United States v. Deshonte Dickson, No. 22-2002 (8th Cir. 2023)
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At sentencing, the district court, varying upward from the advisory guidelines sentencing range, imposed a sentence of 120 months imprisonment plus four years of supervised release upon Defendant. Defendant appealed. He argued the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conspiracy conviction.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed Defendant’s conviction and remanded for resentencing. The court concluded there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict. The court agreed with Defendant that the district court committed procedural sentencing error when it adopted the Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”) and, without adequate notice varied upward for reasons that contradicted the PSR’s factual findings. However, the court found that the jury was in the best position to assess the credibility of the witnesses. Thus, the court did not disturb the jury’s credibility findings on appeal. Similarly, the court concluded that there is sufficient evidence to uphold Defendant’s conspiracy conviction. Finally, the court wrote that it cannot conclude that the inconsistencies between the PSR findings and the findings on which the district court based its upward variance, combined with the lack of prior notice, resulted in procedural sentencing error that was harmless.
Court Description: [Loken, Author, with Colloton and Benton, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and Sentencing. The evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine; on the record before this court, it cannot conclude that the inconsistencies between the PSR findings concerning defendant's conduct and the findings on which the district court based its upward variance, combined with the lack of prior notice, resulted in a harmless procedural error; defendant's sentence is vacated, and the matter is remanded for resentencing.
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