The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has delivered its decision on the case United States v. Walter Holmes, Jr., with the U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 24-1140. The court upheld the judgment from the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota, which sentenced Holmes Jr. to 188 months in prison.
Walter Dushun Holmes, Jr. faced charges for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances alongside his father, Walter Holmes, Sr., and Monetessa Packineau. While both Holmes Sr. and Packineau entered plea agreements, Holmes Jr. opted for a trial.
During the proceedings, Holmes Jr.'s request for a sequestration order for witnesses was approved. However, his attempt to call his father as a witness was thwarted when the court excluded Holmes Sr. due to a violation of this order based on recorded jail phone calls. Subsequent motions by Holmes Jr. for a mistrial and a new trial were denied by the district court.
Holmes Jr.'s appeal challenged several aspects of his trial and sentencing, including the exclusion of his father's testimony, jury deliberation instructions, an alleged Brady violation concerning undisclosed evidence, and the reasonableness of his sentence.
The Eighth Circuit reviewed these challenges and found no abuse of discretion in excluding Holmes Sr.'s testimony due to the sequestration order breach. It also concluded that communications between the district court and jury did not amount to coercive or supplemental instructions. On the alleged Brady violation, it was determined that any undisclosed evidence was cumulative of information already available to Holmes Jr., thus negating any violation claim.
Finally, regarding sentencing, the appeals court found no procedural error and deemed the sentence substantively reasonable.
The Eighth Circuit's decision affirms all aspects of the district court's judgment against Walter Dushun Holmes, Jr.
Read more about this opinion at: https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/25/05/241140P.pdf