United States v. Taylor, No. 15-1236 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendants Andrew Taylor and Victor Vickers were convicted of drug-related offenses. Taylor was also convicted of two counts based on a murder for hire conspiracy. The court concluded that the government presented sufficient evidence to support Taylor's conviction of conspiracy to distribute over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana or over 5 kilograms of cocaine; Vickers' conviction for conspiracy to distribute less than 100 kilograms of marijuana; Taylor's conviction for aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine; and Taylor's convictions of conspiracy to commit murder for hire and possession of a machine gun in furtherance of a crime of violence. The court also concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Taylor's motion for a mistrial where the district court did strike the improper testimony regarding 24 wiretap recordings and an officer's testimony, and Taylor does not explain why this failed to cure any prejudice; there was a sufficient basis on which TFO Corbin could identify Taylor's voice and the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting these recordings; any error in admitting Officer Woodward's testimony was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt; and the court rejected Taylor's claim of cumulative errors where any errors committed by the district court were harmless. Finally, the district court did err in applying the murder cross reference in USSG 2D1.1(d)(1) where the murder at issue is not relevant conduct under USSG 1B1.3(a)(2) because it cannot be grouped with Vickers' offense of conviction. Accordingly, the court affirmed the convictions, vacated Vickers' sentence, and remanded for resentencing.
Court Description: Murphy, Author, with Smith and Benton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. Evidence was sufficient to support defendant Taylor's conviction for conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilos of marijuana and more than 5 kilos of cocaine, as well as his convictions for aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine and conspiracy to commit murder for hire and possession of a machine gun; evidence was also sufficient to support defendant Vicker's conviction for conspiracy to distribute less than 100 kilos of marijuana; there was a sufficient basis for an FBI agent to identify defendant Taylor's voice on wiretap recordings; any Confrontation Clause error in admitting a police officer's testimony relating to a report of a shooting was harmless in light of the other evidence concerning defendant Taylor's intent to have the man killed; the district court erred by applying the murder cross reference in Guidelines Sec. 2D1.1(d)(1) to defendant Taylor as the murder of a man named Ewing was not relevant conduct under Guidelines Sec. 1B1.3; remanded for resentencing.
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