United States v. Tommy Vasquez

MEMORANDUM

Appellant Tommy Lee Vasquez was found guilty of assault resulting in serious bodily injury in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113 (a)(6). Vasquez was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment and was ordered to pay $42,453.64 in restitution to the Bureau of Prisons pursuant to the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. Vasquez appeals his conviction, sentence, and restitution order. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

1. Sufficient evidence supports Vasquez’s conviction of assault resulting in serious bodily injury. The evidence, when viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, permitted the jury to find that Vasquez: (1) initiated the physical violence, (2) resumed the physical attack when Theodore Vickers was not fighting, (3) threw Vickers over his shoulder and slammed Vickers’s face into the concrete floor, and (4) continued to punch Vickers even after Vickers stopped moving. This is sufficient to permit the jury to find “the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 , 99 S.Ct. 2781 , 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

2. The district court did not err by precluding a duress defense. We review de…