221561P.pdf   06/29/2023  United States  v.  Gerald Cardwell, Jr.
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  22-1561
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis   
   [PUBLISHED] [Smith, Author, with Wollman and Loken, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. The evidence was sufficient 
   to sustain defendant's conviction for distributing a controlled substance 
   resulting in death as the government established defendant distributed the 
   fentanyl to the victim and that it was the "but for" cause of his death; 
   any error in admitting evidence of defendant's past drug arrests and 
   convictions pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) was harmless in 
   light of the other evidence in the case and the court's limiting 
   instruction; the imposition of the mandatory life sentence did not violate 
   defendant's equal protection rights as Congress had a legitimate purpose 
   in excluding sentences imposed under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(1)(C) from 
   First Step Act relief.