United States v. Thetford, No. 15-1107 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of four felonies after he impersonated an FBI agent and threatened a married couple living in South Dakota as part of a scheme to steal their property. On appeal, defendant challenged the district court's jury instruction on the felon in possession of a firearm charge. The court concluded that defendant's argument is foreclosed by its decision in United States v. Garcia-Hernandez, where the court addressed the same issue and held that the mens rea element requirement in 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(2) does not apply to the interstate-commerce element of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). The court also rejected defendant's contention that the district court erred in admitting the plea agreements and judgments from his Alabama cases. In this case, the plea agreements and the transcript of the hearing were relevant because they contained multiple statements in which defendant implicated his guilt in the crimes charged in South Dakota. Therefore, those statements were admissible as opposing party statements under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2). Further, the statements are not barred under Rule 410 and 404(b). The court rejected defendant's remaining evidentiary claims because any error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence against defendant. Accordingly, the court affirmed the convictions.
Court Description: Murphy, Author, with Loken and Colloton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court did not err in giving the Eighth Circuit Model Jury Instruction on felon in possession of a firearm and this court's recent decision in No. 15-1480 U.S. v. Garcia-Hernandez precludes defendant's argument that the instruction was defective because it failed to include language adding an additional mens rea element requiring the government to prove that defendant possessed the firearm knowing it had traveled in or affected interstate commerce; no error in admitting the plea agreements and judgments from defendant's related Alabama federal district court cases as the documents contained multiple statements in which defendant implicated his guilt in these crimes; evidentiary arguments rejected as any error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence against defendant.
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.