United States v. Bracken

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
• Decided: December 3, 2025
• Docket: 25-4005
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Appellate Case: 25-4005 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 12/03/2025 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT December 3, 2025 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v. No. 25-4005 (D.C. No. 2:24-CR-00132-TS-1) RYAN GREGORY BRACKEN, (D. Utah)

Defendant - Appellant. _________________________________

ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________

Before TYMKOVICH, BALDOCK, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

Ryan Gregory Bracken appeals his convictions under 18 U.S.C. §§ 875 and

§ 2261A and his counsel has moved to withdraw under Anders v. California,

386 U.S. 738 (1967). After conducting the review required by Anders, and

exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we dismiss this appeal.

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined *

unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.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: 25-4005 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 12/03/2025 Page: 2

I.

Bracken stopped paying his mortgage and his lender foreclosed. Eventually,

an auction to sell his house was scheduled for April 8, 2024. In the weeks before that

date, Bracken placed many angry and profane phone calls threatening to kill

attorneys involved in the foreclosure and various officials and employees of the Salt

Lake County Sherriff’s, Recorder’s, and Assessor’s Offices. 1

Based on his threats, Bracken was arrested on April 5, 2024 and indicted on

April 17, 2024. After holding a Faretta hearing, the district court granted his request

1 Bracken’s calls and voicemails included such statements as: • There is a f***ing tall tree with a short rope with all of your barrister f**ing names on it.” Anders Br. at 5 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting audio recording). • “[I]f you think you’re gonna come and serve an eviction notice . . . you better come armed ‘cause if not you’re gonna get shot.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted) (ellipses in original) (quoting audio recording). • “As soon as you put one f***ing leg, foot, onto my property I will spit red hot f***ing 7.62 by 39 millimeter lead at your f***ing head and your f***ing center mass.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting audio recording). • “If you proceed with the . . . auction . . . I will open fire with 7.62 by 39 millimeter on anybody and all who step foot on this property . . . follow through with that f***ing phony fraudulent f***ing public auction . . . and I’ll see you on the 8th and then I’ll f***ing shut you down there too.” Id. at 7 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting audio recording). • “The first sheriff shows up at my house to try to evict me . . . I will open fire on them.” Id. at 11 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting audio recording). • “If the sheriff sale goes down, as scheduled . . . I will hold [the Sheriff] responsible for treasonous acts and she will swing from a rope I guarantee it . . . .” Id. at 12 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting audio recording). 2 Appellate Case: 25-4005 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 12/03/2025 Page: 3

to represent himself. He proceeded to trial, with counsel from the Federal Public

Defender (FPD) acting as standby counsel. A jury convicted him of one count of

interstate communication of threats, § 875(c), and five of criminal stalking,

§ 2261A(2), acquitting on one § 2261A count. The district court imposed a below-

Guidelines sentence of 60 months’ imprisonment and 36 months’ supervised release.

After Bracken filed a notice of appeal, the FPD filed an Anders brief. Bracken

was sent a copy of that brief and filed a pro se opening brief in response. The

government indicated it would not file a response.

II.

Under Anders, defense counsel may “request permission to withdraw where

counsel conscientiously examines a case and determines that any appeal would be

wholly frivolous.” United States v. Calderon, 428 F.3d 928, 930 (10th Cir. 2005). If

counsel makes that determination, he must “submit a brief to the client and the

appellate court indicating any potential appealable issues based on the record.” Id.

“The client may then choose to submit arguments to the court.” Id. We then fully

examine the record “to determine whether defendant’s claims are wholly frivolous.”

Id. If we conclude they are, we may dismiss the appeal. See id.

III.

After conducting the review required by Anders—including both the issues

identified in the Anders brief and the contentions in Bracken’s pro se brief—we agree

with the FPD that the appeal is “wholly frivolous.” Anders, 386 U.S. at 744.

