US v. Youts, No. 99-3215

Citation229 F.3d 1312
Decision Date17 October 2000
Docket NumberNo. 99-3215
Parties(10th Cir. 2000) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ABNER YOUTS, Defendant-Appellant
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. (D.C. No. CR-98-10130-01-WEB) [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Steven K. Gradert, Assistant Federal Public Defender (David J. Phillips, Federal Public Defender, with him on the brief), Wichita, Kansas, for Defendant-Appellant.

Nancy Landis Caplinger, Assistant United States Attorney (Jackie N. Williams United States Attorney, with her on the brief), Topeka, Kansas, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before SEYMOUR, Chief Judge, HENRY and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

SEYMOUR, Chief Judge.

Abner Youts appeals from an adverse jury verdict. As the parties' oral arguments showed, the events leading up to his criminal conviction under 18 U.S.C. 1992 for wrecking a train are unusual and give rise to a number of interesting parallels in modern folk music. We begin with the facts.

I

"He made that freight train boogie, as he rolled down the line."1

In the early morning hours of January 10, 1994, after an evening of misadventure, Abner Youts and Richard Nesbitt needed a ride home. The pair set out on foot and ended up at the Union Pacific Railyard in Wichita, Kansas, where they boarded two idling locomotives that were connected together. After playing with the controls, they figured out how to move the trains back and forth. Mr. Youts remarked to Mr. Nesbitt that, as a boy, he had always loved trains and wanted to be an engineer.2 Mr. Youts then decided to drive the train home.

Upon arriving at a point on the tracks approximately half a block from his house, Mr. Youts stopped the train, let Mr. Nesbitt off, and decided to send the train back through town. He put the train into reverse at full throttle and disembarked. The train got as far as a curve in the tracks in downtown Wichita. The normal speed for this curve is ten miles per hour. The driverless train took it at fifty-six miles per hour and derailed.3 One locomotive car ended up lying in the street and the other landed on its side in the dirt next to the tracks. Although no one was hurt, the derailment caused Union Pacific and the City of Wichita a total of $234,145 in damage and clean-up costs.

As a result of anonymous tips to the Wichita Crimestoppers hotline, investigating authorities learned Mr. Nesbitt and Mr. Youts may have been involved in the offense. Eventually, Mr. Nesbitt gave a confession that detailed their activities on the evening in question and the two men were each indicted on one count of violating 18 U.S.C. 1992, the federal train wreck statute. Mr. Nesbitt pled guilty and agreed to testify against Mr. Youts. The case against Mr. Youts was tried before a jury, which found him guilty. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $234,145 in restitution.

This appeal followed. Mr. Youts raises three claims: first, he contends the statute required a showing of specific intent to wreck the train, and the evidence of his specific intent was insufficient to support the jury's determination of guilt; second, he asserts that evidence of his other crimes was improperly admitted; and third, he argues that the district court mishandled an allegation of juror misconduct. For the reasons discussed below, we deny each of these claims.

II
A. Sufficiency of the Evidence Intent

Although we review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence de novo, we do so while viewing the evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the government. United States v. Haslip, 160 F.3d 649, 653 (10th Cir.1998). We will reverse "'only if no rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.'" Id. at 652 (quoting United States v. Wacker, 72 F.3d 1453, 1462-63 (10th Cir. 1995)). We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. See United States v. King, 979 F.2d 801, 802 (10th Cir.1992).

The federal train wreck statute punishes anyone who "willfully derails, disables, or wrecks any train, engine, motor unit, or car used, operated, or employed in interstate or foreign commerce by any railroad." 18 U.S.C. 1992 (emphasis added). Mr. Youts contends the statute should be read to require proof of a specific intent to disable, derail, or wreck the train. He argues there was no evidence he actually wanted the train to wreck. Rather, he maintains the evidence indicated that he took the train on impulse and that he meant to return it to the station when he was finished.

