United States v. Beckstrom, No. 10-4108 (10th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseDefendant Kim Beckstrom was convicted of possessing fifty grams or more of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Because he had two prior felony drug convictions, Defendant was sentenced to life under mandatory sentencing provisions. On appeal, Defendant challenged both his conviction and sentence, arguing the district court improperly denied him the opportunity to present a duress defense, erred in treating his two prior felony convictions as separate criminal episodes, and increased unconstitutionally his maximum sentence based on facts never found by the jury. Upon review of the trial court record and applicable legal authority, the Tenth Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence. The Court found Defendant was properly denied the duress defense because he failed to proffer evidence showing he lacked a reasonable opportunity to escape the threatened harm. The Court further concluded that the district court correctly treated Defendant's two prior drug felonies as arising from separate criminal episodes. With regard to Defendant's constitutional claim, the Court found, as Defendant conceded, it was foreclosed by Supreme Court precedent.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.