United States v. Major; United States v. Huff, No. 10-10147 (9th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseIn consolidated appeals, Marcus Major and Jordan Huff appealed from their convictions under Title 18 U.S.C. 1951 and 924. They also appealed from their sentence pursuant to section 924(c). The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of other crimes and in admitting evidence of defendants' affiliation with the High Roller Boyz. The court also held that there was no constitutional error in the district court's effort to restrict defendants' contact with anyone other than their attorneys; section 924(c) did not violate the doctrine of separation of powers or violate the Eighth Amendment; and the district court was correct in concluding that section 924(c) required the court to determine the order in which a defendant received convictions, rather than the order in which offenses were committed. Applying the rule of lenity, when the district court did not have sufficient information to determine the order in which the jury made determinations of guilt during jury deliberations on multiple counts under section 924(c), it must order the convictions so that the mandatory minimum sentenced was minimized. In this case, application of the rule required the district court to deem one of the brandishing counts, rather than a discharging count, to be the first conviction.
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