8th Circuit decides two N.D. cases Friday, June 9, 2023

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

In Mound v. United States the coourt held that the district court did not err in dismissing claims for failure to warn of road conditions, as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's decision about whether or not to warn motorists of unsafe driving conditions on a road on the reservation fell within the discretionary exception; as the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction under the discretionary function exception, the appeal is dismissed.

Read the court's opinion at: http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/23/06/221721P.pdf

In United States v. Johnson the court held that the rules of criminal procedure do not require that a defendant be given an opportunity to present a "partial allocution" before the court rules on objections to the presentence report - here, whether defendant should be denied acceptance of responsibility under Guidelines Sec. 3E1.1; defendant could have introduced evidence on the issue before the court ruled, and he was given an opportunity to allocute and apologize to the victims before the court passed sentence; this procedure conformed to the rules and did not constitute procedural error.

Read the court's opinion at: http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/23/06/222586U.pdf