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USA v. Michael Lepage, 06-1881.  The appellant entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment. On appeal he challenges the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress the firearm...

USA v. Spring L. Acosta,  05-3598 & 3661.  This appeal requires the 7th Circuit to consider the extent to which a member of a conspiracy can be held liable under the United States Sentencing Guidelines for the use of a minor where there is no evidence that the defendant personally directed or encouraged...

USA v. Greg L. Murray, 06-1078.    A jury convicted the defendant of participating in a drug conspiracy in which a gun was used and a death resulted from that use, and the judge sentenced him to life in prison. Together with two other men, Hines and Trice, the defendant had agreed...

USA v. Jacek Radziszewski, 06-1559.   After a seven-day trial, a jury convicted Jacek Radziszewski of committing mail and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to obtain real estate loans through false representations. On appeal, Radziszewski challeges the district court’s exclusion of his proffered goodfaith defense (I stole the money but I...

USA v. Gary Roberson,  06-1121.  The defendant, with three accomplices, committed an armed bank robbery, netting $133,000, of which the defendant’s share was $50,000. He was charged with both bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(a), (d), and using a firearm in a crime of violence (which bank robbery is). 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)....

USA v. Deondry Chambers,  06-2405.  The defendant pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The judge, finding that the defendant had committed three crimes of violence previously, sentenced him to 188 months as an armed career criminal. 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). The only question presented by the appeal is...

USA v. Patrick L. Stitman, 05-2277.  In the summer of 2003, Patrick Stitman went on a bank robbery spree, hitting three banks on three separate occasions. Each time, he threatened to shoot or kill the bank teller, even though he was actually unarmed. During one robbery, Stitman told the bank teller that he...

United States v. Mendoza, No 06-2999.

A jury found José Mendoza guilty of distributing amphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).  Mendoza challenges the sufficiency of the government’s evidence against him and the district court’s procedure for identifying alternate jurors.  We affirm.

At the beginning of his trial on...

USA v. Shaun Brown, 05-4690.  Arthur Veal ran a trucking business, one function of which was to import large quantities of cocaine. Shaun Brown was among Veal’s regular customers.   On November 15, 2000, one of Veal’s trucks arrived in Dolton, Illinois, carrying 25 kilograms of cocaine. Veal called Brown, who had arranged to...

USA v. Morad Abu Sliman, 05-3056. This is an amount of loss opinion. The defendant engaged in a scheme with others involving counterfeit and forged checks.

Held:  The government must prove sentencing enhancements by a preponderance of evidence standard.  Here, the district court determined that the intended fraud amount was...