United States v. Young

── United States v. Young ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Date: May 01, 2026 Category: Direct Criminal Case: 25-30187 Document: 98-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED May 1, 2026 No. 25-30187 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk United States of America, Plaintiff—Appellee, versus Kenric W. Young, Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 5:21-CR-19-1 ______________________________ Before Elrod, Chief Judge, and Ho and Ramirez, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:* Kenric W. Young conditionally pleaded guilty to federal drug and firearm offenses. He now argues the district court erred on two grounds. First, Young says the district court erroneously found law enforcement had reasonable suspicion to search him for weapons during a traffic stop. Second, he contends that the district court misclassified him as a career offender _____________________ * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 25-30187 Document: 98-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 No. 25-30187 during sentencing, arguing one of his prior state convictions is not a predicate offense under the Sentencing Guidelines. Young concedes he did not preserve these objections below, so we review them for plain error. Finding no clear or obvious error, we affirm. I. During a night-time patrol of a high-crime area, officers with the Shreveport Police Department initiated a traffic stop after observing a driver, later identified as Kenric W. Young, make a left turn without using a signal. One officer activated his vehicle’s emergency lights and sirens, but Young did not stop. Despite sufficient space on the roadway to pull over safely, Young instead proceeded for roughly thirty-nine seconds until he parked in driveway of a residence. Young then immediately exited his vehicle without being directed to do so, raised his hands, and tossed his phone on top of his car. After noticing a large bulge in the front pocket of Young’s sweatshirt, officers performed a pat-down search to check for weapons. The bulge turned out to be two bags of marijuana and over $5,000 in cash. Officers discovered additional bags of marijuana near Young’s car. And following the issuance of a warrant, a search of Young’s residence further uncovered over a kilogram of methamphetamine, more than half a kilogram of marijuana, and a stolen firearm. Young later conditionally pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, see 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, see 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). Because of Young’s two Louisiana convictions for controlled substance offenses, the district court applied a career offender sentencing enhancement and sentenced him to 322 months of imprisonment. 2 Case: 25-30187 Document: 98-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 05/01/2026 No. 25-30187