182810P.pdf   04/06/2020  United States  v.  Marcell Shavers
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  18-2810
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City   
   [PUBLISHED] [Shepherd, Author, with Grasz and Kobes, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. There was sufficient evidence 
   from which a reasonable jury could find defendant knew of, agreed to and 
   intended to participate in his co-conspirator's plan to possess 
   methamphetamine with intent to distribute; the jury could infer the 
   co-conspirator's intent to distribute the drug from the quantity involved, 
   his prior conduct and the fact the co-conspirator did not use the drug; 
   the evidence showed defendant was a participant in the drug deal and was 
   not merely present; claim jury instructions constructively amended or 
   varied from the superseding indictment rejected; the district court did 
   not err in refusing to give buyer-seller and mere-presence instructions; 
   testimony that defendant and his co-conspirator knew each other in prison 
   and that the co-conspirator had helped defendant was properly admitted to 
   show their prior relationship and explain why defendant would help him; 
   the district court did not err in applying the murder cross-reference in 
   Guidelines Sec. 2D1.1(d)(1)where the court concluded at sentencing that 
   the preponderance of the evidence showed defendant shot and killed a man 
   during the drug deal; defendant's sentence was not substantively 
   unreasonable.