132320P.pdf   07/01/2014  United States  v.  Rory Meeks
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  13-2320
   U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Cedar Rapids   
   [PUBLISHED] [Gruender, Author, with Smith and Colloton, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal Case - Conviction and Sentence. Evidence was sufficient to allow 
   reasonable jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Meeks knowingly 
   participated in an agreement to manufacture marijuana and to convict him 
   of conspiring to manufacture 100 or more marijuana plants. The jury found 
   co-defendants' testimony to be credible and minor inconsistencies did not 
   create a basis upon which the jury's decision should be disturbed. 
   District court did not abuse its discretion in admitting five out-of-court 
   statements under Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E), as they were admissible as 
   declarations of a coconspirators and statements were made in furtherance 
   of the conspiracy. Imposition of mandatory minimum sentence did not 
   violate the Eighth Amendment and were not grossly disproportionate to the 
   underlying crime.