151107P.pdf   11/18/2015  United States  v.  Michael Heath Thetford
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  15-1107
   U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota - Pierre   
   [PUBLISHED] [Murphy, Author, with Loken and Colloton, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law. The district court did not err in giving the 
   Eighth Circuit Model Jury Instruction on felon in possession of a firearm 
   and this court's recent decision in No. 15-1480 U.S. v. Garcia-Hernandez 
   precludes defendant's argument that the instruction was defective because 
   it failed to include language adding an additional mens rea element 
   requiring the government to prove that defendant possessed the firearm 
   knowing it had traveled in or affected interstate commerce; no error in 
   admitting the plea agreements and judgments from defendant's related 
   Alabama federal district court cases as the documents contained multiple 
   statements in which defendant implicated his guilt in these crimes; 
   evidentiary arguments rejected as any error was harmless in light of the 
   overwhelming evidence against defendant.