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CAROL J. NEGRON, Executrix for the Estates of Mary A. Susteric and Mildred Lopatkovich,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant-Appellant.


No. 07-4460

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland.
No. 05-02305—Ann Aldrich, District Judge.
Argued: October 29, 2008
Decided and Filed: January 28, 2009
Before: SILER and McKEAGUE, Circuit Judges; LUDINGTON, District Judge.

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OPINION
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SILER, Circuit Judge. The United States appeals the district court’s order granting partial summary judgment to Plaintiff Carol Negron (executrix of the estates of Mildred Lopatkovich and Mary Susteric). The district court determined that departure from the annuity tables provided by I.R.C. § 7520 and Treas. Reg. § 20.2031-7 (the “IRS annuity tables”) was warranted when Negron could show that “(1) the value ascribed by the tables is unrealistic and unreasonable; and (2) there is a more reasonable and realistic means by which to determine its fair market value.” Then, it found that “transferability of an annuity would affect its fair market value” and that “the value ascribed by the annuity tables for both estate taxes [was] unrealistic and unreasonable.” Because the IRS annuity tables properly value lottery annuities for estate tax purposes, we REVERSE and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.


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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
RUSSELL WIMBLEY,
Defendant-Appellant.


No. 07-6361

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville.
No. 06-00157-001—Thomas A. Varlan, District Judge.
Submitted: December 10, 2008
Decided and Filed: January 28, 2009
Before: BATCHELDER, GILMAN, and SUTTON, Circuit Judges.

_________________________
OPINION
_________________________

RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. Russell Wimbley was charged with three counts of distributing crack cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a), after allegedly selling varying quantities of the drug to a police informant on three separate occasions. He was convicted by a jury on all three counts and was sentenced by the district court to a mandatory minimum life sentence under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A) as a result of both his current and prior drug convictions. In this timely appeal, Wimbley contends that the district court erred by twice denying his motions for a mistrial after (a) a drug task-force officer testified that Wimbley had made “numerous” and “so many” sales to the informant, and (b) the prosecutor commented that Wimbley could have introduced fingerprint or DNA evidence if he had so chosen, but did not. Wimbley also argues that 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)’s mandatory life sentence requirement is unconstitutional. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.