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.
151827P.pdf 07/27/2016 United States v. Mario Evans
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 15-1827
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - Cape Girardeau
[PUBLISHED] [Loken, Author, with Gruender and Kelly, Circuit Judges]
Criminal case - Criminal law. A police officer had reasonable suspicion
that criminal activity was afoot when he pulled behind a car parked in an
abandoned car wash to investigate what the occupants were doing in the
high crime area at that time of night; when the officer saw defendant, a
known felon, standing next to another car in a car wash bay, the officer
reasonably feared for his safety and had grounds to enter the car wash bay
to see if anyone else was present and was justified in shining his light
into the car parked in the bay; marijuana and a firearm in plain view in
the car could be lawfully seized; defendant's claim the magistrate judge
should have recused herself because of her prior employment as an
Assistant U.S. Attorney was not preserved for review as it was not
appealed to the district court; an AUSA without any involvement in the
case brought by other attorneys in her former office is not required to
recuse; defendant presented no evidence that the absence of
African-American jurors was due the systematic exclusion of the group in
the jury selection process and his claim that he was denied his Sixth
Amendment because of the all-white jury is rejected.