Unpublished Decisions

U.S. v. Moreno, 2010 WL 597506 (2/22/10) (unpub'd) - Evidence of the defendant's involvement in criminal conduct for which he was not convicted met the "low" standard of "minimum indicia of reliability." There was more than just a police report. There were eyewitnesses and/or probable cause findings. The extra criminal conduct justified the district court varying upward from 37 months to 60 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Interestingly, the 10th refuses to consider a substantive unreasonableness argument because appellate counsel just made a bare contention with no supporting argument, but then tried to head off at the pass a future ineffective assistance claim by saying "it may not be inferred that the defendant was prejudiced" by counsel's inadequate briefing because it is an "extraordinarily heavy burden" to succeed on a substantive-reasonableness claim.

U.S. v. Castaneda, 2010 WL 653575 (2/25/10) (unpub'd) - There was sufficient evidence of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, even though the trial court excluded expert testimony on what the "brick" package contained. The jury could infer the observed substance was cocaine.