United States v. Nora Guevara Triana, No. 22-1455 (8th Cir. 2023)
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Defendant and co-Defendant were convicted in district court on charges arising out of the kidnapping of Defendant’s minor grandchildren. Defendant appealed her conviction for aiding and abetting kidnapping, and co-Defendant appealed his conviction for being a prohibited person in possession of firearms. Defendant appealed, asserting (1) the district court erred in refusing to admit the full recording of her interview with law enforcement; (2) the district court erred in instructing the jury and preparing the jury verdict form; and (3) the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction. Co-Defendant appealed, asserting the district court erred when it (1) declined to grant his motion to withdraw his plea; and (2) committed procedural error.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that co-Defendant has not offered a fair and just reason for withdrawing his plea. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Moreover, the court wrote that the children’s mother testified that she did not give consent to co-Defendant to take the children and that Defendant told her that co-Defendant was going to take the children because the mother did not love them, did not deserve to be their mother, and was not going to be able to see them ever again. The court found that the record contains more than sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to find Defendant guilty of aiding and abetting kidnapping.
Court Description: [Erickson, Author, with Loken and Colloton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court did not err in denying defendant Leichleiter's motion to withdraw his guilty plea; the district court did not err in imposing a four-level enhancement under Guidelines Sec. 2K2.1(b)(6)(B) for possessing firearms in connection with another felony offense; the district court did not err when it refused to grant Leichleiter's request for an acceptance-of-responsibility reduction where he showed no remorse and attempted to withdraw his plea; the evidence was sufficient to support defendant Guevera's conviction for aiding and abetting kidnapping; while the jury instruction on kidnapping and aiding abetting was not a model of clarity when it charged kidnapping and aiding and abetting, it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would have found Guevara guilty absent the alleged error; with respect to Guevera's claim that the district court erred in denying her request to admit the full recording of her interview with law enforcement, she failed to identify which portions were necessary to explain the admitted portions, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying her request.
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