United States v. Campbell, No. 19-1127 (8th Cir. 2021)
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Defendants William, Junior, Carter, and Senior appealed their convictions on various drug trafficking charges. In regard to Defendant William's challenges, the Eighth Circuit concluded that the district court did not err by denying his motion to suppress the wiretap evidence; abuse its discretion in limiting the cross-examination, err in denying his request for a multiple conspiracies jury instruction, and err in applying witness intimidation and aggravated role enhancements. In regard to Defendant Junior's challenges, the court concluded that there was no error in the district court's suppression of the wiretap evidence; in granting the government's motion to sever; in determining that the evidence was sufficient to sustain his convictions; and in limiting cross-examination.
In regard to Defendant Carter's challenges, the court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying his request for a buyer-seller instruction; did not err in determining that the evidence was sufficient to sustain his convictions; and did not abuse its discretion in determining that defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable. Finally, in regard to Defendant Senior's challenges, the court concluded that the district court properly denied his multiple-conspiracy and buyer-seller instructions, and the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction for conspiracy and distribution of crack and cocaine. The court affirmed the district court's judgment in its entirety.
Court Description: [Shepherd, Author, with Loken and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. The district court did not err in denying defendant Williams's motion to suppress wiretap evidence as the application for the wiretap established the wiretaps were necessary; the district court did not abuse its discretion by limiting defendant Williams's cross-examination of cooperating witnesses about their potential sentences or rejecting his request to introduce their plea agreements; the district court did not err in rejecting defendant Williams's request for a multiple-conspiracies instruction as such an instruction was not supported by the evidence at trial, which established a single conspiracy; no error in applying enhancements to defendant Williams's offense level based on witness intimidation and his organizer/leader role in the offense; the government properly minimized irrelevant communications, and the district court did not err in denying defendant Campbell Jr.'s motion to suppress; no error in granting the government's pre-trial motion to sever two defendants as the severed defendants' statements were important in proving a conspiracy existed and could not have been admitted in full if they had not been severed; evidence was sufficient to support defendant Campbell Jr.'s convictions for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute; the court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant Carter's motion for a buyer-seller instruction as it was not supported by the evidence; evidence was sufficient to support defendant Carter's conviction for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute; defendant Carter's sentence was not substantively unreasonable; Campbell Sr.'s requests for multiple-conspiracy and buyer-seller instructions were properly denied; evidence was sufficient to support Campbell Sr.'s convictions for conspiracy and distribution of crack and cocaine.
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