Thursday, April 25, 2013

Eighth Circuit -- United States v. Joel Castillo

From the court's website:


122898P.pdf   04/24/2013  United States  v.  Joel Castillo
  U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  12-2898
  U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Ft. Smith    
  [PUBLISHED] [Murphy, Author, with Smith and Gruender, Circuit Judges]
  Criminal Case - conviction and sentence. Viewing the evidence in the
  light most favorable to jury verdict, government presented sufficient
  evidence for rational jury to find Castillo possessed methamphetamine
  knowingly or intentionally, as drugs were found in truck he alone drove,
  he appeared nervous at traffic stop, drugs smelled of mustard, he was
  unsurprised when drugs discovered, and story was implausible. District
  court did not clearly err in denying offense level reduction for mitigating
  role and considered the section 3553(a) factors in determining sentence. 
  District court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Castillo.
Compiled by D.E. Frydrychowski, who is, not incidentally, not giving you legal advice.

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Author's SSRN page here.