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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MELVIN JOHNSON, JR. (08-3925); RODNEY MOSS (08-3926), Defendants-Appellants. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Ohio at Youngstown.
Nos. 98-00003-004; 98-00003-013—
Donald C. Nugent, District Judge.
Submitted: June 18, 2009
Decided and Filed: June 30, 2009
Before: MOORE and GILMAN, Circuit Judges; PHILLIPS, District Judge.
KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. In these consolidated appeals, Defendants-Appellants Melvin Johnson, Jr., and Rodney Moss appeal the district court’s denial of their motions to modify their sentences under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). In 1998, Johnson and Moss were charged along with several other defendants in a multi-count superseding indictment, the primary charge being conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. Johnson pleaded guilty to the single conspiracy count, while Moss went to trial and was convicted on the conspiracy count as well as one count of use of a communication facility in committing a drug offense. Both Johnson and Moss were sentenced to 168 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release. In 2008, after the Sentencing Commission implemented retroactive guidelines applicable to offenses involving cocaine base, Johnson and Moss each filed a motion for a reduction of sentence under § 3582(c)(2). The district court denied both motions, finding that Johnson and Moss were ineligible for sentence modification because, although their convictions involved both powder cocaine and cocaine base, their sentences were based solely on powder cocaine. Both Johnson and Moss now argue that the district court erred in finding that their sentences were not based on cocaine base. For the reasons discussed below, we AFFIRM the judgments of the district court denying their motions for sentence reduction under § 3582(c)(2).
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DELORES HARTMAN (08-3773); DEBORAH L. RICE (08-3804), Plaintiffs-Appellants, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Intervenor, v. GREAT SENECA FINANCIAL CORP.; JAVITCH, BLOCK & RATHBONE, LLP, Defendants-Appellees. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus.
Nos. 04-00972; 04-00951—George C. Smith, District Judge.
Argued: March 13, 2009
Decided and Filed: June 30, 2009
Before: MOORE and WHITE, Circuit Judges; OLIVER, District Judge.
KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff-Appellant Delores Hartman (“Hartman”) and plaintiff-appellant Deborah Rice (“Rice”) appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees Great Seneca Financial Corporation1 (“Great Seneca”) and Javitch, Block & Rathbone, LLP (“Javitch”). Hartman and Rice both had credit-card accounts with Providian National Bank on which they allegedly owe money. Providian sold their accounts to Unifund CCR Partners, who sold the debts to Great Seneca. With the help of its attorneys (Javitch), Great Seneca attempted to collect on the defaulted debts by filing collection complaints against Hartman and Rice in Ohio state court. In each of those complaints, Great Seneca and Javitch asserted that a copy of the debtor’s “account” was attached to the complaint. In each case, the document that Great Seneca and Javitch attached as an “account” resembled a credit-card statement but had been generated on Great Seneca’s behalf.
Hartman and Rice filed separate actions in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio arguing that Great Seneca and Javitch violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) by representing, in their state-court complaints, that the document generated on Great Seneca’s behalf was a statement of the debtor’s account. The district court determined that there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether this behavior violated the FDCPA and granted Great Seneca’s and Javitch’s motions for summary judgment in each case. Hartman and Rice appeal these judgments.
We REVERSE the district court’s grant of summary judgment and REMAND the cases for proceedings consistent with this opinion. We also REMAND the question of whether Great Seneca should remain a party to this litigation, given its asserted voluntary dissolution.
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ERNEST W. CANIPE, Defendant-Appellant. |
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville.
No. 07-00064-001—J. Ronnie Greer, District Judge.
Submitted: June 11, 2009
Decided and Filed: June 30, 2009
Before: SUTTON and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges; LIOI, District Judge.
GRIFFIN, Circuit Judge. Defendant Ernest Canipe appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress firearm and ammunition evidence seized from his vehicle and his resulting inculpatory statement. He contends that the evidence, which led to his conditional guilty plea and 192-month prison sentence for felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition contrary to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), was obtained in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures because his detention was unreasonable, he did not consent to the search of his vehicle, the search exceeded the scope of his alleged consent, and his subsequent statement was tainted by these unconstitutional acts. We disagree and affirm.