Episode 413 - OADC Weekly Case Law Update

This podcast covers case summaries distributed on 5/23/2025 Cases and Keywords: United States v. Wilson, 23-6150 (May 19, 2025) After a judge rejected Wilson's guilty plea, prosecutors used his plea statements against him at trial. The Tenth Circuit reversed his conviction, holding that FRE Rule 410 prohibits using plea statements as evidence absent a breach of plea agreement. Given the damaging nature of the statements and prosecutorial overuse, the error was not harmless. U.S. v. Cripps, 24-7014 (May 20, 2025) Cripps pled guilty to methamphetamine distribution. The district court increased his sentence by 365 months based on hearsay from three anonymous informants. The Tenth Circuit reversed, noting that while precedent allows sentence enhancement based on anonymous statements, they must be reliable and corroborated. Here, the statements were not reliable or corroborated. U.S. v. Davis, No. 23-1367 (May 21, 2025) Davis's 2019 state conviction (DF4 possession with intent, maximum presumptive sentence of 1 year) was used as a predicate for his 2022 federal felon-in-possession conviction. The Tenth Circuit reversed because the federal statute requires predicate offenses with maximum sentences exceeding one year. Without evidence Davis could have received an aggravated sentence, the one-year presumptive maximum disqualified the predicate offense. Kousisis v. United States, No. 23-909 (May 22, 2025) Kousisis and his company were convicted of lying to obtain large government contracts. He argued that his conviction was invalid because there was no "net pecuniary loss." SCOTUS affirmed the conviction under the fraudulent inducement theory of liability, which does not require evidence of an intent to inflict economic loss. Instead, obtaining money or property by means of a "material" misrepresentation is enough. Links: United States v. Wilson, 23-6150 https://files.constantcontact.com/45bb5db5401/07635e31-a8f8-4907-be1d-d14209fe219f.pdf?rdr=true U.S. v. Cripps, 24-7014 https://files.constantcontact.com/45bb5db5401/c7fccf2e-5afd-45a8-9d90-1a009f895657.pdf?rdr=true U.S. v. Davis, No. 23-1367 https://files.constantcontact.com/45bb5db5401/14c2aad1-df80-4e3d-ab73-59f190165ae9.pdf?rdr=true Kousisis v. United States, No. 23-909 https://files.constantcontact.com/45bb5db5401/040ba9bb-c632-46f3-baa2-123bb531643b.pdf?rdr=true 20 of 2025 Victory Newsletter https://files.constantcontact.com/45bb5db5401/704b8977-cbe6-4334-ac93-76 Contact Shawndell Irving here: Shawndell Irving Music by Scott Holmes. Used under a Creative Commons license. Download today's music at: http://freemusicarchive.org/ NOTE regarding unpublished Colorado Court of Appeals opinions: Please remember the Court of Appeals Policy states that the citation of unpublished opinions in the Court of Appeals is forbidden, with limited exceptions. Copies of unpublished opinions are provided for private use and are not to be included in an electronic database or otherwise published. Also, please note that you are free to cite unpublished cases in the district court for whatever persuasive value the judge may give them. Patterson v. James, 2018 COA 173, ¶¶ 40-43. You may request unpublished cases from the COA at http://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/Court_Of_Appeals/Opinion_Request.cfm