8th Circuit decides N.D. case Thursday, May 18, 2023

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued an opinion in a North Dakota case.

In United States v. Walker the court held that defendant's challenges to the search warrant application in the case were not raised below and are waived; in any event, the challenges are premised on a basic factual misunderstanding of the evidence, and the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying the suppression motion and defendant's request for a Franks hearing; even if a particular video clip involving another man was admissible, the district court did not abuse its discretion in deciding to exclude it under Rule 403 as it did not depict sexual exploitation and had only marginal relevance to the issue of defendant's guilt on the charge of sexual exploitation of a child; further it presented a considerable risk of unfair prejudice to the government's witness; additionally, the point defendant sought to make was raised by other evidence; defendant failed to show the district court's instruction on aiding and abetting was plainly erroneous.

Read the court's opinion at: http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/23/05/222334P.pdf