U.S. v. Gray

• Decision Date: 28 April 2011
• Docket Number: 10–1284–cr (con).,Docket Nos. 10–1266–cr (L)
• Citation: 642 F.3d 371
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,v.Kirby GRAY, Krystal Mack, Defendants,Marvin Wells, Stephen Rhodes, Defendants–Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

642 F.3d 371

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,

v.Kirby GRAY, Krystal Mack, Defendants,Marvin Wells, Stephen Rhodes, Defendants–Appellants.

Docket Nos. 10–1266–cr (L)

10–1284–cr (con).

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Submitted: Feb. 25, 2011.Decided: April 28, 2011.

Licha M. Nyiendo, Assistant United States Attorney (Emily Berger, Assistant United States Attorney, of counsel), for Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, N.Y., for Appellee.Michael H. Soroka, Law Offices of Michael H. Soroka, Esq., Mineola, N.Y., for Defendant–Appellant Marvin Wells.Mitchell A. Golub, Golub & Golub, LLP, New York, N.Y., for Defendant–Appellant Stephen Rhodes.Before: KEARSE, SACK, KATZMANN, Circuit Judges.KATZMANN, Circuit Judge:

Defendants–Appellants Marvin Wells and Stephen Rhodes (collectively, the “defendants”) appeal from judgments of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Weinstein, J.), entered on April 1, 2010, following a jury trial, convicting Wells of conspiracy to obstruct justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; obstruction of justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519; two counts of attempted intimidation and corrupt persuasion, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3); and making a false statement, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2); and convicting Rhodes of obstruction of justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519; and making a false statement, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2). This appeal calls upon us to decide whether an internal investigation by a privately owned prison that houses federal prisoners of an allegation of excessive force involves a “matter within the jurisdiction” of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 1519.¹ As set forth below, we hold that it does, and accordingly affirm Wells's and Rhodes's convictions on the obstruction-of-justice counts. For the reasons stated herein and in the accompanying summary order, the judgments of the district court are AFFIRMED.

BACKGROUND

The facts of this case are largely undisputed. The evidence at trial revealed that, on the morning of April 17, 2007, Rex Eguridu, a federal inmate housed at Queens Private Correctional Facility (“QPCF”),² called out to Krystal Mack, a QPCF corrections officer (“CO”): “Hello baby. You look beautiful today.” App'x 219. Wells, a supervising lieutenant at QPCF, approached Eguridu and directed Rhodes, a CO, to handcuff Eguridu. When Eguridu apologized for his remark, Wells told him “to keep [his] mouth shut.” Id. at 220. Wells thereafter instructed Rhodes and Kirby Gray, another CO, to take Eguridu to a shower room and remove his handcuffs.

Once in the shower room, Wells directed Eguridu to remove his clothes. After Eguridu was strip-searched, Wells angrily questioned Eguridu why he would call an officer “baby,” and repeatedly struck Eguridu in the chest and throat. Each blow caused Eguridu's head to strike against the concrete wall of the shower room. Gray, Rhodes, and Hananiah Day, another CO, were present in the shower room and witnessed the event. Leslie Andrews, another CO, saw Wells strike Eguridu and heard Eguridu's head “thump” against the wall repeatedly as she passed by the shower room.

After the attack concluded, Wells ordered Eguridu to get onto his knees and apologize. Eguridu complied, and Wells instructed Gray and Rhodes to take Eguridu back to his cell. As they were leaving, Wells told Eguridu, “if I hear one word about this I'll fuckin' kill you. We'll come down there, I'll drag you out and I'll kill you.” Id. at 344.

Following the assault, Eguridu felt pain in his chest and throat. A medical examination revealed that Eguridu had a deviation of the throat with swelling of his neck, difficulty moving his neck and shoulders, and a bruise on his sternum. Two days later, he was transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Almost immediately thereafter, QPCF, a privately owned detention center operated by The GEO Group, initiated an investigation of the incident. QPCF's administrative lieutenant, William Robinson, directed the officers to write reports to QPCF describing what they had observed. Wells wrote one report, Rhodes and Gray each wrote two reports, and Mack wrote four reports. Each of those reports stated, in sum and substance, that no force had been used against Eguridu and no assault had taken place.

