and (3) Section 12616 does not infringe on Plaintiffs' First Amendment freedoms of speech and association. View "Hernandez-Gotay v. United States" on Justia Law

In these consolidated appeals the First Circuit affirmed Defendant's sentence imposed following his conviction on the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and Defendant's sentence imposed following the revocation of a supervised release term imposed in connection with a prior, unrelated conviction, holding that Defendant's claims of error were unavailing.The district court imposed a sixty-six term of immurement for the felon-in-possession charge and a twenty-four-month sentence with respect to the supervised release violation. The First Circuit affirmed the sentences, holding (1) the sentence imposed on the felon-in-possession conviction survived Defendant's challenges; and (2) the district court acted within its discretion in imposing the sentence in connection with the revocation of Defendant's supervised release term. View "United States v. Santa-Soler" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's sentence imposed in connection with his plea of guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, holding that the sentence was reasonable.After Defendant pleaded guilty, the district court sentenced Defendant to seventy-two months of incarceration. On appeal, Defendant challenged his sentence, arguing that the district court miscalculated his base offense level under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) it was in the district court's discretion to impose a sentence outside of the Guidelines range, and any alleged error in calculating Defendant's base offense level was harmless; and (2) Defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable. View "United States v. Ouellette" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction of one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute drugs and one count of possessing a firearm as an alien unlawfully present in the United States, holding that Defendant failed to establish a reasonable probability that he would not have pled guilty had he been advised as required by Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019).Defendant pled guilty without the benefit of a plea agreement and was sentenced to 144 months' imprisonment on the drug count and 120 months' imprisonment on the firearm count, to be served concurrently. One month after Defendant's sentencing, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Rehaif. Before the First Circuit, Defendant asked that his conviction on the firearm count be vacated because he did not plead guilty to knowing the facts that made him a person prohibited from possessing a firearm, as Rehaif requires. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) Defendant failed to establish that his substantial rights were affected by the district court's failure to anticipate Rehaif; and (2) the district court did not err in imposing a livelihood enhancement that Defendant received at sentencing. View "United States v. Patrone" on Justia Law

In this consolidated appeal brought by Appellant to contest the sentences he received in two separate cases, the First Circuit affirmed the sentences, holding that there was no error or abuse of discretion.In the first case, Appellant pled guilty to attempted possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to 168 months' imprisonment. In this second case, Appellant was sentenced to eighteen months for violating supervised release terms that were imposed for an earlier conviction for conspiracy to attempt to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. The First Circuit affirmed both sentences, holding that the 168-month sentence was not unreasonably high and that the district court's sentencing rationale in the second case was not flawed. View "United States v. Quiles-Lopez" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the order of the district court granting summary judgment against Plaintiff, acting as the personal representative of the estate of Ambrosia Fagre (Amber), on claims related to Amber's death, holding that the district court did not err when it granted Trooper Jeffrey Parks's motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff's 42 U.S.C. 1983 claim.Plaintiff's complaint alleged use of excessive force against Amber in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments under section 1983 and use of excessive force against Amber in violation of Me. Const. art. I, 5 under the Maine Civil Rights Act, failure to protect Amber in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and negligence and wrongful death under Maine state law. The district court granted Trooper Parks's motion for summary judgment. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) summary judgment on Plaintiff's section 1983 claim was warranted, and Trooper Parks was also entitled to qualified immunity; and (2) the district court did not err by granting summary judgment on Plaintiff's state law claims because Trooper Parks was entitled to immunity under the Maine Tort Claims Act, Me. Stat. Tit. 14, 8111(1). View "Fagre v. Parks" on Justia Law

In this insurance dispute, the First Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance, holding that the arguments on appeal brought by Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) were unavailing.An accident that occurred in Florida damaged a Toyota Highlander insured by Ameriprise and a Lamborghini insured by GEICO and injured the driver of the Highlander. Ameriprise rescinded coverage, alleging that its insureds breached their obligations under the policy. Ameriprise brought this suit seeking declaratory relief in federal district court to approve the company's rescission and to confirm that Ameriprise had satisfied its compulsory coverage requirements under Massachusetts law. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Ameriprise. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not err in finding that Ameriprise could rescind the insureds' coverage as a matter of law because the insureds' misrepresentation of certain information breached the insureds' duty to inform Ameriprise about about dates to the Highlander's principal place of garaging and customary drivers; and (2) Ameriprise was not estopped from rescinding the insureds' coverage, and GEICO's waiver arguments failed as a matter of law. View "IDS Property Casualty Insurance Co. v. Government Employees Insurance Co." on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction of possession of child pornography and sentence of ninety-six months' imprisonment followed by lifetime supervised release, holding that Defendant's arguments on appeal were without merit.Specifically, the First Circuit held (1) the district court did not err in denying Defendant's motion to suppress statements made to investigating officers at his home and the evidence derived from the consensual seizure of his computer; (2) police officers did not unconstitutionally intrude onto the curtilage of Defendant's home; and (3) the district court did not err in denying Defendant's renewed motion to withdraw his guilty plea. View "United States v. Mumme" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the order of the district court granting summary judgment against Matthew White and for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HP), White's former employer, on White's claims based on Maine employment law, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion.The district court held that controlling Maine Law Court decisions meant White's claims for accrued vacation pay and bonus pay were without merit and that White's remaining claims for equitable relief were unavailing. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) under Maine, law, White had no right to be paid for unused vacation time except as provided for in his employment agreement; (2) White's bonus compensation claims were meritless; (3) the district court was within its discretion to permit HP to produce an additional document before summary judgment; and (4) the district court did not abuse its discretion in commenting about the parties' statements of material facts. View "White v. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co." on Justia Law