2023 Tenth Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law
Date: March 24, 2023
Docket Number: 21-6046
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Dominic Hunt appealed his convictions on two charges of being a felon in possession of ammunition. The ammunition was used in two shootings in early 2019. Investigators found three spent cartridges at the scene…
Date: March 22, 2023
Docket Number: 20-2145
Justia Opinion Summary: The Pueblo of Jemez filed a quiet title action against the United States relating to lands comprising the Valles Caldera National Preserve (“Valles Caldera”), which the United States purchased from private landowners in…
Date: March 21, 2023
Docket Number: 15-6190
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Brenda Evers Andrew, an Oklahoma state prisoner convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, appealed the district court’s denial of her habeas petition seeking a new trial or resentencing under 28…
Date: March 20, 2023
Docket Number: 20-4120
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2019, Western Watersheds Project sued to challenge the issuance of permits that expired in 2018. The district court dismissed the case for lack of Article III standing. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with…
Date: March 20, 2023
Docket Number: 20-8065
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff-Appellant Wyo-Ben, Inc., (“Wyo-Ben”) appealed a district court’s dismissal of its complaint against the Secretary of the Department of the Interior (the “Secretary”) and the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM;”…
Date: March 17, 2023
Docket Number: 22-2000
Justia Opinion Summary: After the government charged defendant-appellant Steven O’Neil with violating the federal felon-in-possession statute, he moved to suppress eyewitness identification evidence and a gun seized from his backpack. The…
Date: March 17, 2023
Docket Number: 22-8010
Justia Opinion Summary: After a drug-sniffing dog alerted to Defendant Neoal Hayes’ vehicle during a traffic stop, law enforcement officers uncovered 2,505 grams of methamphetamine and 10 grams of heroin inside a duffel bag located behind the…
Date: March 14, 2023
Docket Number: 21-2151
Justia Opinion Summary: In December 2019, defendant-appellant Steven Anderson was stopped by police after a woman complained he was harassing her and an officer observed him walking in the street in violation of a city ordinance. Anderson…
Date: March 14, 2023
Docket Number: 22-5017
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Gerardo Jimenez was a habitual violator of immigration law. Between 1995 and the incident under review here, Defendant illegally entered the United States from his native Mexico and been returned there on nine…
Date: March 14, 2023
Docket Number: 22-5018
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, defendant-appellant Joshua Slinkard pleaded guilty in Oklahoma state court to child sex abuse, lewd molestation, and possession of child pornography. The state court sentenced him to 30 years in prison. But in…
Date: March 13, 2023
Docket Number: 22-5037
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant Conner Polk appealed his four-year prison sentence under the Assimilative Crimes Act (ACA), 18 U.S.C. § 13, for committing a state-law offense on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma. Polk argued the…
Date: March 10, 2023
Docket Number: 22-3019
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant Omar Francisco Orduno-Ramirez pled guilty to a conspiracy drug offense. He received a below-Guidelines-range prison sentence of 144 months, which was affirmed on direct appeal. After he pled guilty,…
Date: March 10, 2023
Docket Number: 22-8002
Justia Opinion Summary: Two Yellowstone Park rangers received an alert that a park employee had spotted Michael Bullinger, a fugitive wanted for allegedly shooting and killing three women in Idaho. The report said Bullinger was leaving the park…
Date: March 7, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1149
Justia Opinion Summary: Law enforcement searched defendant-appellant Tyrell Braxton’s backpack after arresting him and found a gun. Braxton moved to suppress the gun. The government conceded that the warrantless search was not a valid search…
Date: March 7, 2023
Docket Number: 21-6158
Justia Opinion Summary: After months of delay in his drug-conspiracy prosecution, defendant-appellant Aaron Keith unsuccessfully moved to dismiss the indictment on speedy-trial grounds. After his motion was denied, a jury convicted him of all…
Date: March 7, 2023
Docket Number: 22-4025
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff-Appellant Elsa Palacios, personal representative of the estate of the deceased, Bernardo Palacios Carbajal, filed suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendants-Appellees Salt Lake City Police Officers…
Date: March 6, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1020
Justia Opinion Summary: For years, the High Lonesome Ranch restricted access to two roads by locking a gate. But in 2015, during a county meeting, the Garfield County Commission directed the Ranch to remove the locked gate after concluding that…
Date: March 6, 2023
Docket Number: 21-8046
