Latest Case: United States v. Longoria (Criminal Law)

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United States v. Longoria

Docket: 19-20201

Opinion Date: May 5, 2020

Judge: Gregg Costa

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Fifth Circuit held that the base offense level of 20 was proper for defendant's felon-in-possession crime involving a semiautomatic firearm that is capable of accepting a large capacity magazine. In this case, defendant failed to show that the district court clearly erred in relying on the FBI's agent statement about what was found in the apartment. The court clarified any confusion and held that the 2013 amendment to the commentary on the acceptance-of-responsibility Guideline does not clearly overrule its caselaw allowing the government to withhold the third point for acceptance of responsibility when it must litigate a suppression motion. The court held that Amendment 775 does not contain the unequivocal override needed to get past the court's precedent. Therefore, the court affirmed defendant's sentence.