Missouri Lawyers Media Missouri legal news and public notices
Defendant appealed the judgment of sentence imposed following his conviction for conspiracy to distribute drugs. Defendant challenged the district court’s imposition of a two-level obstruction-of-justice sentencing enhancement and argued that his sentence was unreasonable.
Where the district court made specific factual findings to support its conclusion that defendant’s trial testimony was “obviously false,” particularly where the testimony conflicted with defendant’s initial statements to law enforcement, there was no error in applying the obstruction-of-justice sentencing enhancement as the preponderance of the evidence supported a finding that defendant had perjured himself.
Judgment is affirmed.
U.S. v. Garcia (MLW No. 79564/Case No. 21-3717 – 6 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Kelly, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, Tostrud, J. (Kassius O. Benson, of Minneapolis, MN for appellant) (Lisa D. Kirkpatrick, AUSA, of Saint Paul, MN for appellee)
