United States v. Dodson, No. 15-1139 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his conviction and sentence for aiding and abetting embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds. The district court overruled defendant's objection to receiving a criminal history point for a previous uncounseled conviction, but varied downward from the advisory Guidelines range, sentencing defendant to 6 months in prison and 2 years of supervised release. The court concluded that the evidence was sufficient to convict defendant. Defendant attempts to show a constitutional error in his prior conviction by arguing that he was not advised of his right to counsel and therefore did not knowingly waive that right during the proceeding that led to his misdemeanor conviction. The record, however, is silent with regard to any evidence that would establish his factual claim. Because defendant failed to meet his burden of proving the factual basis upon which his legal argument relies, the district court did not err in calculating his criminal history score. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Kelly, Author, with Murphy and Benton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. Evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for aiding and abetting embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds; once the government carried its burden of establishing a conviction for purposes of calculating criminal history, the burden shifts to defendant to show that the conviction was not constitutionally valid; defendant did not present any evidence in support of his challenge to counting the misdemeanor conviction, and the court did not err in including the conviction in its criminal history calculation.
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