Justia Opinion Summary: The Northern Arapaho Tribe and the Indian Health Service (IHS) entered into a contract under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act for the Tribe to operate a federal healthcare program. Under the…
Date: March 6, 2023
Docket Number: 22-6021
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Brandon Williams pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, he challenged his lengthy sentence as an improper application of the Armed…
Date: March 1, 2023
Docket Number: 21-9572
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Firestorm Pyrotechnics, Inc. (“Firestorm”) sought review of a decision by the Acting Director (“Director”) of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF” or “Bureau”) revoking Firestorm’s…
Date: March 1, 2023
Docket Number: 22-6019
Justia Opinion Summary: Longtime demonstrators outside the Abortion Surgery Center in the City of Norman, Oklahoma (Appellants) contended a disturbing-the-peace ordinance was unconstitutional both facially and as applied to their…
Date: February 28, 2023
Docket Number: 19-3008
Justia Opinion Summary: Cases consolidated for review all centered on attorneys’ fees awarded following a historic class action settlement. Numerous plaintiffs from multiple different states sued Syngenta AG (“Syngenta”), an agricultural…
Date: February 28, 2023
Docket Number: 21-3150
Justia Opinion Summary: While investigating the overdose death of plaintiff Walter Shrum’s wife, law enforcement officers searched Shrum’s home and discovered drugs, firearms, and ammunition. He was charged with various crimes in federal court.…
Date: February 28, 2023
Docket Number: 21-6127
Justia Opinion Summary: Jose Diaz-Menera challenged the sentence he received for money laundering, arguing that the district court erroneously determined his base offense level under § 2S1.1(a)(1) rather than § 2S1.1(a)(2) of the United States…
Date: February 28, 2023
Docket Number: 22-3066
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Monterial Wesley was convicted by jury of drug trafficking. In a post-conviction motion, Wesley alleged his prosecutor suborned perjury about the drug quantities attributable to him, in turn increasing his…
Date: February 22, 2023
Docket Number: 21-3210
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant Asael Linares was indicted as a felon in possession of a firearm after an attempted carjacking. He pled guilty, but objected to a sentencing enhancement and the failure to apply a sentencing decrease…
Date: February 22, 2023
Docket Number: 21-4049
Date: February 22, 2023
Docket Number: 21-8079
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-Appellant Ian Batara-Molina appealed the denial of his motion to suppress methamphetamine found in a car he was driving. The methamphetamine was discovered after Molina was stopped for speeding on his way to…
Date: February 21, 2023
Docket Number: 22-7009
Justia Opinion Summary: In July 2021 defendant-appellant Anthony Prestel entered into a plea agreement with the government under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(C) providing that he would plead guilty to sexual abuse in Indian…
Date: February 17, 2023
Docket Number: 21-4003
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-appellant Joseph Chatwin appealed the district court’s denial and dismissal of his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. In 2013, Chatwin pleaded guilty to two counts: (1) bank fraud and (2) using or carrying (and…
Date: February 17, 2023
Docket Number: 22-2001
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Roxanne Torres appealed the grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendants Janice Madrid and Richard Williamson, agents of the New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau. The encounter between Torres and…
Date: February 10, 2023
Docket Number: 21-9593
Justia Opinion Summary: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a license to Interim Storage Partners to store spent nuclear fuel near the New Mexico border. New Mexico challenged the grant of this license, invoking the Administrative…
Date: February 9, 2023
Docket Number: 22-1098
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff Robert Harrison, a participant in a defined contribution retirement plan established by his former employer, filed suit under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) against the fiduciaries of the…
Date: February 8, 2023
Docket Number: 20-1386
Justia Opinion Summary: After a shoplifting incident at a Colorado Kmart and a shootout two days later, the federal and state governments both indicted Defendant Joshua Garcia. The federal government waited nearly twenty-three months to…
Date: February 8, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1240
Justia Opinion Summary: U.S. Bank National Association (“U.S. Bank”) employed Darren Markley as Vice President and Managing Director of Private Wealth Management at its Denver, Colorado location. Markley managed a team of wealth managers and…
Date: February 6, 2023
Docket Number: 21-3183
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Ahmad Salti appealed a district court’s determination of how to calculate his restitution obligation when his co-conspirator also paid some of it. Defendant was sentenced to pay the victim $35,000 in…
Date: February 3, 2023
Docket Number: 19-8054
