United States v. D. B., No. 22-2005 (8th Cir. 2023)
Annotate this Case
D.B., a juvenile and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree burglary pursuant to a plea agreement. The district court sentenced him to 12 months of official detention followed by a three-year term of juvenile delinquent supervision. D.B. appeals, arguing that his federal juvenile delinquency proceedings should have been dismissed because he was not afforded a speedy trial as required by the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act (FJDA), and that his sentence is unreasonable.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court explained it need not resolve whether D.B.’s speedy trial rights under the FJDA were violated because D.B. waived his right to appeal that issue as part of his plea agreement. Further, D.B. does not assert that his sentence is unlawful or that his counsel was ineffective. His sentence likewise did not violate the terms of his plea agreement. Although the district court declined to adopt the parties’ joint recommendation for a sentence of probation, the agreement cautioned that this recommendation was not binding on the district court. And that warning was expressly reiterated to D.B. during his change-of-plea hearing. Accordingly, the court concluded that the sentence imposed by the district court here was not plainly unreasonable.
Court Description: [Kelly, Author, with Wollman and Kobes, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and Sentencing. Defendant waived his right to appeal any Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act speedy trial violation as part of his plea agreement; a district court enjoys broad discretion when sentencing a juvenile offender, and the sentence imposed by the district court is not plainly unreasonable.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.