052070P.pdf   07/03/2006  United States  v.  Mike Chase
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  05-2070
   District of South Dakota   
   [PUBLISHED] [Wollman, Author, with Loken, Chief Judge, and Riley,
   Circuit Judge]
   Criminal case - criminal law and sentencing. Evidence was sufficient
   to support conviction for voluntary manslaughter; district court did not
   err in refusing to admit evidence of prior attacks on defendant and his
   family by members of the rival group he feared would attack him; district
   court did not err in refusing to admit statements from a witness who took
   the Fifth Amendment and did not testify at trial; prosecutor's rebuttal
   closing arguments did not violate defendant's right to a fair trial; 
   district court did not abuse its discretion in departing upward under 
   Guidelines Secs. 5K2.6 and 5K2.8; 96 month sentence was not unreasonable 
   as it amounts to only an 18% variance and was justified by the nature and
   circumstances of the offense and defendant's history of violence.