151890P.pdf   07/06/2016  United States  v.  Austin DeCoster
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  15-1890
                          and No:  15-1891
   U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Ft. Dodge   
   [PUBLISHED] [Murphy, Author, with Beam and Gruender, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. In a prosecution for 
   violating 21 U.S.C. Sec. 331(a) for introducing eggs that had been 
   adulterated with salmonella into interstate commerce, the court rejects 
   defendants' Due Process Clause and Eighth Amendment constitutional 
   challenges; the penalty for defendants' violation was relatively small - 
   three months - and did not violate due process; both the language of the 
   statute and relevant Supreme Court precedent support the conclusion that 
   defendants are not required to know they violated the Act to be subject to 
   statutory penalties; the sentences are not grossly disproportionate to the 
   offense and do not violate the Eighth Amendment; the district court did 
   not commit any procedural error in setting the sentences, and the 
   sentences imposed were not substantially unreasonable. Judge Gruender, 
   concurring. Judge Beam, dissenting.