for the Eighth Circuit

163178P.pdf   08/18/2017  United States  v.  Melvin Dortch
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-3178
   U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska - Omaha    
   [PUBLISHED] [Riley, Author, with Beam and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law. Police officer's conduct in walking up to 
   defendant and asking what he was doing standing in the street and talking 
   to passengers in a car was not a pre-pat-down seizure; considering all of 
   the circumstances, the officer had a reasonable suspicion of criminal 
   activity and was warranted in conducting a pat-down search for his safety 
   and the safety of the other officers on the scene. 
  
163708P.pdf   08/18/2017  United States  v.  Daniel Lovato
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-3708
   U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota - Aberdeen    
   [PUBLISHED] [Colloton, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Kelly, Circuit 
   Judge] 
   Criminal case - Sentencing. The imposition of both an increase in 
   defendant's offense level under Guidelines Sec. 4B1.5(b) for a pattern of 
   activity involving prohibited sexual conduct and an upward departure under 
   Guidelines Sec. 5K2.21 was not impermissible double counting because the 
   increase in offense level under Sec. 4B1.5 did not fully account for the 
   defendant's eight-year pattern of sexually abusing the minor victim; given 
   the aggravating circumstances and the extraordinary sexual abuse, 
   imposition of the statutory maximum sentence did not create a sentencing 
   disparity, and the sentence was not substantively unreasonable. 
  
163741P.pdf   08/18/2017  United States  v.  Xavier Buckner
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-3741
   U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Davenport    
   [PUBLISHED] [Nelson, Author, with Wollman and Loken, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law. Intrinsic evidence regarding defendant's 
   participation in an August, 2015 shooting was admissible as it went to the 
   issue of whether defendant knowingly possessed the pistol seized at the 
   time of his arrest;the evidence that defendant used the same pistol on a 
   previous occasion was highly probative regarding the issue of whether he 
   constructively controlled the weapon eight days later when he was 
   arrested; the evidence was not unduly prejudicial under Rule 403; no error 
   in admitting evidence relating to defendant's 2006 conviction for reckless 
   use of a firearm resulting in a gunshot wound; the evidence went to 
   knowledge and intent and was relevant after defendant denied that he knew 
   the gun was in the car and claimed he was merely present when the gun was 
   found on the floor of the car; further, the court gave a limiting 
   instruction and instructed the jury to disregard testimony regarding 
   defendant's gang membership, thereby reducing the possibility of any 
   unfair prejudice. 
  
164180U.pdf   08/18/2017  Thaisheena Nicholson  v.  Nancy A. Berryhill
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  16-4180
   U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City    
   [UNPUBLISHED] [Per Curiam - Before Wollman, Loken and Benton, Circuit 
   Judges] 
   Civil case - Social Security. Denial of benefits was supported by 
   substantial evidence on the record as a whole, and the ALJ was not 
   required to give controlling weight to the opinions of treating physicians 
   insofar as the opinions were conclusory, based on subjective complaints or 
   outside the doctors' areas of expertise.