U.S. v. Cody
| Citation | 498 F.3d 582 |
| Decision Date | 16 August 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 06-6003.,06-6003. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Talmadge CODY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
ARGUED: David M. Eldridge, Eldridge & Blakney, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellant. Robert M. Reeves, Assistant United States Attorney, Greeneville, Tennessee, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: David M. Eldridge, Eldridge & Blakney, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellant. Robert M. Reeves, Assistant United States Attorney, Greeneville, Tennessee, for Appellee.
Before: DAUGHTREY and GILMAN, Circuit Judges; ADAMS, District Judge.*
A federal jury convicted Talmadge Cody on four counts of a six-count indictment relating to his role in two robberies committed in Greene County, Tennessee in February of 2004. Prior to his trial, Cody had moved to sever two "prejudicially joined" counts of the indictment that charged him with escaping from the custody of the Greene County Sheriff's Department following his arrest. He had also moved to dismiss two other counts relating to one of the robberies on the ground that the government had lost or destroyed relevant, potentially exculpatory evidence. Finally, he had filed a motion to suppress the in-custody statements that he had made to the investigating officers on the ground that his expressed suicidal ideations at the time rendered those statements involuntary.
The district court denied all three of Cody's pretrial motions. Cody challenges each of these denials on appeal, as well as three additional adverse evidentiary rulings made by the district court during the course of the trial. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
This case concerns two armed robberies that occurred in Greene County, Tennessee over the course of a three-day period in mid-February of 2004. The first, a relatively small-scale, multi-hundred-dollar heist at the Hurdy Gurdy Video Store on February 15, was followed by a larger, multi-thousand-dollar robbery at the Greene County Bank on February 18. Approximately one week later, officers from the Greene County Sheriff's Department arrested Cody as a suspect. They would later arrest both his wife, Linda, and his then-20-year-old son, Marshall.
Following his arrest, Cody made several statements while in the custody of the Sheriff's Department concerning his role in the crimes. He was transferred to a local hospital after complaining of chest pains in mid-March of 2004. But he escaped two days after the transfer, assaulting and seriously injuring several hospital employees and a corrections officer in the process.
Cody was arrested approximately 15 hours after he had escaped. Officers found him hiding in the back seat of his son's sport-utility vehicle, where they also discovered the semiautomatic pistol that he had taken from the corrections officer during his escape. Marshall, who was also arrested at the time, subsequently gave a statement to an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding his role in his father's escape from the hospital.
The government charged Cody in a six-count indictment with (1) robbery of the Greene County Bank, (2) carrying, using, and brandishing an assault rifle during the commission of that robbery, (3) aiding and abetting his wife in the commission of the Hurdy Gurdy Video robbery, (4) aiding and abetting his wife in carrying and using a firearm during the commission of that robbery, (5) escape from custody, and (6) carrying and using a firearm during the escape. (His wife and his son, who were separately indicted, have since pled guilty, with Linda being sentenced to 215 months in prison and Marshall to 48 months of probation.)
Cody's first trial lasted a single day in February of 2005 and, following less than an hour of jury deliberations, ended in convictions on all counts. With the aid of new counsel, Cody subsequently filed a timely motion for a new trial. He presented numerous grounds in support of his motion, most notably the admission at trial of an unredacted order of detention relating to his escape that included prejudicial findings by the assigned federal magistrate judge. Following a hearing, the district court granted Cody's motion on this ground.
Cody filed three motions prior to his new trial. He first moved to sever the escape-related counts of the indictment on the ground that they had been improperly and prejudicially joined with the robbery counts in violation of Rules 8 and 14 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Cody next moved to dismiss the first two counts of the indictment on the ground of lost or destroyed relevant, potentially exculpatory evidence—specifically, videotapes from a convenience store that the government had ultimately deemed irrelevant after a promising lead had proven false. Finally, Cody moved to suppress what he claimed to have been involuntary statements that he made while in the custody of the Greene County Sheriff's Department. The district court denied all three of these motions.
