Tuesday, March 29, 2016

United States v. Dracula

For real, this guy's nickname is Dracula because "he sometimes dressed up as a vampire, complete with yellow contact lenses and gold-plated fangs."  You can guess how the 11th Circuit decided the case...  Here's the intro by Judge William Pryor:
This appeal and cross-appeal require us to review the convictions and sentence of Damion Baston, an international sex trafficker nicknamed “Drac” (short for Dracula) who sometimes dressed up as a vampire, complete with yellow contact lenses and gold-plated fangs. Baston forced numerous women to prostitute for him by beating them, humiliating them, and threatening to kill them, and he pimped them around the world, from Florida to Australia to the United Arab Emirates. Baston challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for one conviction, a supplemental jury instruction, and the award of restitution to his victims. Those challenges fail, but the cross-appeal by the government about a refusal to award one victim increased restitution has merit.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not that circuit judges cherry pick, but that opinion needed to be written by C.J. Carnes or J. Rosenbaum. C'mon Bill -- a vampire pimp -- a VAMPIRE PIMP -- and that's all you had?

Anonymous said...

Luis is decided 5-3 in favor of private atty getting $$$, I mean in favor of 6th Amendment.

Anonymous said...

Shrebnick is blaring Rhianna right about now

Bob Becerra said...

I suggest filing a "Suggestion of Undeath".