United States v. Drapeau, Jr., No. 10-2159 (8th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer resulting in bodily injury and was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release. Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence, arguing that the district court erred by denying his motion for a judgment of acquittal, improperly excluding character evidence of the alleged victim, and imposing additional conditions of supervised release after sentencing. The court held that a reasonable jury could conclude that the police officer did not use excessive force in performing his official duties and that defendant did not act in self-defense when he closed the window on the officer's arm. Therefore, the court held that the district court did not err in denying the motion for a judgment of acquittal. The court also held that the district court did not err in excluding the proposed evidence of the officer's reputation for aggression and unlawfulness. The court further held that the district court did not err in imposing the supervised release conditions. Accordingly, the court affirmed the conviction and sentence.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law and Sentencing. Evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for assaulting a federal officer; defendant had no knowledge of the officer's supposed reputation for violence and the court did not err in refusing to admit such evidence with respect to defendant's claim of self-defense; supervised release provision requiring DNA sample was mentioned at sentencing, and there was no discrepancy between the oral pronouncement of sentence and the judgment and commitment order; drug testing provision was not plain error. Judge Bright, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
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