Background
Gary L. Howard appealed from a criminal case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The Seventh Circuit issued an opinion in the appeal on September 25, 2026.
On October 9, 2026, Howard petitioned for both panel rehearing and rehearing en banc. The October 27 order addressed that petition and amended a factual passage in the court’s earlier opinion.
The Court’s Holding
The Seventh Circuit denied the petition. All members of the panel voted against panel rehearing, and no judge in regular active service requested a vote on rehearing en banc. Circuit Judge John Z. Lee did not participate in considering the petition.
The court also amended the first full paragraph on page 27 of its September 25 opinion. The revised passage states that the jury heard testimony that a confidential informant, acting through a middleman, agreed to buy two ounces of cocaine from Howard for $2,400. It further states that the informant testified Howard passed drugs to the middleman, who then passed them to her.
Key Takeaways
- The panel unanimously denied Howard’s request for panel rehearing.
- The court denied rehearing en banc because no active judge requested a vote.
- The court amended its prior opinion to clarify the trial testimony concerning the alleged cocaine transaction.
Why It Matters
The order leaves the result of the September 25 appellate opinion intact while refining its account of the evidence presented to the jury. The amendment specifies both the alleged terms of the cocaine purchase and the informant’s testimony about how the drugs moved through the middleman.