Defendant-Appellant, the Albuquerque City Clerk ("City"), appeals from the district court's judgment in favor of Plaintiffs-Appellees granting them declaratory and injunctive relief. In 2005, the City passed an amendment to its charter requiring voters in municipal elections to present photo identification at polling locations. On summary judgment, the district court held that the amendment violated the federal constitutional guarantee of equal protection. It... ... ... then entered a...  

T-Mobile, LLC, ("T-Mobile") brought this action challenging the decision of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas ("Unified Government") to deny T-Mobile's application for a Special Use Permit to construct a wireless telecommunications facility. T-Mobile sought declaratory, injunctive, and mandamus relief. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment and the district court1 granted T-Mobile's motion. In a memorandum and order, the court held that...  

Plaintiffs Native American Distributing and John Dilliner filed suit in federal court against the Seneca-Cayuga Tobacco Company ("SCTC"), which is an enterprise of the Seneca-Cayuga Indian Tribe, and three individuals who had been officers of SCTC (the "Individual Defendants"). SCTC and the Individual Defendants moved to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1), Fed. R. Civ. P., arguing that the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity shielded them from suit. The district court granted...  

Gary Lee Hicks pled guilty to murder in the second degree in violation of Okla. Stat. tit. 21 § 701.8 (1976),1 for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. After exhausting his state remedies, he filed a pro se federal habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 claiming that his plea lacked a factual basis, that it was not knowing and voluntary, and that his sentence was excessive. The district court adopted the report and recommendation of the magistrate judge, denied relief, and...  

Plaintiff-Appellant R. Kimball Mosier is the trustee ("Trustee") of the bankruptcy estate of the National School Fitness Foundation ("NSFF"), a not-for-profit corporation that sold physical fitness equipment and programs to school districts across the United States prior to filing for bankruptcy in 2004. Defendants-Appellees are the law firm of Callister, Nebeker, & McCullough, and two of the firm's attorneys, Bradley E. Morris and Leland S. McCullough (collectively,...  

This bankruptcy appeal presents a question of first impression in this circuit: What is the proper way to calculate the "projected disposable income" of an above-median Chapter 13 debtor under amendments to the bankruptcy code effected by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-8, 119 Stat. 23 (BAPCPA)? In this case, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas adopted the "forward-looking approach," which is the...  

Defendant-Appellant Ramiro Alapizco-Valenzuela pleaded guilty to one count of transporting illegal aliens for private financial gain in violation of 8... ... ... U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii). He appeals his seventy-two-month sentence. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), and we AFFIRM... I. BACKGROUND... On January 24, 2007, a sheriff's deputy in Reno County, Kansas was dispatched to a location on U.S. Highway 50 to assist a stranded motorist in a...  

Defendant-Appellant Keith Thompson was approached by police officers while walking to his car at a convenience store. Four police cars pulled into the... ... ... parking lot, and one parked about twelve feet behind Mr. Thompson's car. An officer asked Mr. Thompson if he had anything illegal. Mr. Thompson eventually admitted to having a gun in his pocket. He was convicted of gun possession by a convicted felon. We are now called upon to determine whether this police encounter violated the Fourth...  

On October 10, 2007, a jury convicted Kerry Dean Benally of forcibly assaulting a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer with a dangerous weapon, in... ... ... violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(b). The next day one of the jurors came forward with a charge that the jury deliberations had been tainted by racial bias and other inappropriate considerations. The district court held that Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b)'s general rule against jurors testifying about jury deliberations did not apply and that...  

Defendant James Lee Fay appeals the district court's revocation of his supervised release. He also appeals the district court's denial of his request to serve his revocation sentence concurrently with a previously discharged state... ... ... sentence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 28 U.S.C. § 3742(a) and affirm... I... Fay had been convicted of interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2312, and, after serving his...  

Xiu Mei Wei is a native and citizen of the People's Republic of China now living in the United States. In November 2002 she sought asylum in this country based on her fear of persecution under China's one-child policy. But because she had long overstayed her visa, removal proceedings were initiated shortly thereafter. An immigration judge (IJ) rejected her asylum application and ordered her removed to China. In December 2004 the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirmed that order, and in...  

Michael Ray Husted challenges his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 2250, part of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORNA" or "the Act"),... ... ... for failure to register as a sex offender after traveling in interstate commerce. He makes four arguments on appeal: (1) SORNA does not apply to him because his interstate travel was complete before the Act became effective; (2) SORNA does not apply to him because Missouri state law did not require him to...  

Petitioner Nathanael Lutuima Quaresma Ribas seeks review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) upholding an order of the immigration judge (IJ) finding that he filed a frivolous asylum application; denying his application for adjustment of status; and ordering him removed to Angola. Because Mr. Ribas received adequate notice of the consequences of filing a frivolous asylum application, and because his remaining issues have been waived or lack merit, we deny the petition for...  

Plaintiff Jessie D. Duffield, proceeding pro se, brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit against several members of the medical staff at the James Crabtree Correctional Center ("JCCC") in Helena, Oklahoma, claiming that they violated his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by showing deliberate indifference to his medical condition. After referring the case to a magistrate judge who issued a report and recommendation, the district court dismissed Mr....  

John Poole appeals his conviction for assault resulting in serious bodily injury on the basis that the jury's verdict was impermissibly ambiguous. Mr. Poole points to the fact that, in addition to finding him guilty of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, the jury proceeded to find him guilty of the lesser... ... ... included offense of simple assault — and did so despite the district court's instruction that the jury should consider the lesser offense only if it found Mr. Poole...  

Donald Alton Harper, a federal prisoner, seeks to appeal the district court's dismissal of his motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. We hold that a certificate of appealability ("COA") is a prerequisite to pursuing such an appeal. Finding that Mr. Harper has not made... ... ... the showing required for the issuance of a COA, we affirm the dismissal of his § 2255 motion... On January 13, 1994, a jury found Mr. Harper guilty of armed...  

Hugh Alan Means pled guilty to conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1958(a) (use of an interstate facility in a murder-for-hire scheme) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. He filed a motion to vacate, set aside or correct sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 arguing the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over his prosecution because his conduct did not involve the interstate use of a communications facility as required by 18 U.S.C. § 1958(a) at the time of his plea. The...  

Plaintiffs Glenn Weigel and David Weigel filed this action against Wyoming Highway Patrol Officers John K. Broad and Devan Henderson, and their supervisor, John Cox, individually. Plaintiffs make claims of failure to train and excessive force under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state negligence law. The claims stem from the death of their brother, Bruce Weigel, who died after an altercation with Troopers Broad and Henderson. Defendants moved for summary judgment, asserting qualified immunity. In...  

Appellant José Martinez-Barragan pleaded guilty to illegal reentry by a deported alien after having been previously convicted of an aggravated felony, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b)(2). He challenges both the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his sentence. We exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Finding no error, we affirm his sentence... I. BACKGROUND... Mr. Martinez-Barragan is a Mexican citizen who has lived in the United States since he was...  

Defendant pled guilty to being a previously deported alien found within the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. At the time he was found in the United States, he was serving a state term of imprisonment in Colorado. Based on this fact, the district court added two points to Defendant's criminal history score pursuant to USSG § 4A1.1(d), which applies when "the defendant committed the instant offense while under any criminal justice sentence." The court also added a...