U.S. v. Hall

• Decision Date: 15 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-50193.,04-50193.
• Citation: 419 F.3d 980
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William Lewis HALL, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 980

419 F.3d 980

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William Lewis HALL, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04-50193.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted February 18, 2005.

Filed August 15, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Mark F. Adams, San Diego, CA, for appellant.

Carol C. Lam, U.S. Atty., Mark R. Rehe, Asst. U.S. Atty., San Diego, CA, for appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California; Napoleon A. Jones, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-01-01084-1-NAJ.

Before: TASHIMA, WARDLAW, Circuit Judges, and COLLINS, District Judge.^*

WARDLAW, Circuit Judge.

We must decide whether the Sixth Amendment right to confront testimonial witnesses established in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), applies to the admission of hearsay evidence during revocation of supervised release proceedings.

Factual Background

William Lewis Hall was on supervised release when, on October 26, 2003, Hall's probation officer, Janet Bergland, picked up a voice mail message from Susan Hawkins reporting that Hall had been drunk and had beaten her up the night before. Hawkins had attempted to file a police report, but the police had been preoccupied fighting forest fires in the area at the time.¹ Hawkins intended to go to the police department that day to file the police report. The message also indicated that Hawkins had gone to a domestic violence shelter, which, in turn, had sent her to St. Vincent de Paul's homeless shelter. As was her practice, and pursuant to office policy, Officer Bergland memorialized the voice mail message in her official chronological record of activities in Hall's case.

Also on October 26, Hawkins sought treatment at University of California San Diego ("UCSD") Medical Center for multiple bruises and scratches. Hawkins told her treating physician, Dr. Glover, that her live-in boyfriend had assaulted her the night before. Dr. Grover concluded that Hawkins "had contusions on her elbow, her chest and her back" and that these injuries were "consistent with [her] complaint that she had been assaulted by her boyfriend with an open hand." He prescribed vicodin and ibuprofen to alleviate her pain and advised her to file a report with the police. Hawkins provided the hospital with only her name and birth date; she did not disclose any additional identifying information.

On October 29, Officer Bergland called Hall to inquire about Hawkins. Hall told Officer Bergland that Hawkins is a "street person" and a "hooker"² that he had taken in. He claimed that she had come to his room the night of the 25th and wanted to use drugs. According to Hall, he said no, they argued, and he asked her to leave. Hall admitted that he slapped Hawkins once during the argument, but denied that he had been drinking that evening. He fell asleep before she left the room.

On October 30, Hawkins contacted the San Diego Police Department to file a domestic violence report. Officer Gross went to Saint Vincent de Paul's, where Hawkins was staying, to take the report. The only identification Hawkins gave Officer Gross was her name and social security number. Hawkins told Officer Gross that she had been living with Hall and that on the night of October 25th, she, Hall, and a man nicknamed "Red" were drinking in his room. She and Hall began to fight. Hall "slammed the heel of his left hand into her neck" and told Red to leave the apartment, which he did. After Red left, Hawkins told Hall that she wanted to get her stuff and leave. In response, Hall grabbed a golf club that he kept near the door and threatened to harm her if she attempted to leave the room. Over the next four hours Hawkins and Hall argued. During this time, Hall choked and battered her with the heel of his hand on three separate occasions. Hall also kept the phone away from Hawkins so she could not call the police.

Hawkins told Officer Gross that she eventually agreed to stay to pacify Hall and then left after Hall fell asleep.

After hearing Hawkins' recitation, Officer Gross called in a female officer to photograph Hawkins' injuries. Officer Tagaban photographed the bruises on Hawkins chest, back, and elbow. The two officers went that day to Hall's apartment and arrested him. They found the golf club exactly where Hawkins said it would be.

On November 6, 2003, Officer Bergland petitioned the district court for a no-bail bench warrant alleging four violations of Hall's supervised release conditions: inflicting corporal injury upon his girlfriend, falsely imprisoning her, associating with a felon, Red, and failing to notify his probation officer of his law enforcement contact and subsequent October 30 arrest within 72 hours. The district court issued the bench warrant. Hall was arrested on the warrant on November 18, 2003, and arraigned. Hall denied each of the allegations of noncompliance. A revocation hearing was set for April 8, 2004.

