United States v. Wiggins, No. 12-4007 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his conviction and sentence for conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and more than 50 grams of cocaine base. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing wiretap transcripts to be used to assist the jury where there was more than sufficient evidence to support the identification of defendant's voice on the records; the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of prior offenses under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) where defendant put his intent and knowledge of the drug conspiracy at issue; the district court correctly applied the career offender enhancement to defendant's sentence under U.S.S.G. 4B1.2(b); the district court correctly imposed a life sentence under 21 U.S.C. 841(b); and there was no cumulative error. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. There was more than sufficient evidence to support the identification of defendant's voice on wiretap recordings, and the district court did nor abuse its discretion by allowing the government to introduce transcripts of the recordings as a jury aid; no error in admitting Rule 404(b) evidence of prior drug convictions when defendant put his intent and knowledge of the drug conspiracy in issue; any error in calculating the drug quantity attributable to defendant was harmless as defendant was properly found to be a career offender under Guidelines Sec. 4B1.1 and his offense level was set at 37 regardless of the quantity of drug attributable to him; defendant was subject to a mandatory life sentence under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b), and the court did not err in imposing a life sentence; claim of cumulative error rejected.
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