The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the convictions of four defendants Tuesday in a consolidated appeal from a federal criminal case prosecuted in Norfolk, Virginia. The court rejected appeals from Nelson Evans, Kalub Shipman, Jaquate Simpson, and Landis Jackson in a published opinion written by Judge Toby Heytens.

The consolidated appeals involved four separate case numbers: 24-4037 (Evans), 24-4051 (Shipman), 24-4073 (Simpson), and 24-4103 (Jackson). All four defendants were originally convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia under Senior District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. The original criminal case, numbered 2:20-cr-00090, was filed in 2020.

The defendants were represented by separate counsel during the appeals process. Gerald Thomas Zerkin of Richmond represented one appellant, while Heather Lynn Carlton of Carlton Law PLC in Charlottesville, William Jeffrey Dinkin of William J. Dinkin PLC in Richmond, and Elizabeth Anne Franklin-Best of Elizabeth Franklin-Best P.C. in Columbia, South Carolina represented the other appellants.

The government was represented by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Fourth Circuit's published decision affirms the lower court's judgment and establishes precedential authority for future similar cases within the circuit.