U.S. v. Williams

• Decision Date: 23 October 2007
• Docket Number: Docket No. 05-6065-cr(CON).,Docket No. 05-6038-cr(CON).,Docket No. 05-6036-cr(L).
• Citation: 506 F.3d 151
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Elijah Bobby WILLIAMS, a.k.a. Bosco, a.k.a. Bobby Torres, Xavier Williams, a.k.a. X, a.k.a. Richie Torres, Reverend Michael Williams, a.k.a. David Michael Torres, a.k.a. Mike Torres, a.k.a. Mike Foster, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

506 F.3d 151

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Elijah Bobby WILLIAMS, a.k.a. Bosco, a.k.a. Bobby Torres, Xavier Williams, a.k.a. X, a.k.a. Richie Torres, Reverend Michael Williams, a.k.a. David Michael Torres, a.k.a. Mike Torres, a.k.a. Mike Foster, Defendants-Appellants.

Docket No. 05-6036-cr(L).

Docket No. 05-6038-cr(CON).

Docket No. 05-6065-cr(CON).

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: April 16, 2007.

Decided: October 23, 2007.

David A. Ruhnke, Ruhnke & Barrett, Montclair, NJ, for Elijah Williams.

Richard B. Lind, New York, NY, for Michael Williams.

David Stern, Rothman Schneider Soloway & Stern, LLP, New York, NY, for Xavier Williams.

Helen V. Cantwell, Assistant United States Attorney (Michael J. Garcia, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Glen G. McGorty and Robin L. Baker, Assistant United States Attorneys, on the brief), New York, NY.

Before: NEWMAN, WALKER, and STRAUB, Circuit Judges.

JOHN M. WALKER, JR., Circuit Judge:

Defendants-appellants Elijah Bobby Williams ("Bobby"), Michael Williams, ("Michael"), and Xavier Williams ("Xavier") appeal from judgments entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Naomi Reice Buchwald, Judge), convicting them of and sentencing them for various offenses, including narcotics trafficking, racketeering, and murder. In a concurrently filed summary order, we address most of appellants' arguments and find them without merit. In this opinion, we consider: (1) Michael's contention that the district court erred in admitting Bobby's self-inculpatory out-of-court statements that also implicated Michael, and (2) Bobby's claim that the district court abused its discretion in concluding that the methodology employed by the government's firearms identification expert met the reliability standard set forth in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). We hold that the district court did not err on either score. Accordingly, we affirm the convictions and sentences.

BACKGROUND

On a gelid night in February 1996, residents along the 1100 block of Sperling Drive, a residential street in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, were startled by the ringing sound of gun shots. One resident who rushed to see what had happened saw two people shooting into a Ford Bronco parked alongside the street. Another observed a mid-sized car darting away from the scene immediately after the shooting ceased. But neither was able to describe the shooters in detail.

Once the commotion passed, one of the residents approached the Ford Bronco. Inside she found the bullet-riddled bodies of Joel Moore, Timothy Moore, and Robert James. Law enforcement was called, a crime scene was established, and an investigation immediately ensued.

The indictments that followed charged appellants with operating a violent criminal organization that existed for the purpose of, among other things, enriching its members by trafficking in cocaine and cocaine base in New York and Pennsylvania. Because the government sought the death penalty against Bobby and Michael for their roles in the triple homicide, they were tried separately from Xavier on a superceding indictment that charged fifteen counts: racketeering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) (Count One); racketeering conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (Count Two); conspiracy to murder in aid of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(5) (Counts Three and Four); murder in aid of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1959(a)(1) (Counts Five through Seven); conspiracy to distribute narcotics, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Count Eight); murder while engaged in a narcotics conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2 and 21 U.S.C. § 848(e) (Counts Nine through Eleven); use of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime or crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 924(j) (Counts Twelve through Fourteen); and conspiracy to launder money derived from narcotics trafficking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) (Count Fifteen). The jury found Bobby and Michael guilty on all counts except Counts Three and Four but determined that they should not receive the death penalty. Bobby and Michael were sentenced principally to life imprisonment.

Xavier was tried on a superceding indictment charging fourteen counts that matched Bobby's and Michael's indictment through Count Thirteen, omitted one of the firearm counts, and charged the money laundering count as Count Fourteen instead of Fifteen. Upon the government's motion, the district court dismissed Counts Five, Six, Seven, Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve. The jury found Xavier guilty on all remaining counts except Count Four. He was sentenced principally to life imprisonment.

