United States v. Wiseman, No. 18-3904 (6th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseElyria Police officers, dispatched to the house, observed blood on the frame of an open window. Wiseman appeared near a vehicle parked in the driveway and stated that there was a handgun on the driveway. The officers entered the home and observed a teenaged male in a pool of blood close to the bloody window; he appeared to have been shot multiple times. Police collected the loaded gun from the driveway, a package with white powder containing cocaine from the kitchen, and surveillance videos; they collected $4,949.00 in cash from Wiseman’s person. In a recorded video interview. Wiseman stated that he had been awoken by a voice and, on his surveillance monitor, saw Whitaker, that he had knocked Whitaker’s gun out of his hand and then shot Whitaker with a gun that Wiseman already had in the house. Wiseman subsequently placed that gun in a safe in the vehicle. Officers obtained a search warrant; the safe contained the handgun with a defaced serial number, 11 bags of a white powder containing cocaine, cutting material, a digital scale, and documents bearing Wiseman’s name. Wiseman was charged under 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1) 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1) & 924. The government identified the previous felony drug offense convictions that it intended to rely upon in enhancing his sentence. The Sixth Circuit affirmed his convictions and 262-month sentence, rejecting arguments that the First Step Act of 2018 rendered his sentencing improper, that he was entitled to a jury instruction on the justification defense, and that testimony about his parolee status was improperly admitted. The Act does not apply retroactively and did not alter the definition of “felony drug offense[s]” that serve as qualifying convictions for sentencing enhancement under 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(C).
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