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Pretrial Motions and Rulings: In pretrial filings, Bracken: argued the district

court and/or federal government lacked jurisdiction over him, see R. vol. 1 at 193–

95; requested dismissal of the prosecution or a declaration it was a “sham,” id. at 361

(capitalization omitted); sought discovery of such extraneous items as the “Court’s

DUN & Bradsteet number,” id. at 253; and relatedly asked for voir dire questions

based on his own views of the law, see id. at 373. The district court rejected these

requests, describing them as “indicative of the sovereign citizen movement or

otherwise wholly unsupported or nonsensical,” and “completely without merit and

patently frivolous.” Id at 385 (internal quotation marks omitted); see also id. at 75–

78. We agree. It would be wholly frivolous for Bracken to appeal these rulings.

See, e.g., United States v. Benabe, 654 F.3d 753, 767 (7th Cir. 2011) (“Regardless of

an individual’s claimed status . . . as a ‘sovereign citizen,’ a ‘secured-party creditor,’

or a ‘flesh-and-blood human being,’ that person is not beyond the jurisdiction of the

courts. These theories should be rejected summarily, however they are presented.”). 2

We also see no non-frivolous basis for Bracken to appeal the district court’s

ruling that his threats were not protected by the First Amendment. See R. vol. I at

75–76 (citing Counterman v. Colorado, 600 U.S. 66, 74 (2023) (stating “[t]rue

threats of violence” are not protected speech) (internal quotation marks omitted)).

2 Bracken calls himself an “American State National Civilian,” rather than a sovereign citizen. R. vol. III at 766. This does not change our analysis. And, like his pretrial motions, there is no non-frivolous ground to appeal the district court’s denial of his post-conviction motion to vacate the judgment, which made similar frivolous arguments. See R. vol. I at 579–80 & 588–92. 4 Appellate Case: 25-4005 Document: 56-1 Date Filed: 12/03/2025 Page: 5

Exclusion of Evidence Regarding Legality of Foreclosure: The district court

did not abuse its discretion by restricting Bracken from presenting evidence or

argument regarding the legality of his foreclosure. See R. vol. I at 392. It allowed

him to “make reference to the fact that [he] believe[d] the foreclosure . . . was done

illegally;” but, to avoid “a mini trial over the merits of [the] foreclosure,” R. vol. III

at 244, prevented him from going into detail, and stopped him from testifying about

the validity of his mortgage or his belief it “was not in arrears.” Id. at 603.

It would be frivolous for Bracken to appeal these evidentiary rulings, which

we review only for abuse of discretion, giving “deference to a district court’s

familiarity with the details of the case and its greater experience in evidentiary

matters.” United States v. Rudolph, 152 F.4th 1197, 1229 (10th Cir. 2025) (internal

quotation marks omitted). The legality of the foreclosure was not relevant to the

criminal charges or to any fact in dispute at trial. The district court acted within its

discretion to exclude this irrelevant evidence. See id.; Fed. R Evid. 401–403.

Sufficiency of the Evidence: The district court denied Bracken’s Federal Rule

of Criminal Procedure 29 motion for a judgment of acquittal. See R. vol. I at 561–75.

As to the § 2261A convictions, it found the trial evidence sufficient to establish the

required elements: (1) Bracken used a facility of interstate commerce, (2) with intent

to harass and intimidate, and (3) his conduct caused or would be reasonably expected

to cause the victims substantial emotional distress. See R. vol. I at 567 (citing 18

U.S.C. § 2261 and Counterman, 600 U.S. at 79–80). The court likewise found the

evidence sufficient to prove Bracken violated § 875 by (1) knowingly transmitting a

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communication containing a threat to cause physical injury, (2) with the intent to

make a threat or knowledge it would be viewed as such, (3) in interstate commerce.

See R. vol. I at 574.

It would be frivolous for Bracken to appeal these rulings. As the district court

described, the evidence showed Bracken made the calls using a cellular phone, and

the voicemail underlying the § 875 charge was delivered by an out-of-state server,

thus satisfying the interstate commerce elements. We also agree the evidence was

sufficient to prove the other § 2261A elements, based on the number and tone of

Bracken’s calls, the specificity of his threats, and the fact he possessed a Kalashnikov

rifle and ammunition of the type he repeatedly threatened to use against the victims.

The evidence also supported the § 875 conviction, showing Bracken called an

employee in the County Recorder’s office and threatened him with “death” as the

punishment for “treason.” R. vol. I at 575 (internal quotation marks omitted); Anders

Br. at 16 (transcribing voicemail). We see no non-frivolous grounds for Bracken to

appeal the district court’s denial of his Rule 29 motion.

Reasonable Doubt Jury Instruction: The district court gave a jury instruction

on reasonable doubt and the presumption of innocence that differed from our pattern

instruction. See R. vol. I at 529–30. But Bracken did not object to it, so any error is

subject only to plain-error review. See United States v. Fishman, 645 F.3d 1175,

1193 (10th Cir. 2011). Because the instruction was neither a misstatement of the law

nor misleading to the jury, there is no non-frivolous argument that would meet the

plain error standard. See United States v. Sockey, 157 F.4th 1282, 1285 (10th Cir.

