DISCLAIMER: Any unofficial case summaries below are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
133134P.pdf 12/22/2014 United States v. Delvonn Battle
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 13-3134
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, Waterloo
[PUBLISHED] [Shepherd, Author, with Benton, Melloy and Shepherd, Circuit
Judges]
Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. Evidence that defendant used
the seized weapon in a prior shooting was highly probative of his
ownership or control of the weapon and was properly admitted to prove
constructive possession at the time of his arrest in this case, especially
where the court gave a limiting instruction which lessened any unfair
prejudice; the district court did not err in determining that evidence
regarding another passenger's criminal record had minimal probative value
and would risk distraction and should not be admitted; the concept of
judicial immunity is not recognized in the Eighth Circuit and the court
did not err in refusing to grant it to a third passenger in the vehicle;
evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for possession
of the weapon; no error in imposing a four-level enhancement under
Guidelines Sec. 2K2.1(b)(6)(B)for possession of the weapon in connection
with the earlier shooting; the court did not err in denying defendant's
request for a downward variance in order to avoid sentencing disparities
as this principle applies to disparities among federal defendants and the
persons to whom defendant sought to compare himself (the other passengers
in the car who were prosecuted in state court) were not federal
defendants.