United States v. Eldonte Kirk

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: January 7, 2026
• Docket: 25-2558
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 25-2558 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Eldonte Lamar Kirk

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa ____________

Submitted: December 29, 2025 Filed: January 7, 2026 [Unpublished] ____________

Before LOKEN, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

Eldonte Kirk appeals after the district court1 revoked his supervised release for committing a new law violation and sentenced him to 14 months in prison and 36

1 The Honorable Stephanie M. Rose, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. months of supervised release. Kirk argues that in sentencing him the district court plainly erred by relying on a fact unsupported by the record, namely that Kirk engaged in a high-speed chase in connection with the new law violation for which the court revoked his supervised release.

Upon careful review, we conclude that any error in the district court’s characterization of Kirk’s conduct as involving a high-speed chase does not warrant plain-error relief, as Kirk does not dispute that while intoxicated he drove his vehicle at a high rate of speed in the wrong direction on the highway and nearly struck a deputy who was attempting to stop his vehicle. See United States v. Harrell, 982 F.3d 1137, 1139S40 (8th Cir. 2020) (conducting plain-error review where defendant challenged unobjected-to statement by district court during court’s explanation for sentence). Accordingly, we affirm. ______________________________

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