United States v. Nemeth

── United States v. Nemeth ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Date: April 13, 2026 Category: General Appellate Case: 24-8049 Document: 54-1 Date Filed: 04/13/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS April 13, 2026 FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. No. 24-8049 (D.C. No. 2:24-CR-00012-SWS-1) JAMES NEMETH, (D. Wyo.) Defendant - Appellant. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________ Before HOLMES, Chief Judge, MORITZ, and ROSSMAN, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ The government indicted James Nemeth for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and for possessing a firearm as a felon. These charges were based on evidence seized from Mr. Nemeth’s motel room after a trained narcotics dog alerted at his motel room door. Mr. Nemeth moved to suppress the evidence. He also moved to dismiss the felon-in-possession charges. The district court denied those motions, and * This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.  Appellate Case: 24-8049 Document: 54-1 Date Filed: 04/13/2026 Page: 2 Mr. Nemeth pleaded guilty under a conditional plea agreement. He now appeals. As to his motion to suppress, he contends law enforcement violated his reasonable expectation of privacy in his motel room under the Fourth Amendment and Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967), when officers used a drug dog to sniff his motel room door from the public hallway. As to his motion to dismiss the indictment, he argues 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) violates the Second Amendment. Neither argument requires reversal. We do not reach the merits of Mr. Nemeth’s Fourth Amendment challenge because he failed to raise before the district court the particular argument he now advances on appeal. And we must reject his Second Amendment challenge because it is foreclosed by our circuit precedent, as Mr. Nemeth acknowledges. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm. I A1 Based on a tip from a confidential informant, law enforcement suspected Mr. Nemeth was selling controlled substances out of his room at 1 We draw these background facts from the appellate record, including the district court’s order denying the motion to suppress. See United States v. Johnson, 43 F.4th 1100, 1107 (10th Cir. 2022) (“In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we accept the district court’s factual findings unless clearly erroneous[.]” (internal quotation marks omitted)). 2  Appellate Case: 24-8049 Document: 54-1 Date Filed: 04/13/2026 Page: 3 the Super 8 Motel in Evansville, Wyoming. Casper Police Department Officer Justin Price conveyed this information to Natrona County Sheriff’s Deputy Dexter Bryant. Deputy Bryant and his trained narcotics-detection dog, Duke, drove to the Super 8 Motel “to conduct a free-air sniff of