6th Cir. Published Decisions for Week of Oct. 22, 2007 (2 Kentucky decisions)

Opinion	Short Title/District
07a0428p.06	USA v. Geerken     Southern District of Ohio at Dayton STAFFORD, District Judge. The defendant, Ivan Geerken (“Geerken”), appeals from the 60-month sentence imposed by the district court following Geerken’s guilty plea to possession of child pornography. Geerken contends that the district court erred in calculating his sentencing range under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.” or “Guidelines”). We AFFIRM.
07a0429p.06	USA v. Ward USA v. Winton USA v. Cook     Eastern District of Tennessee at Winchester McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge. Defendants Calvin Ward, Berreese Winton, and Stephen Cook pled guilty to various drug trafficking crimes. In a joint sentencing hearing, the district court sentenced Ward to 210 months’ imprisonment and Winton to 292 months’ imprisonment. Shortly thereafter, the district court sentenced Cook to 294 months’ imprisonment. All three defendants now appeal their respective sentences. Ward objects to the use of a prior felony drug conviction as a predicate offense for purposes of career offender status. Winton argues that the district court erred when it applied a two-level firearm enhancement. Cook raises three objections, contending that the two-level enhancement for his leadership role was improper, the enhancement provision is unconstitutionally vague, and his sentence was unreasonable. Contrary to defendants’ arguments, the district court did not commit error when it sentenced each defendant, and so we AFFIRM all three judgments.
07a0430p.06	Connection Distr v. Gonzales     Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland KENNEDY, Circuit Judge. Connection Distributing, Rondee Kamins, Jane Doe, and John Doe (“Plaintiffs”) appeal the judgment of the district court granting summary judgment to the government. Plaintiffs had challenged the recordkeeping requirements 18 U.S.C. § 2257 placed upon producers of images of “actual sexually explicit conduct” as violative of the First Amendment. We conclude that the statute is overbroad and therefore violates the First Amendment, and accordingly we REVERSE the district court’s judgment and remand with instructions to enter summary judgment for the plaintiffs.
07a0431p.06	Morrison v. Boyd Cnty Bd Ed     Eastern District of Kentucky at Ashland KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Timothy Morrison (“Morrison”) was a student at Boyd County High School (“BCHS”). He is a Christian, and he believes that homosexuality is a sin. He further believes that part of his responsibility as a Christian is to tell others when their conduct does not comport with his understanding of Christian morality. During the 2004-05 academic year, BCHS had a written policy prohibiting students from making stigmatizing or insulting comments regarding another student’s sexual orientation. Morrison did not want to be punished, so he kept to himself his beliefs regarding homosexuality. After Morrison filed this lawsuit, the Board of Education of Boyd County (“Board”) changed the BCHS policy, but the litigation did not end. We must now decide whether Morrison’s claim for nominal damages premised upon the “chill” on Morrison’s speech during the 2004-05 school year presents a justiciable controversy. We conclude that it does and accordingly REVERSE the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the school board on this claim. Because genuine issues of material fact prevent us from determining the merits of Morrison’s free-speech claim, we REMAND the case to the district court for further proceedings.
07a0432p.06	USA v. Stacy USA v. Hughes     Southern District of Ohio at Columbus JOHN R. ADAMS, District Judge. Appellants Kelly Hughes and Kevin Stacy challenge their convictions and alternatively the district court's denial of their motion for judgment of acquittal and/or motion for a new trial. This appeal, originally filed by Hughes, was consolidated with case number 06-3025, filed by Stacy. There are nine issues raised on appeal, two by Hughes, seven by Stacy. Both Appellants allege that there was a variance between the indictment and the evidence presented at trial on the conspiracy counts. They further argue that the variance resulted in substantial prejudice, thus necessitating a new trial. Stacy makes the following additional arguments: that the jury verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence and was not supported by sufficient evidence with respect to the charge of making false statements and the charges of conspiracy to engage in insider trading and to obstruct justice; that the jury relied on material outside the record in its deliberations; that defense counsel failed to present an adequate defense at trial due to the district court's exclusion of certain expert testimony; that the jury instructions were inadequate; and that prejudice resulted from the cumulative effect of errors made by the district court. For the reasons stated below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court, although based upon a slightly different analysis from the one used by that court.