Weapon smuggler’s sentence upheld

The Ninth Circuit upheld a California federal court's sentence for a man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to export night-vision and thermal-vision rifle scopes to Russia and laundering the proceeds through offshore banks.

The court rejected claims that his counsel provided constitutionally deficient assistance and found the State Department did not exceed its authority under the Arms Export Control Act in issuing the regulation underlying his conviction.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.