UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. TOMARCUS BASKERVILLE (24-5547); COURTLAND SPRINGFIELD (24-5574); THOMAS EARL SMITH (24- 5598) - Articles

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. TOMARCUS BASKERVILLE (24-5547); COURTLAND SPRINGFIELD (24-5574); THOMAS EARL SMITH (24- 5598)

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jan 8, 2026

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Jocelyn V. Henderson, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellant Baskerville.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: John H. Parker II, LAW OFFICE OF JOHN H. PARKER II, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellant Springfield. Benton C. Martin, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL COMMUNITY DEFENDER, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant Smith.

Attorneys 3: ARGUED: John-Alex Romano, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: Jocelyn V. Henderson, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellant Baskerville. John H. Parker II, LAW OFFICE OF JOHN H. PARKER II, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellant Springfield.

Attorneys 5: Benton C. Martin, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL COMMUNITY DEFENDER, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant Smith.

Attorneys 6: John-Alex Romano, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., William C. Bateman III, Neal Oldham, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellee.

Judge(s): THAPAR, READLER, and HERMANDORFER, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee at Memphis

HERMANDORFER, Circuit Judge. This appeal stems from a gang war that unleashed mayhem and murder in the Memphis suburbs. For years, a group known as the Junk Yard Dogs—itself an offshoot of a gang called the Almighty Vice Lord Nation—sought to preserve its reputation and power by warring with rival gangs. Junk Yard Dogs members filled defined ranks, paid dues, and executed top-down orders to target rival gang members with violence. Their rivals would respond in kind, and the cycle would repeat. Those back-and-forth tensions boiled over in the summer of 2020. Over three months, the Junk Yard Dogs alone carried out five separate shootings that injured eleven victims and caused one death. In 2023, federal prosecutors obtained a grand-jury indictment against 15 of the Junk Yard Dogs. All but one were convicted of crimes ranging from racketeering conspiracy to murder and attempted murder in aid of racketeering to firearm offenses—most by guilty plea. These appeals feature three Junk Yard Dogs members who instead went to trial: Tomarcus Baskerville, Thomas Smith, and Courtland Springfield. After lengthy proceedings, a jury convicted each of various racketeering, murder, and firearms crimes. Their appeals now raise six issues involving sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenges and alleged constitutional and sentencing errors. We affirm all of the defendants’ convictions. But consistent with the Government’s confession of sentencing error, we vacate Smith’s sentence and remand for resentencing.

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