At trial, Cody opted not to present any witnesses, instead moving for a judgment of acquittal on all counts following the government's case. The district court granted Cody's motion as to the fourth count only (aiding and abetting his wife in carrying and using a firearm during the commission of the Hurdy Gurdy Video robbery). Subsequently, the jury found Cody guilty on counts one, two, five, and six of the indictment, but not guilty on count three (aiding and abetting his wife in the commission of the Hurdy Gurdy Video robbery). He was sentenced to 490 months in prison. Cody timely appeals his convictions; he does not challenge his sentence.
We review a district court's denial of a motion to sever under the abuse-of-discretion standard. United States v. Smith, 197 F.3d 225, 230 (6th Cir.1999). Regarding the denial of Cody's motion to suppress, we will not set aside the district court's factual findings unless we find them to be clearly erroneous, and we review its legal conclusions de novo. See United States v. Graham, 483 F.3d 431, 435 (6th Cir.2007). In doing so, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the district court's conclusion. Id. We also review de novo a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss an indictment on the ground of lost or destroyed exculpatory evidence. United States v. Wright, 260 F.3d 568, 570 (6th Cir.2001). Finally, we review a district court's evidentiary rulings under the abuse-of-discretion standard. United States v. Jones, 403 F.3d 817, 820 (6th Cir.2005).
Cody first argues that the district court abused its discretion in denying his motion to sever what he characterizes as the "prejudicially joined" escape-related counts of the indictment. Rules 8 and 14 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure govern the joinder and severance of the counts of an indictment, respectively. Rule 8 provides in pertinent part that the joinder of offenses is permissible where they are "of the same or similar character, or are based on the same act or transaction, or are connected with or constitute parts of a common scheme or plan." Fed. R.Crim.P. 8(a). "Although this court has held that Rule 8 should be construed in favor of joinder, it is also true that failure to meet the requirements of this rule constitutes misjoinder as a matter of law." United States v. Chavis, 296 F.3d 450, 456 (6th Cir.2002) (quotation marks omitted).
If the requirements of Rule 8 are not met, "the district court has no discretion on the question of severance." Id. (quotation marks omitted). And even if joinder in a given case does comply with Rule 8, Rule 14 provides that "[i]f the joinder of offenses or defendants in an indictment . . . appears to prejudice a defendant or the government, the court may order separate trials of counts, sever the defendants' trials, or provide any other relief that justice requires." Fed.R.Crim.P. 14(a).
Cody's claim of misjoinder is premised on his allegation that "[t]he only relationship between the 4 robbery related counts and the escape counts is that Mr. Cody was in custody for the robbery counts at the time of the escape." In support of this allegation, he emphasizes the differences in (1) the number of people involved in the robbery counts as opposed to the escape counts (Cody and his wife versus Cody alone), and (2) the time gap between the events that formed the basis for each set of counts (four-and-a-half weeks). He also claims that the district court necessarily accepted his misjoinder argument, at least in part, by ordering a new trial.
Cody emphasizes that the district court based its new-trial ruling on "the introduction at trial of the entire order of detention entered pre-trial by the United States Magistrate Judge." In the court's opinion, certain statements made by the magistrate judge in the order "would [have] be[en] highly suggestive to any reasonable jury that the defendant was not only guilty of committing crimes of violence but that he would also not hesitate to assault a police officer in an effort to escape from lawful custody." Specifically, the court mentioned the magistrate judge's comment that "defendants had fatalistic attitudes and would have welcomed a shoot-out with police." Nowhere in the district court's opinion, however, is there any indication that the court believed that the joinder of the charges itself had been prejudicial to Cody.
Although Cody's arguments on the merits of the misjoinder issue are reasonably debatable, we need not address them. This court has adhered to Supreme Court precedent in holding that a determination of misjoinder is subject to harmless-error review under Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which permits reversal only for trial errors that ...
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