No. 21-3216 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Kevin Roger Doerr

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota ____________

Submitted: May 12, 2022 Filed: August 2, 2022 ____________ Before ERICKSON, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges. ____________ KOBES, Circuit Judge.

In 2020, Kevin Doerr drove drunk through the White Earth Indian Reservation. Local residents tried to stop him, but he struck and pinned one of them, N.V., under his car. A jury convicted Doerr of assault with a dangerous weapon 1

1 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(3), which Doerr is subject to under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1151, 1153(a). and assault resulting in serious bodily injury.2 The district court 3 varied upward from the Guidelines and sentenced Doerr to 80 months on each count, to run consecutively. Doerr appeals, arguing that: (1) he was too drunk to have the specific intent to assault N.V.; (2) he ran over N.V. in self-defense; (3) his convictions violate the Double Jeopardy clause; and (4) his sentence was substantively unreasonable. Because those arguments are meritless, we affirm.

I.

The incident started when Doerr drove to his then-girlfriend’s house. He wanted to talk to her, but she refused to come outside. After being turned away, Doerr started speeding and swerving his car through the neighborhood. Fearing that someone could get hurt, N.V. and his brother C.V. walked outside, yelling at Doerr to stop. Doerr parked his car on the street and started arguing with the two. Doerr’s brother, D.D., came outside to join in the argument and tried to take away Doerr’s keys. According to witnesses, no punches were thrown, and no guns were drawn.

Doerr got back in his car and accelerated backwards, running over D.D. Neighbors saw this and ran outside to try to stop him. Doerr then redirected his attack toward the neighbors. His first and second attempts to hit them were stopped by the street curb. But on the third, he managed to jump the curb and pin N.V. under his car, gravely injuring him. Doerr then jumped out of his car and began stomping on N.V.’s head. The crowd raced to N.V.’s defense, and managed to subdue Doerr until police arrived.4 When police spoke with Doerr during his arrest, they described his responses as logical. He yelled profanities and spat in the face of an officer when

2 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6). 3 The Honorable Susan R. Nelson, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota. 4 A gun was later found outside Doerr’s car, but no one claimed to own it. -2- he was put in the squad car. At the police station, Doerr’s blood alcohol level was 0.182, over two times the legal limit in Minnesota.5

Prosecutors charged Doerr on four counts: two for assaulting N.V. and D.D. with a dangerous weapon (his car), and two for assaulting N.V. and D.D. and causing serious bodily injury. At trial, the jury was instructed that Doerr could not be convicted for assault with a dangerous weapon “if the effect of the alcohol made it impossible for [Doerr] to have had a specific intent to cause bodily harm.” The jury was also instructed that he could not be convicted if he “reasonably believe[d] that force [was] necessary to protect himself from what he reasonably believe[d] to be unlawful physical harm about to be inflicted by another.” The jury returne