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COREY LERON THOMPSON,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
GREGORY SKIPPER, Warden,
Respondent-Appellee. |
No. 19-1779 |
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit.
No. 2:16-cv-14353—Denise Page Hood, Chief District Judge.
Argued: October 22, 2020
Decided and Filed: November 25, 2020
Before: COOK, BUSH, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
COOK, Circuit Judge. Corey Leron Thompson appeals the district court’s denial of his
habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, claiming that his Michigan jury lacked sufficient
evidence to find that he constructively possessed a gun. Because Thompson fails to surmount
the two levels of deference that steer our review, we AFFIRM. |
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JASPER POLLINI,
Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
AMY ROBEY, Warden,
Respondent-Appellee. |
No. 19-5131 |
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Kentucky at Louisville.
No. 3:14-cv-00689—David J. Hale, District Judge.
Argued: August 5, 2020
Decided and Filed: November 25, 2020
Before: GILMAN, BUSH, and READLER, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
CHAD A. READLER, Circuit Judge. Jasper Pollini committed a burglary, fled the
scene, and, upon returning to retrieve his burglary tools, shot and killed a man. Following his
conviction in Kentucky state court, Pollini asserted numerous grounds for relief in a federal
habeas petition. The district court, however, rejected each of them.
We granted Pollini a certificate of appealability with respect to two claims relating to the
alleged ineffective assistance of his appellate counsel in state court. On the first claim, we agree
with the district court that the claim fails the prejudice prong of Strickland v. Washington,
466 U.S. 668 (1984). But for the other, we disagree that Pollini procedurally defaulted the claim.
Accordingly, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand the case to the district court for further
proceedings. |
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
JODI LYNN BUDZYNSKI,
Defendant-Appellant. |
No. 20-1264 |
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids.
No. 1:19-cr-00102-1—Paul Lewis Maloney, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: November 25, 2020
Before: ROGERS, NALBANDIAN, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
ROGERS, Circuit Judge. Defendant Jodi Budzynski pleaded guilty to five counts related
to fraudulently obtaining Social Security benefits. She was sentenced to two years of probation
and ordered to pay restitution and a special assessment. Months after she was sentenced, the
probation office discovered Budzynski withdrawing money at a casino and requested that her
probation conditions be modified. The district court agreed and imposed new conditions
prohibiting Budzynski from gambling and requiring her to submit to searches when there is a
reasonable suspicion that she violated a condition of her probation. Budzynski appeals these two
newly imposed conditions. Because the provisions were directed at securing Budzynski’s
restitution payments and were not overly broad, the district court did not abuse its discretion in
modifying Budzynski’s probation conditions. |
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