UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. QUINCY MARQUICE TAYLOR - Articles

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. QUINCY MARQUICE TAYLOR

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Feb 7, 2025

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ON BRIEF: Steven D. Jaeger, HEMMER WESSELS MCMURTRY, Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, for Appellant.

Attorneys 2: ON BRIEF: Charles P. Wisdom Jr., UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee.

Judge(s): COLE, WHITE, and MATHIS, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Lexington

MATHIS, Circuit Judge. A jury convicted Quincy Taylor of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. On appeal, Taylor challenges the district court’s limitation of his cross-examination of one of the government’s witnesses under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. Taylor also argues that the district court violated his due- process and jury-trial rights by not requiring the jury to find that Taylor committed certain prior offenses on different occasions for purposes of determining whether the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”) should have applied to him. Because the court’s cross-examination limitations violated Taylor’s constitutional right to confrontation and were not harmless, we reverse Taylor’s convictions and remand for a new trial.

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