United States v. Bruce Strickland — 8th Cir. (Jun 12, 2026)
The Eighth Circuit hears United States versus Bruce Strickland. After pleading guilty under an agreement, Strickland made statements at sentencing that led the judge to reject the agreement. Strickland then withdrew his plea, went to trial, and was convicted. Stevan Vowell will argue that the judge could not undo acceptance of the agreement and that Strickland's sentencing statements should not have reached the jury. Kevin Eaton will answer for the United States that Strickland invited the claimed error by moving to withdraw his plea and that any evidentiary error was harmless.
United States v. Bruce Strickland (No. 25-3221) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, argued June 12, 2026.
Sources
Argument audio — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (public domain, 17 U.S.C. § 105):https://media-oa.ca8.uscourts.gov/OAaudio/2026/6/253221.mp3
Argument listing — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit:https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/sessions.pl?yymm=202606&getOA=Select
Argument calendar — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit:https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/webcal/jun26stl.pdf
Appellate docket — PACER entries mirrored by Justia:https://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca8/25-3221
District-court charging order — authenticated GovInfo copy:https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-arwd-5_23-cr-50074/pdf/USCOURTS-arwd-5_23-cr-50074-3.pdf
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure — U.S. Courts:https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-criminal-procedure
Federal Rules of Evidence — U.S. Courts:https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-evidence
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:30Allocution