United States Tenth Circuit

A conviction for drug- and firearm-related offenses is affirmed over claims of error that: 1) the district court committed plain error when it failed to instruct the jury that distribution of a small amount of marijuana for no remuneration constitutes simple possession, punishable as a misdemeanor; and 2) if such conviction was invalid, a conviction on another count should also be reversed because the distribution count was an alternative predicate for it.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/29/2008
• Published 04/30/2008

Judges

• PAUL KELLY, JR., Circuit Judge., Before KELLY, ANDERSON, and TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Leena Alam, Assistant United States Attorney (David E. O'Meilia, United States Attorney, Northern District of Oklahoma, on the brief), Tulsa, OK, for Plaintiff-Appellee., Barry L. Derryberry, Research and Writing Specialist (Julia L. O'Connell, Assistant Federal Public Defender, on the brief), Office of the Federal Public Defender, Northern District of Oklahoma, Tulsa, OK, for Defendant-Appellant.