United States Fourth Circuit

Defendants' convictions for conspiracy and other crimes related to narcotic distribution is affirmed where: 1) district court did not abuse its discretion in denying a mistrial when a government witness took the witness stand and refused to testify; 2) prosecutor did not commit improper vouching of witness; 3) a defendant's claim that the evidence was insufficient to support her conviction is without merit; 4) there is no Confrontation Clause violation where expert witnesses present their own independent judgments, rather than merely transmitting testimonial hearsay, and are then subject to cross-examination; 5) any error in admitting a defendant's prior conviction for armed robbery for impeachment purposes was harmless, assuming that the district court erred in admitting the convictions; 6) sentence of a defendant is procedurally and substantively reasonable; and 7) a defendant's request to remand his case for resentencing in light of Amendment 706 to the Sentencing Guidelines is denied.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/02/2009
• Published 12/02/2009

Judges

• Before WILKINSON, SHEDD, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Gregory Bruce English, English & Smith, Alexandria, Virginia;  Daniel H. Ginsburg, Bennett & Bair, LLC, Greenbelt, Maryland;  Jason E. Silverstein, Roland Walker & Mark Zayon, PA, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellants.  Deborah A. Johnston, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.   ON BRIEF:  Gary E. Bair, Bennett & Bair, LLC, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant John Albert Martin, Jr.;  Roland Walker, Roland Walker & Mark Zayon, PA, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant Craig Arnold Scott.  Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, Bonnie S. Greenberg, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.