Justia Opinion Summary: Doctor Shakeel Kahn (Dr. Kahn) was convicted in federal district court in Wyoming, in part, for dispensing controlled substances not “as authorized,” in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (the CSA). Included in…
Date: February 1, 2023
Docket Number: 21-2116
Justia Opinion Summary: Citizen groups challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s (“BLM”) environmental assessments (“EAs”) and environmental assessment addendum analyzing the environmental impact of 370 applications for permits to drill…
Date: January 26, 2023
Docket Number: 19-4158
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner-appellant Taberon Honie confessed to murder. About two weeks before trial, following his lawyer’s advice, Honie waived his Utah statutory right to jury sentencing in favor of sentencing by the trial judge.…
Date: January 25, 2023
Docket Number: 22-6045
Date: January 24, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1335
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff-appellant Rebecca Brigham worked as a flight attendant for defendant Frontier Airlines. Brigham was a recovering alcoholic who wanted to avoid overnight layovers because they tempted her to drink. To minimize…
Date: January 24, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1446
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff-appellant Francisco Serna sued a police officer and local police department that allegedly prevented him from transporting hemp plants on a flight from Colorado to Texas. In the complaint, he asserted a single…
Date: January 20, 2023
Docket Number: 22-5002
Justia Opinion Summary: Michelle Caddell died from cervical cancer while in custody as a pretrial detainee in the Tulsa County Jail. Yolanda Lucas, as special administrator of decedent Caddell’s estate, initiated this case under 42 U.S.C. §…
Date: January 20, 2023
Docket Number: 23-9900
Justia Opinion Summary: Jane Doe and two boys were accused of killing Doe’s parents. Even though Doe was a juvenile at the time of the murders, the government charged her with two counts of first-degree murder. The government successfully moved…
Date: January 18, 2023
Docket Number: 21-2136
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Joshua Leib challenged the 100-month sentence he received for his conviction for being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm. The specific sentencing question presented by this appeal was…
Date: January 18, 2023
Docket Number: 21-6118
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant-Appellant Germaine Coulter, Sr. appealed his convictions for child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking. For many years, Coulter was a pimp in the Oklahoma City area. Upon release from…
Date: January 18, 2023
Docket Number: 22-1004
Justia Opinion Summary: A Chapter 13 debtor makes payments to a trustee who then disburses those payments to creditors according to a confirmed reorganization plan. A Chapter 13 standing trustee is compensated through fees he collects by taking…
Date: January 18, 2023
Docket Number: 22-2004
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellants Rio Grande Foundation (“RGF”) and Illinois Opportunity Project (“IOP”) were nonprofit advocacy groups challenging an amendment to New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act (“CRA”), which required groups spending…
Date: January 17, 2023
Docket Number: 21-3145
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant United Parcel Service, Inc., engaged in an extensive back-and-forth to attempt to accommodate Plaintiff Susan Norwood. Yet Plaintiff still sued, alleging Defendant failed to immediately tell her that it…
Date: January 11, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1371
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Jabari Johnson, who proceeded pro se at district court but had counsel on appeal, alleged in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint against three prison officers that the officers slammed him on his untreated fractured…
Date: January 10, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1196
Date: January 10, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1317
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs Citizens for Constitutional Integrity and Southwest Advocates, Inc. appealed the rejection of their challenges to the constitutionality of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), and Senate Rule XXII, the…
Date: January 10, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1324
Justia Opinion Summary: A Bolivian arbitration tribunal awarded $36 million in damages to Compania de Inversiones Mercantiles S.A. (“CIMSA”) against Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua S.A.B. de C.V. (“GCC”). GCC fought the award in the Bolivian…
Date: January 10, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1388
Justia Opinion Summary: Douglas Bruce sued the City and County of Denver (“Denver”) and others (collectively, “Appellees”) in federal district court for alleged constitutional violations arising from a Colorado state court’s determination that…
Date: January 3, 2023
Docket Number: 21-1359
Justia Opinion Summary: Sagome, Inc.’s restaurant, L’Hostaria, suffered significant financial losses from reduced customer traffic and government lockdowns and restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. It sought to recover under its…
