U.S. v. Wills
| Decision Date | 07 October 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-4813.,No. 01-4630.,No. 01-4964.,01-4630.,01-4813.,01-4964. |
| Citation | 346 F.3d 476 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Christopher Andaryl WILLS, a/k/a Ed Short, a/k/a Michael Wills, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Christopher Andaryl Wills, a/k/a Ed Short, a/k/a Michael Wills, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Christopher Andaryl Wills, a/k/a Ed Short, a/k/a Michael Wills, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
ARGUED: Jonathan D. Hacker, O'Melveny & Myers, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellant. James L. Trump, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Alan H. Yamamoto, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant. Paul J. McNulty, United States Attorney, Kevin V. Di Gregory, Assistant United States Attorney, Vincent L. Gambale, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee.
Before WIDENER, WILKINSON, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge WIDENER wrote the opinion, in which Judge WILKINSON and Judge DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ concurred.
The defendant, Christopher Andaryl Wills, was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1), and interstate stalking resulting in death, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2261A. On appeal, Wills raises a multitude of issues, challenging his convictions and sentence. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Wills' convictions and sentence.1
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on April 4, 1998, Zabiullah Alam returned home from work to the apartment that he shared with his two aunts and a cousin. Upon his return, Alam discovered an intruder, whom he later identified as the defendant, Christopher Wills, in the living room of his apartment holding his aunt's purse. Wills fled by jumping off the apartment balcony, taking with him Alam's aunt's purse and his cousin's pants and wallet. After a high speed chase, the Fairfax County, Virginia police arrested Wills and charged him with burglary.
On June 15, 1998, a preliminary hearing was held in the Fairfax County General District Court. During the hearing, Alam appeared as the Commonwealth's sole witness and identified Wills as the person whom he had discovered burglarizing his home. The court determined that there was probable cause to believe that Wills committed the burglary and bound the case over to the state grand jury. The grand jury was scheduled to meet on July 20, 1998, and Wills, if indicted, would have been arraigned on July 21, 1998. Wills was then released on bond.
During the evening of June 15, 1998, Wills spoke via telephone to his brother, Michael Wills, who was incarcerated at the Augusta Correctional Facility near Staunton, Virginia. The facility monitored and recorded its prisoners' telephone conversations. During the call, Wills discussed the preliminary hearing which took place earlier that day. Wills described how Alam identified him at the hearing and made several statements indicating that he was formulating a plan to stop Alam from testifying against him.2
On or about June 17, 1998, a man, later identified by sales representative Reginald Johnson to be Christopher Wills, obtained Cellular One service for a pre-existing cell phone at a Radio Shack in Washington, D.C., using the fictitious name "Ed Short." He prepaid for the service in cash and listed what was later determined to be a fictitious address in Temple Hills, Maryland as his residence. On or about June 18, 1998, a flier was left under Alam's door advertising a grounds keeping job at an apartment complex, which paid $11.00 an hour plus benefits. The flier listed the telephone number of the cellular service activated by "Ed Short." On June 18, 1998, Wills spoke with his brother and stated that he had put "Plan A in action, right."
On or about June 18, 1998, Wills returned to the same Radio Shack, complaining that the cell phone did not function properly. On June 19, 1998, or sometime thereafter, the government contends that a handwritten note dated "6/19/98" was left at Alam's apartment which read, 3 At the bottom of the note the same telephone number was listed. On the evening of June 19, 1998, Wills again spoke with his brother and referred to being at Radio Shack and to the fliers and indicated that the phone which he had activated was not functioning properly.4
Prior to his disappearance, Alam told his family and friends that he had called the number listed on the fliers to arrange an interview for the grounds keeping job. Alam told them that he had scheduled the job interview for 5 p.m. on June 25, 1998 in Washington, D.C. Also prior to Alam's disappearance, Alam's cousin took a telephone message for Alam from a man who identified himself as Feleec or Felliece5 (phonetic) and who said that he was calling with regard to the grounds keeping job. The man gave the number listed on the fliers as his telephone number.
On June 25, 1998, the day of his scheduled interview, Alam returned a page message that he had received while he was with his friend, Ali Muradi. While Muradi listened, Alam discussed the grounds keeping job with a Mr. Felliece and later told Muradi that he was to meet Mr. Felliece's secretary at Union Station. At approximately 5 p.m. that night, Alam left Muradi's apartment in Fairfax County, Virginia for the job interview. At 6:03 p.m., Alam was stopped by a District of Columbia police officer on the 1200 block of F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., and was given a citation for not wearing his seat belt.
On June 26, 1998, after not hearing from Alam since he left for his interview, Alam's family reported him missing to the Fairfax County police. Also on June 26, Michael Wills called Christopher Wills and asked him, "You handle the business?" Wills replied, "Yeah." Then Michael Wills asked, "Everything taken care of?" and Wills replied, "Taken care of." In a second conversation on June 26, Wills attempted to describe what had taken place by using references to the movie, CASINO.6 In a later conversation, Michael Wills asked his brother, "You got rid of all of that, didn't you?" and Christopher Wills responded, "why you had to go there?" Wills then told his brother, Michael, that his "people" were "on the scene, but they don't know disposal" and "[a]ll they can say is I saw, but take us to, can't do."7
On July 28, 1998, the police discovered Alam's car abandoned in an apartment parking lot in Prince George's County, Maryland. Alam has not been seen since June 25, 1998.
On November 3, 1999, a federal grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Virginia returned an indictment charging Christopher Wills with one count of kidnapping in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1). On December 9, 1999, a superseding indictment was returned which included one count of interstate stalking resulting in death in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2261A. On February 3, 2000, a second superseding indictment was returned, which included minor changes.
On December 13, 1999, Wills appeared in court for arraignment on his superceding indictment. While he was there, Wills spoke with another prisoner, James Black, who commented that Wills would be eligible to receive the death penalty, if convicted. In response to Black's comment, Wills said that he would not receive the death penalty because "they'll never find the body." Alonzo Nichols, another prisoner in court that day, overheard Wills' conversation with Black. Nichols recalled Wills telling Black, "They can't give me the death penalty because they ain't never going to find the body."
On December 16, 1999, Wills filed a motion to dismiss Count One of the indictment (the kidnapping count) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for insufficiency of the offense charged. On February 4, 2000, Wills filed a motion to dismiss Count Two of the indictment (the interstate stalking count), arguing that the facts were insufficient for a grand jury to find probable cause to indict him for interstate stalking.
On February 15, 2000, the district court granted Wills' motion to dismiss Count One of the indictment (the kidnapping count) for lack of jurisdiction and denied his motion to dismiss Count Two of the indictment (the interstate stalking count). The government filed an interlocutory appeal with this court. In United States v. Wills, 234 F.3d 174 (4th Cir.2000) (hereinafter Wills I), this court addressed the issue of "whether jurisdiction is established under the Federal Kidnapping Act when a victim, acting because of false pretenses initiated at the instance of the defendant, transports himself across state lines without accompaniment by the alleged perpetrator or an accomplice." Wills I, 234 F.3d at 176. This court found that Wills I at 178. Because the facts supported a finding that Alam was "willfully transported" we vacated the district court's order and remanded the case. See United States v. Wills, 234 F.3d 174, 179 (4th Cir.2000) (Wills I).
On September 4, 2001, a three-week jury trial commenced, in which Wills appeared pro se with two attorneys acting as standby counsel. During the trial, the government introduced transcripts of Wills' telephone conversations with his brother, including the conversation in which Wills referred to the movie, CASINO. When...
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