Designated for publication
- U.S. v. Garza, 22-11007, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Jolly, Engelhardt, Oldham), criminal, sentencing, Miranda
- Affirming conviction and 235-month sentence on drug and firearm offenses.
- The Court held that the district court did not err in denying a motion to suppress a non-Mirandized statement by the defendant upon his arrest that he had a handgun in his bedroom, because (1) the defendant waived any error by affirmatively introducing the statement himself during trial, and (2) the public safety exemption applied.
- The Court held that the inclusion of a 2016 final conviction for marijuana possession was proper in the sentencing analysis by the district court, and that the district court did not err in retroactively parsing the prior conviction to determine if it could have been imposed for possession of hemp, which had subsequently been amended out of the definition of marijuana. The Court held that it only mattered that hemp was included in the statutory definition at the time of the 2016 conviction and at the time the conviction became final.
- Grisham v. Valenciano, 22-50915, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- Stewart, J. (Stewart, Dennis, Wilson), qualified immunity
- Affirming qualified immunity summary judgment dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims for false arrest and violation of their First Amendment rights, arising from arrests in conjunction with Second Amendment protest involving one of the plaintiffs’ brandishing of an assault-type gun in protest of the city’s firearm possession ordinance and the other plaintiff’s failure to obey the responding officers’ directives while he was filming the encounter.
- The Court held, “the officers had probable cause to make the arrests for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, thus precluding the arrestees’ retaliatory arrest claims. … [T]he officers were aware that the disorderly conduct statute was constitutional and that Texas courts have held that while there clearly are constitutional rights to bear arms and to express oneself freely, there is no constitutionally protected right to display a firearm in a public place in a manner that is calculated to alarm.” (Internal quotation marks and citation omitted).
Unpublished
- York v. Welch, 20-40580, appeal from E.D. Tex.
- Richman, C.J. (Richman, Davis, Dennis), municipal liability
- Affirming 12(c) dismissal of Monell claims against city arising from city’s alleged cover-up of facts of police officer’s shooting and killing of an unarmed man. “[T]he Supreme Court has repeatedly admonished that we distinguish acts of the municipality from those of its employees. The Yorks have not plausibly pleaded that Beaumont’s conduct was a moving force behind Chaz’s death.”
- Smocks v. U.S., 23-10746, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Elrod, Oldham, Wilson), habeas corpus
- Affirming dismissal of § 2241 petition.
- U.S. v. Hernandez-Munoz, 23-10765, appeal from N.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Smith, Higginson, Engelhardt), criminal
- Granting Anders motion to withdraw, and dismissing appeal.
- U.S. v. Goldsmith, 23-30363, appeal from W.D. La.
- per curiam (Higginbotham, Stewart, Southwick), criminal, search and seizure
- Affirming conviction of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, upholding denial of motion to suppress.
- Mason v. City of Waco, 23-50108, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Wiener, Haynes, Higginson), § 1983
- Affirming summary judgment dismissal of former police officer’s constitutional claims arising from alleged misconduct by police department and city in the wake of his commencement of a Facebook Live blog that discussed policing and that resulted in alleged backlash among other police officers.
- Assadi v. Osherow, 23-50523, appeal from W.D. Tex.
- per curiam (Davis, Ho, Ramirez), bankruptcy
- Affirming various orders entered against pro se debtor in bankruptcy proceedings.
Take the Fifth 