Take the Fifth: April 5, 2021 opinions

Posted on by tadbartlett

Designated for publication

  • U.S. v. Navarro-Jusino, 20-40401, appeal from E.D. Tex.
    • Smith, J. (King, Smith, Haynes), criminal, sentencing
    • Affirming 120-month sentence on one count of wire fraud, an 87-month upward variance from the guidelines.
    • The Court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in the sentencing because (1) the wire fraud of more than $500,000 wholly depleted the victim’s life’s savings and forced him to live on government assistance; (2) the defendant showed a lack of appreciation for the seriousness of his offense, writing it off as a “mistake” and as a bad business judgment; and (3) the sentence was still far less than the statutory maximum of 20 years.

Unpublished

  • U.S. v. Williams, 19-60251, appeal from N.D. Miss.
    • per curiam (Wiener, Southwick, Duncan), habeas corpus
    • Affirming the district court’s transfer of a Rule 60(b) motion to the Court of Appeals as a successive § 2255 petition.
  • Triminio-Herrera v. Garland, 19-60913, petition for review of BIA order
    • per curiam (Wiener, Southwick, Duncan), immigration
    • Denying Honduran citizen’s petition for review of BIA dismissal of her appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of her applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture.
  • U.S. v. Mondragon-Torres, 20-10214, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Jones, Clement, Haynes), criminal
    • Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
  • U.S. v. Bell, 20-10254, appeal from N.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Jones, Clement, Graves), criminal, sentencing
    • Affirming 24-month sentence on violation of supervised release special conditions, and imposition of new conditions for new term of supervised release.
  • Resendez v. U.S., 20-20014, appeal from S.D. Tex.
    • per curiam (Wiener, Southwick, Duncan), prisoner suit
    • Affirming dismissal of prisoner suit challenging underlying conviction.
  • U.S. v. Smith, 20-30136, appeal from W.D. La.
    • per curiam (Jones, Barksdale, Stewart), criminal, First Step Act
    • Affirming denial of motion for sentence reduction under First Step Act.