Before the evidentiary hearing, Hall moved the district court to exclude "the hearsay statements of Susan Hawkins," under the balancing test set forth in United States v. Comito, 177 F.3d 1166 (9th Cir.1999). The district court denied the motion. Three days later, the United States Supreme Court issued Crawford. Hall requested reconsideration of his motion to exclude Hawkins' hearsay statements, relying on the newly announced right to confront testimonial witnesses. The district court ruled that Crawford, which governs Sixth Amendment rights at trial, was not implicated by supervised release revocation proceedings. During the evidentiary hearing, conducted pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure+ 32.1(b)(2), the government put on the five witnesses who had been in contact with Hawkins following the assault by Hall.

To summarize: Dr. Grover testified that he personally examined Hawkins. He found several contusions that were consistent with her description of Hall's assault on her with an open hand. He also identified Hawkins from the photos taken by Officer Tagaban.

Officer Tagaban authenticated the photographs she took of Hawkins' injuries and testified that Hawkins had stated that the injuries resulted from her beating at the hands of her boyfriend. She also testified that she and her partner, Officer Gross, went to Mr. Hall's apartment and arrested him.

Officer Gross testified that on October 29th he was dispatched to "investigate a potential domestic violence incident" at the Saint Vincent de Paul Shelter. When he arrived at the shelter, he met Ms. Hawkins. Hawkins told him that she was living with Hall, that on the night of the 25th she was "in Mr. Hall's apartment drinking with Mr. Hall and another gentleman by the name of Red," and that during the evening Hall and Red had argued over the attention Red had been paying to Hawkins, which led to Hawkins and Hall's argument. Hawkins told Officer Gross that Hall "got upset, choked her, and hit her with his hand and knocked her to the bed." After the first assault, Hall told Red to leave, which he did. Hawkins then told Hall, "You know what? I don't want any more problems. I don't want any more issues. Why don't you let me get my stuff and I'll leave and we'll be done." Hall's response was to choke her and hit her again. Hawkins again said she wanted to leave, and Hall grabbed a golf club from behind the door and said, "I'm going to fuck you up if you leave."

Hawkins reported to Officer Gross that she was very afraid of Hall and concerned for her safety. She had attempted to call the police but Hall had taken the phone from her and there was no way to escape because Hall's second floor apartment had only one small window that lead to a courtyard. Eventually, she realized she could not argue her way out of the apartment so she told Hall, "You know what? I'm sorry. Let's make up. You know, all is forgiven. Let's start with a clean slate." This tactic worked. Hall hugged her and then eventually he laid down and passed out, allowing Hawkins to gather her things and leave.

Officer Gross also testified that Hawkins provided him Hall's full name, a physical description, and his address. After leaving Hawkins, Officer Gross went to Hall's apartment where he arrested Hall and found the golf club behind the front door, exactly where Hawkins said it would be. The golf club itself was entered into evidence.

"Red," whose real name is Hubert Bystel Hall,³ testified that he was in Hall's apartment the night in question. He said he saw Hall slap Hawkins and that he left the apartment shortly after Hawkins was hit.

Finally, Officer Bergland testified. All of Officer Bergland's testimony derived from her "chronals," written chronological entries kept by every probation officer as a regular part of their duties. Officer Bergland reported that she received a voicemail message from Hawkins stating that Hall had "gott[en] drunk the previous night and beat her up" and that the police "were too busy fighting fire to take a report." After getting the message, she testified that she called Hall. He told her that Hawkins was living with him and that they had argued and he slapped her.

Officer Bergland also testified that she had tried to contact Hawkins at the St. Vincent de Paul shelter, but was told that Hawkins' family had sent for her and she had left without leaving a forwarding address.

At the end of the hearing, the district court sustained allegations one and two of the Violation Petition, the domestic violence and false imprisonment allegations, revoked Hall's supervised release, and sentenced him to 24 months in custody.

DISCUSSION

Hall contends on appeal that the admission of Hawkins' hearsay statements at his revocation hearing violated his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation as articulated in Crawford. As an alternative claim of error, Hall contends that even if we determine that Crawford did not give him an absolute right to confront Hawkins, a proper...