Section 1992 requires a showing of "willfulness." The term "willful" is frequently used in criminal statutes, but it has a less than clear statutory and common law history. See Wayne R. LaFave & Austin W. Scott, Criminal Law 3.4(b), at 213-14 & n.7 (2d ed. 1986). In response to the ambiguity of such common law terms, the Model Penal Code delineated four categories of culpable mens rea, corresponding to actions taken purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently. Model Penal Code 2.02(2)(a)-(d). The Model Penal Code parallels many judicial decisions in declaring that knowing conduct is sufficient to establish willfulness. See id. 2.02(8) ("A requirement that an offense be committed wilfully is satisfied if a person acts knowingly with respect to the material elements of the offense . . ."); see also United States v. M.W., 890 F.2d 239, 241 (10th Cir. 1989) (holding that, for purposes of federal arson statute, "'willfully and maliciously' includes acts done with the knowledge that burning of a building is the practically certain result"); United States v. Barber, 594 F.2d 1242, 1244 (9th Cir. 1979) (equating "willfully" with "knowledge of the facts constituting the offense") abrogated on other grounds, United States v. Foster, 133 F.3d 704 (9th Cir. 1998) (en banc); accord United States v. Johnson, 14 F.3d 766, 768 (2d Cir. 1994).

In addition, the legislative history of section 1992 indicates Congress did not intend the statute to contain a specific intent requirement. A House Committee Report on the legislation recommended that the words "and maliciously" be stricken after "willfully," because the committee believed "that the words would place too great a burden on the prosecution of an offense under the bill." Making it a Crime to Wreck or Attempt to Wreck a Train Engaged in Interstate Commerce, H.R. Rep. No. 76-2175 (3d Sess. 1940). "Maliciously," like willfully, is a nebulous term. See LaFave & Scott, 3.4(b), at 214. In this context, however, it indicates a heightened level of culpability akin to specific intent. Congress rejected this requirement, and removed the language from the bill. Consequently, the willfulness language in section 1992 is best understood as a knowledge requirement.

"A person acts knowingly with respect to a material element of an offense when[,] . . . if the element involves a result of his conduct, he is aware that it is practically certain that his conduct will cause such a result." Model Penal Code 2.02(2)(b)(ii). Cf. id. 2.02(2)(a)(i) ("A person acts purposely with respect to a material element of the offense when[,] if the element involves . . . a result [of his conduct], it is his conscious object . . . to cause such a result."). The natural, probable consequences of an act can satisfactorily evidence the state of mind accompanying it. See United States v. White, 557 F.2d 233, 236 (10th Cir. 1977) (per curiam). That showing has been met here. The natural, probable, and practically certain consequence of sending a driverless locomotive down curving tracks at full speed will be the result punished by the statute.

In holding that section 1992 does not require specific intent to wreck a train, we are in agreement with every other appellate court to consider this issue. In United States v. Dreding, 547 F.2d 471 (9th Cir. 1976) (per curiam), the defendant was a transient who was riding a train and turned a device that controlled the train's braking system, hoping to slow the train so he could jump off. Unbeknownst to him, another train was ahead on the same track, requiring an emergency stop. Mr. Dreding's action impeded the train's braking ability and it collided with the other train. The Ninth Circuit found Mr. Dreding criminally liable, concluding that section 1992 was not limited to situations in which the specific intent to wreck a train could be established. See id. at 472. In United States v. Turpin, 707 F.2d 332 (8th Cir. 1983), the defendant killed someone and, to cover up the cause of death, placed the victim's body in a car which he parked across the railroad tracks. The Eighth Circuit held the government only had to prove Mr. Turpin knowingly made the tracks hazardous by intentionally parking a car in the path of an oncoming train. See id. at 337; see also Stanley v. United States, 245 F.2d 427, 436 (6th Cir. 1957) (finding defendants who burned a railway bridge liable for subsequent train wreck).

Mr. Youts knowingly set in motion literally and figuratively the events which caused the train to wreck. That is all section 1992 requires. We hold that the jury was presented with sufficient evidence to find Mr. Youts guilty.

B. Evidence of Other Crimes

"Never had such a good time in my life before.

I'd like to have it one time more.

One good ride from start to end.

I'd like to take that ride again."4

Mr. Youts' second claim of error stems from the district court's decision to allow the prosecution to introduce evidence of other crimes he engineered. We review the court's decision to admit this evidence for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Neal, 718 F.2d 1505, 1509-10 (10th Cir. 1983).

Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) governs the admissibility of evidence of a defendant's other criminal acts:

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the...

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