Sufficiency of Evidence

By: Derek Hawkins//March 28, 2017//

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Brian Dutcher

Case No.: 16-1767

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and WILLIAMS, Cir‐ cuit Judges.

Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence

On June 30, 2015, Brian Dutcher announced on Facebook that he planned to assassinate President Obama. He then drove to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where the President was scheduled to speak on July 2. Once in La Crosse, Dutcher repeated his plan to several people: a security guard, the police, the Secret Service, a nurse, a doctor, and (again) the police and Secret Service together. No one was amused: Dutcher was charged with and convicted of two counts of threatening the President in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 871(a). On appeal, Dutcher complains about the sufficiency of the evidence and certain instructions the district court gave to the jury. We find no error, and so we affirm.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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