United States Ninth Circuit

Defendant's drug and firearm possession conviction and sentence are affirmed where: 1) an affidavit showing that defendant did not have legitimate employment was not offered to prove an element of defendant's offense, nor was it the sole evidence of any relevant fact, and thus did not violate the Confrontation Clause; 2) the prosecutor's reference to the defendant's opportunity to testify was a fair response to claims made by defendant's counsel; and 3) defendant failed to provide any persuasive rationale for why his sentence should be considered cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment due to the distinction between the penalties imposed for cocaine powder and cocaine base.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/17/2010
• Published 02/17/2010

Judges

• Before THOMAS M. REAVLEY,RICHARD C. TALLMAN, and MILAN D. SMITH, JR., Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Robert J. Pfister and Andrew B. Brettler, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for the defendant-appellant., James A. McDevitt and K. Jill Bolton, United States Attorney, Spokane, WA, for the plaintiff-appellee.