8th Circuit decides N.D. cases Wednesday, July 13, 2022

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued opinions in two North Dakota cases.

In United States v. Armstrong the court held that a police officer's pre-Miranda question about defendant's employment was a standard booking question, and defendant's response was admissible; the district court did not err in admitting evidence of defendant's 2018 visit to rival drug dealers as it was relevant to defendant's actions in establishing his drug trafficking organization; nor did the court commit plain error in admitting evidence of a 2015 traffic stop as it was not plainly irrelevant to proving the existence of a later conspiracy and defendant's knowledge and intent to commit the charged offense; defendant's sentence, a downward variance, was not substantively unreasonable, and his sentence did not create an unwarranted disparity with a co-conspirator.

Read the court's opinion at: http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/22/07/211299P.pdf

In United States v. Johnson the court held that considering the totality of the circumstances, defendant was not in custody during interviews with law enforcement and his statements were admissible; the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for sexually assaulting an incapacitated person in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2242(2)(B).

Read the court's opinion at: http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/22/07/213565P.pdf