United States v. Vincent Perez, No. 22-1740 (8th Cir. 2023)
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A jury convicted Defendant of two child pornography-related offenses. On appeal, Defendant challenged the district court’s admission of social media evidence at trial, the sufficiency of the evidence, and the court’s application of a 5-level enhancement at sentencing.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed his convictions but vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing. The court explained that taken together, this circumstantial evidence provided a sufficient basis for the district court to permit the jury to decide whether the MeWe account belonged to Defendant. Further Defendant asserted that the district court erred in applying an enhancement under USSG Section 4B1.5(b)(1) because he was not convicted of a “covered sex crime.” With the 5-level enhancement, Defendant’s advisory Guidelines range was 262 to 327 months of imprisonment; without it, the range would be 180 to 188 months. Under these circumstances, Defendant has shown “a reasonable probability that but for the error he would have received a more favorable sentence.”
Court Description: [Kelly, Author, with Benton and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and Sentencing. Records from the social media network MeWe were properly authenticated, and it was not error to admit them and let the jury decide whether the account belonged to defendant; the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's child pornography convictions; defendant's offenses are expressly excluded from the definition of "covered sex crime" for purposes of Guidelines Sec. 4B1.5(a), and the district court erred in imposing a five-level enhancement under the section; defendant's sentence is vacated, and the matter is remanded for resentencing.
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