Alvin Boyer was convicted after helping Freddie Tilton orchestrate an attack on Shayla Tilton at a Missouri motel in July 2020. Boyer had been messaging with Shayla when her estranged husband Freddie confronted him via Facebook, ultimately convincing Boyer to lure Shayla to a motel room where Freddie was waiting with weapons, duct tape, rope, and torture devices. When Shayla entered the darkened room, Freddie attacked her with a rifle butt and held her at gunpoint until police arrived.
Circuit Judge Kelly wrote that Boyer's evidentiary challenges failed because "the remaining evidence against Boyer was substantial," including his knowledge that Freddie was violent and his lack of surprise at post-assault messages. The court found Boyer knew Freddie was "known to be violent" and that Boyer's behavior showed he was coordinating with Freddie rather than being an unwitting participant. Kelly noted that even contested evidence about Boyer's pending domestic violence charges "did not influence or had only a slight influence on the verdict."
Boyer had argued at trial that he lacked the necessary intent because he didn't know Freddie planned to assault Shayla. The district court calculated Boyer's Guidelines range at 360 months to life but imposed concurrent 240-month sentences after Boyer requested 120 months and the government sought a Guidelines sentence. Boyer challenged the admission of evidence about his pending assault charges against his own wife and argued his sentence was substantively unreasonable.
The Eighth Circuit's affirmance upholds the district court's broad discretion in weighing sentencing factors, including Boyer's claim of duress. The court noted that Boyer received a sentence "ten years below the advisory Guidelines range and lower than the sentence Freddie received," suggesting courts will consider fear and coercion as mitigating factors while still holding conspirators accountable for violent crimes.