United States v. Kenan Thomas

── United States v. Kenan Thomas ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Date: May 29, 2026 Category: General U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT Nos. 25-2102, 25-2103 & 25-2104 UNITED STATES v. KENAN THOMAS, Appellant in 25-2102, 25-2103 & ROMEO WALTER, Appellant in 25-2104 Appeal from District Court, D.V.I. Judge Robert A. Molloy Nos. 3:20-cr-00039-001 & 3:20-cr-00039-002 Before: KRAUSE, CHUNG, and SMITH, Circuit Judges Submitted Under Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a) on May 12, 2026 Decided: May 29, 2026 NONPRECEDENTIAL OPINION * CHUNG, Circuit Judge. Kenan Thomas and Romeo Walter (“Defendants”) each were found guilty by a jury of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and unauthorized possession of a firearm in violation of 14 V.I.C. § 2253(a). Defendants unsuccessfully filed motions for judgment of acquittal. On appeal, they * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and, under I.O.P. 5.7, is not binding precedent. challenge the denial of their motions and argue that their sentences are procedurally unreasonable. For the reasons set forth below, we will affirm in all respects. I. BACKGROUND 1 Thomas and Walter are brothers, whose firearm convictions trace back to a run-in with police in St. Thomas on April 8, 2020. That afternoon, Virgin Islands police officers in marked vehicles arrived to patrol an area known as Jah Yard. A group of four men were gathered there 2 and proceeded to run away. Two officers, Officer Kyle Gabriel and Sergeant Alester Carty, pursued them on foot. At trial, these officers testified that one of the men, whom Officer Carty identified as Thomas, carried a black backpack and a black duffel bag. Another man, whom the jury was invited to identify from video footage as Walter, 3 had his arm in a sling. During the chase, Sergeant Carty noticed a gun sticking out of the back of Thomas’s orange-colored boxer. Refusing Sergeant Carty’s command to stop, the group arrived at a green house with an outdoor patio on the second and third stories. Officer Gabriel then observed the men working together to move the bags (and themselves) from the ground level to the second story patio. Surveillance video from the home, which was viewed by the jury, shows four men scaling the patio—two men ascended 1 Because we write for the parties, we recite only the facts pertinent to our decision. 2 Of the three officers on the scene who testified, two recalled seeing only three men. Officer Kyle Gabriel recalled seeing four men. Surveillance video recorded a group of four men. 3 Walter argues that there was insufficient evidence that he was present in St. Thomas on April 8, 2020. We address this argument below. 2 first, and each received a bag from below, then Thomas climbed up third, removed a gun from his waistband and placed it on the black duffel bag, and proceeded to help pull up Walter last. A resident of the home testified that he saw the group on the second story patio through the glass sliding door of his home, and his mother screamed in fright. Officer Gabriel heard those screams coming from inside the residence, and then saw Thomas throw the bags back down to the ground floor. Officer Gabriel proceeded to chase Thomas, who was then alone with both bags in hand, until Thomas leapt over a fence and entered a shanty. Shortly thereafter, Thomas emerged from the shanty without the bags, and Sergeant Carty placed him under arrest. Walter was not arrested until several months lat