US v. Banks: Banks and four codefendants were convicted after a joint trial for multiple offenses related to racketeering as part of the Murdaland Mafia Piru gang. The Fourth Circuit, for the most part, affirmed their convictions and sentences.
Of the man issues raised on appeal, three are worth highlighting. First, this case marks yet another chapter in the Fourth Circuit’s dealings with the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force of the Baltimore police department. In this case, one of those officers was involved in part of the investigation of the defendants, who moved for a new trial once the corruption was uncovered. The court affirmed the denial of the new trial motion, holding that the defendants could not show that any of the officer’s “criminal conduct” was material to their case. That he was corrupt was not enough, on its own, to warrant a new trial. Second, the court did vacate a felon-in-possession conviction for one defendant, Davis, due to a Rehaif error, as the prior conviction on which the Government relied was one that the state of conviction labelled a misdemeanor and for which Davis’ sentence had been suspended. He therefore met the plain error standard for relief. Finally, the defendants argued that the district court abused its discretion in admitting various “music videos, lyrics, and social media posts” of the defendants, arguing that they were irrelevant and unduly prejudicial. The court chastised the defendants for not specifically objecting to particular items, instead objecting with a “broad brush,” and proceeded the analyze the issue with similar generality, finding no abuse of discretion on the district court’s part.
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