The remaining facts and procedural history are provided as necessary for our analysis of the specific issues addressed in this opinion.

DISCUSSION

I. Admission of Bobby's Out-of-Court Statements

Prior to the trial of Bobby and Michael, the government requested permission to introduce, against both defendants, statements Bobby made to Carol Johnson, Earl Baldwin, and Julian Brown about his involvement in the triple homicide. Michael objected and moved for exclusion and, in the alternative, requested a severance pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 14. After hearing from both sides, the district court denied the severance and allowed Johnson and Baldwin, but not Brown, to testify about Bobby's statements, finding their testimony admissible under the exception to the hearsay rule for statements against penal interest. See Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(3). The district court also found no Confrontation Clause impediment to the admission of Johnson's and Baldwin's testimony.

At trial, Baldwin testified that Bobby admitted to him on two separate occasions that he participated in the triple homicide. Bobby first told Baldwin that Timothy Moore was killed because the "Dude owed" money. The second time, Bobby, speaking about himself and Michael, stated: "[W]e gave it to them niggers. . . . [W]e walked up to the truck, each of us on a side of the truck and gave it to them niggers." Johnson, echoing much of Baldwin's account, testified that Bobby told her that the victims were shot because of their debts. She then explained that Bobby told her that Michael shot the man in the driver's seat while Bobby shot at least one of the other passengers. Johnson's testimony did not account for the shooting of the third victim.

In this challenge to the district court's pretrial ruling, Michael argues again that the admission of Bobby's out-of-court statements violated both Rule 804(b)(3) and the Confrontation Clause. We review the district court's admissibility determination under Rule 804(b)(3) for abuse of discretion and its Confrontation Clause analysis de novo. United States v. Tropeano, 252 F.3d 653, 657 (2d Cir.2001).

A. Admissibility under Rule 804(b)(3)

Admission of a statement under Rule 804(b)(3) hinges on "whether the statement was sufficiently against the declarant's penal interest `that a reasonable person in the declarant's position would not have made the statement unless believing it to be true.'" Williamson v. United States, 512 U.S. 594, 603-04, 114 S.Ct. 2431, 129 L.Ed.2d 476 (1994) (quoting Rule 804(b)(3)). Whether a challenged statement is sufficiently self-inculpatory can only be answered by viewing it in context. Id. at 604, 114 S.Ct. 2431. Thus, this determination must be made on a case-by-case basis. See Tropeano, 252 F.3d at 658.

We find no abuse of discretion in the district court's decision to admit the challenged statements under Rule 804(b)(3). The first of Bobby's statements to Baldwin was plainly selfinculpatory, and it did not on its face implicate Michael. The second of Bobby's statements to Baldwin and his statement to Johnson were also sufficiently self-inculpatory as they described acts that he and Michael committed jointly. See United States v. Saget, 377 F.3d 223, 231 (2d Cir.2004) (finding that the bulk of confessor's statements were self-inculpatory because they described acts that the defendant and the confessor committed jointly). Moreover, the context of these statements shows that Bobby was not attempting to minimize his own culpability, shift blame onto Michael, or curry favor with authorities. Cf. Williamson, 512 U.S. at 601, 603, 114 S.Ct. 2431. To the contrary, in his second statement to Baldwin, Bobby was boastful regarding his participation in the murders, and in his remark to Johnson he claimed an equal role, asserting that he and Michael each killed one of the three victims.

B. Confrontation Clause Analysis

The Confrontation Clause states that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him." U.S. Const. amend. VI. In Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), the Supreme Court held that the Confrontation Clause prohibits the admission of out-of-court "testimonial" statements against a criminal defendant, unless the declarant is unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the declarant. Crawford's per se bar on such testimonial statements displaced that much of the "indicia of reliability" standard of Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980), that had allowed into evidence, as not violative of the Confrontation Clause, hearsay statements that fell within a firmly rooted hearsay exception or contained particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Id. at 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531; Crawford, 541 U.S. at 60, 124 S.Ct. 1354; Saget, 377 F.3d at 226 (explaining that under Roberts, "[a]ny out-of-court statement was constitutionally admissible so long as it fell within an exception to the hearsay rule or, if that exception was not firmly rooted, the court found that the statement was likely...