United States v. Walker, No. 12-3419 (8th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his sentence and conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, arguing that the district court abused its discretion in not granting a mistrial and that the district court erred in sentencing him to 210 months' imprisonment. The court concluded that, even if the district court erred in reading the portion of the indictment stating the nature of his prior conviction, there was no clear prejudice here and defendant was not entitled to a mistrial on this basis. Further, the district court did not plainly err in sentencing defendant to more than 15 years under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e), where defendant was convicted of at least three requisite offenses.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. Assuming it was error for the district court to read the nature of defendant's prior convictions when it read the indictment to the jury, the error was harmless as the evidence of defendant's guilt was substantial, there was no further mention of the convictions during the trial and the court specifically instructed the jury that the prior convictions were not evidence of anything; 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e) allows a judge to sentence a defendant to more than 15 years, and defendant's 210 month sentence was not plain error. Judge Bright, concurring.
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