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2025) (stating “district courts have substantial latitude and discretion in tailoring and

formulating jury instructions” and “[i]nstructions need not be perfect”) (internal

quotation marks omitted); Tillman v. Cook, 215 F.3d 1116, 1127 (10th Cir. 2000)

(approving instruction that “taken as a whole . . . correctly conveyed the concept of

reasonable doubt”).

Conditional Threats Jury Instruction: At trial, Bracken repeatedly claimed to

have made only “harsh conditional statements,” but not threats. R. vol. III at 617; see

also, e.g., id. at 634, 640, 695. Given this testimony, the government requested a

jury instruction on conditional threats. Bracken objected the requested instruction

was untimely because it was tendered after the district court’s pre-trial deadline for

submitting proposed instructions. See id. at 653. But he did not object to its

statement of the applicable law.

We see no non-frivolous argument that the district court abused its discretion

by accepting this instruction, which the government requested after the court’s pre-

trial deadline, but before closing arguments, and in response to specific trial

testimony. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 30(a) (providing requests for jury instructions “must

be made at the close of the evidence or at any earlier time that the court reasonably

sets”); see also United States v. Teerlink, 141 F.4th 1126, 1133 (10th Cir. 2025)

(“District courts are given significant latitude over case management.”). And

because the instruction did not misstate the law, there is no non-frivolous argument

that the district court plainly erred by giving it. See United States v. Dillard,

795 F.3d 1191, 1200 (10th Cir. 2015) (“[A] statement may constitute a true threat

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even if it is conditional.”); Sockey, 2025 WL 30726209, at *2 (emphasizing district

courts’ discretion in formulating jury instructions).

Sentencing: A Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) calculated Bracken’s

guideline imprisonment range as 108 to 135 months, after increasing the offense level

for the § 2261A convictions because (1) Bracken possessed a dangerous weapon and

engaged in “a pattern of activity involving stalking, threatening, harassing, or

assaulting the same victim,” U.S.S.G. § 2A6.2(b)(1), and (2) his threats were

motivated by the victims’ status as government officials, U.S.S.G. § 3A1.2(a), (b).

The district court adopted this calculation, rejecting Bracken’s argument that the

§ 2A6.2(b)(1) enhancement impermissibly double counted his conduct. It then

imposed a 60-month prison sentence.

There is no non-frivolous argument that the district court engaged in

impermissible double counting, which “occurs when the same conduct . . . is used to

support separate increases under separate enhancement provisions which necessarily

overlap, are indistinct, and serve identical purposes.” United States v. Campus,

147 F.4th 1147, 1151 (10th Cir. 2025) (internal quotation marks omitted). The

district court did not apply overlapping or indistinct enhancements; rather, it

correctly concluded the §§ 2A6.2(b)(2) and 3A1.2(a) enhancements both applied to

Bracken’s conduct. We see no non-frivolous grounds for Bracken to appeal that

ruling, or to otherwise appeal his significantly below-guidelines sentence.

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IV.

Bracken’s pro se brief presents only frivolous and undeveloped assertions. We

construe his filings liberally, but without acting as his advocate. See Garrett v. Selby

Connor Maddux & Janer, 425 F.3d 836, 840 (10th Cir. 2005). His contentions are

similar to the those from his pretrial motions, as summarized above. For instance,

Bracken states this case was “brought quasi in rem” and therefore “has no validity

toward the appellant in personam;” he asserts “[t]he appellant never appeared in

Court” and the government “never had a prescribed title or paramount title to the

property.” Aplt. Opening Br. 2. He also asserts his convictions violated the Double

Jeopardy clause, but does not explain how. Because these contentions are plainly

frivolous, and because Bracken cites no supporting authority, we reject them

summarily. See Benabe, 654 F.3d at 767; Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(8)(A) (requiring

appellant to cite authorities on which he relies); Garrett, 425 F.3d at 840–41

(concluding pro se appellant forfeited review by failing to comply with Rule 28).

V.

The Anders procedures were satisfied and, after conducting the required

review, we conclude that Bracken’s appeal is wholly frivolous. We therefore grant

counsel’s motion to withdraw and dismiss this appeal.

Entered for the Court

Timothy M. Tymkovich Circuit Judge