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Court Affirms Drug Conspiracy Conivctions

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Johnson: Johnson and her codefendants, Martin and Scott, were convicted of conspiracy and other offenses related to a drug distribution scheme that operated across several states. They raised several issues on appeal, but jointly and severally, seeking the reversal of their convictions. Martin also appealed his sentence. The Fourth Circuit rejected all those argument and affirmed.First, all three defendants argued that the district court erred by not granting a mistrial when a Government witness took the stand and refused to testify. The Government did so, they argued, knowing the witness would refuse to testify and leave the jury with the impression that she had incriminating evidence to offer against them. The court disagreed, concluding that there was no evidence of Government malfeasance nor any evidence of prejudice resulting from the episode...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on December 08, 2009 (boomark / email).