for the Eighth Circuit

153477U.pdf   04/18/2017  Ted Hamilton  v.  James Singleton
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  15-3477
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Texarkana   
   [UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Shepherd, Murphy and Kelly, Circuit 
   Judges] 
   Civil case - Civil rights. Court would not review an order denying summary 
   judgment after a full trial on the merits; with respect to the remaining 
   issue on appeal, the sheriff was entitled to summary judgment on the claim 
   he wrongfully refused to pay plaintiff's medical bills for surgery 
   performed after plaintiff's release from jail as the claim was not based 
   on a constitutional right clearly established at the time of the alleged 
   misconduct. 
  
153635P.pdf   04/18/2017  Jon Couzens, Jr.  v.  William Donohue
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  15-3635
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City   
   [PUBLISHED] [Wollman, Author, with Riley and Kelly, Circuit Judges] 
   Civil case - Torts. Defendants removed this action alleging defamation, 
   invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and 
   other torts based on claims defendants published false information about 
   plaintiff after he publicly alleged he was sexually abused by Catholic 
   priests; the district court did not err in denying plaintiff's motion to 
   remand the matter to Missouri state court as two defendants were 
   fraudulently joined to defeat diversity; defendant KCCL sufficiently 
   consented to removal under the facts presented; the district court did not 
   err in dismissing the defamation action as time-barred under New York law, 
   which must be applied under Missouri's borrowing statute; defamation is 
   the proper remedy under Missouri law for plaintiff's false light invasion 
   of privacy claim, and the district court did not err in dismissing the 
   false light claim; plaintiff failed to state a claim for intentional 
   infliction of emotional distress because the only offending conduct was 
   defamation; nor did he state a claim for negligent infliction of emotional 
   distress. Judge Kelly, concurring. 
  
153637U.pdf   04/18/2017  Benjamin Jones  v.  Thomas Miller
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  15-3637
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - El Dorado   
   [UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Gruender, Arnold and Benton, Circuit 
   Judges] 
   Civil case - Civil rights. Defendants' summary judgment affirmed without 
   comment. 
  
153835P.pdf   04/18/2017  Vladimir Maric  v.  Jefferson B. Sessions, III
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  15-3835
   Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals   
   [PUBLISHED] Loken, Author, with Murphy and Kelly, Circuit Judges] 
   Petition for Review - Immigration. Petitioner concedes he is removable for 
   willful misrepresentation and that the Department of Homeland Security's 
   evidence indicates that he may have participated or assisted in 
   extrajudicial killings at Srebrenica in July, 1995; in these circumstances 
   the BIA properly placed on petitioner the burden to prove that the 
   statutory bar to waiver relief in 8 U.S.C. Section 1182(a)(3)(E)(iii) did 
   not apply, and the petition for review is denied. The court lacks 
   jurisdiction to grant petitioner's request for voluntary departure. 
  
161175P.pdf   04/18/2017  Jacques Slocum  v.  Wendy Kelley
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-1175
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - Pine Bluff   
   [PUBLISHED] [Smith, Author, with Wollman and Benton, Circuit Judges] 
   Prisoner case - habeas. The district court did not err in finding Slocum's 
   claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request a 
   competency hearing and failing to present mitigating evidence during the 
   sentencing phase of his murder trial were procedurally defaulted; there 
   was no objective evidence that Slocum suffered from any medical illness 
   and his attorney was not deficient for failing to request a competency 
   hearing; counsel's failure to present any mitigating evidence during 
   sentencing did not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness; the 
   decision not to have Slocum testify was a reasonable strategic decision 
   given his lack of credibility and prior record; further, since Slocum 
   refused to let his wife testify, counsel had not other witness who could 
   present mitigating evidence. 
  
162780U.pdf   04/18/2017  Michael C. Williams  v.  James Murphy
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-2780
   U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis   
   [UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Gruender, Arnold and Benton, Circuit 
   Judges] 
   Civil case - Civil rights. Appellant's notice of appeal failed to 
   designate the order, judgment or part thereof he was appealing, and the 
   appeal must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction - see Fed. R. App. P. 
   3(c)(1)(B). 
  
163475U.pdf   04/18/2017  United States  v.  William Brown
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-3475
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City   
   [UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Shepherd, Murphy and Kelly, Circuit 
   Judges] 
   Criminal case - Sentencing. Anders case. Defendant's challenges to his 
   sentence are waived under the appeal waiver provision of his guilty plea; 
   the court will not address defendant's ineffective assistance claims as 
   they should be raised in a habeas proceeding; judgment modified to correct 
   an error concerning the date of the guilty plea and the charge pleaded to.