United States v. Zarco, No. 17-3434 (8th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute a controlled substance. The court held that the district court did not err by allowing the prosecutor to use the phrase "historical conspiracy" during trial. In this case, defendant failed to explain how the prosecutor's use of the phrase created a new crime or invited the jury to find him guilty under a relaxed burden or proof. Because the district court did not err, the court need not consider whether any error was structural.
Court Description: Gruender, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Loken, Circuit Judge] Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court did not err in allowing the prosecutor to use the phrase "historical conspiracy" to describe this drug conspiracy with little or no physical evidence.
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