Andrews testified that before she wrote her first report, Wells told her: “I should just put down I don't know what happened. I didn't see anything.” Id. at 267. Similarly, Mack advised Andrews: “we all have to stick together. We have to say the same thing. This is how we do it.... You are the weakest link.” Id. at 271. Andrews, who wrote five separate reports of the incident, testified that she was not truthful in her first four reports because she was afraid that other officers would retaliate against her. She nevertheless decided to write in her fifth report the truth about what she had observed in the shower room.

Day testified that on the afternoon of April 17, the same day as the incident, Wells called him and one other officer into Wells's office.³ Wells advised them that they were required to write reports about the incident and instructed them to state that no force had been used against Eguridu. Wells stated also that he would speak with the other officers and “make sure that they wrote that they didn't witness any use of force.” Id. at 348. Day testified that he wrote a false report to QPCF at Wells's direction. After Day submitted his report, Wells told him to “stick with it. They may ask you for another report. They've already asked Andrews for an addendum.” Id. at 350. Day, however, later informed the administrative lieutenant that he had submitted a false report, and he submitted a second report that accurately described what he had observed.

Several months later, the matter was referred to the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”), the investigative unit of the DOJ, which commenced a federal investigation. Mary Chiu–Vaccariello, an OIG case agent, interviewed Wells and Rhodes separately in early 2008. She advised them that the interview would be voluntary and that they could face charges for being untruthful.

In his February 26, 2008 interview with Chiu–Vaccariello, Rhodes stated that he did not see Wells strike Eguridu. He acknowledged that “an incident had occurred between [Wells] and ... Eguridu, but he really didn't know the substance of the incident.” Id. at 432. Wells stated in his April 1, 2008 interview that he directed Rhodes and Gray to take Eguridu to the shower room and perform a strip search and then ordered Eguridu to apologize to Mack. He denied striking Eguridu, threatening to kill him, and directing COs how to write their reports. Wells and Rhodes affirmed to Chiu–Vaccariello that their written reports to QPCF were truthful and accurate.

On November 12, 2008, a grand jury returned an indictment against Wells, Rhodes, Gray, and Mack. The indictment alleged (1) as to Wells, deprivation of civil rights by the use of excessive force on Eguridu, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242; (2) as to Wells, Rhodes, and Gray, conspiracy to obstruct justice by filing false reports, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; (3) as to Wells, Rhodes, and Gray, obstruction of justice by filing false reports, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519; (4) as to Wells, Rhodes, and Mack, conspiracy to corruptly persuade Andrews, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k); (5) as to Wells, attempted intimidation and corrupt persuasion of Andrews, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3); (6) as to Wells, attempted intimidation and corrupt persuasion of Day, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3); (7) as to Rhodes and Mack, attempted corrupt persuasion of Andrews, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3); and (8) as to Rhodes, Gray, and Wells, making false statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2).

Following a jury trial, Wells was convicted of five counts: conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, two counts of attempted intimidation and corrupt persuasion, and making a false statement. Rhodes was convicted of two counts: obstruction of justice and making a false statement. The district court sentenced Wells to one year and one day of incarceration and three years of supervised release. It sentenced Rhodes to three years of probation. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

On appeal, Wells and Rhodes challenge their convictions for obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. § 1519, which, in relevant part, requires proof of conduct intended to obstruct the investigation or proper administration of a matter within the jurisdiction of a federal agency. They argue that the government did not prove that their filing of false reports was intended to impede or influence the investigation or proper administration of a matter within the jurisdiction of the DOJ because QPCF was a privately owned jail and they were unaware that there would be a federal investigation of the Eguridu assault. Thus, they contend, the government did not demonstrate a sufficient nexus between the defendants' conduct and federal jurisdiction for purposes of the obstruction of justice charges.

Where, as here, we are called upon to interpret the meaning of a federal statute, “we look first to the language of the statute itself.” Marvel Characters, Inc. v. Simon, 310 F.3d 280, 290 (2d Cir.2002). “When the language of a statute is unambiguous, ‘judicial inquiry is complete.’ ” Id. (quoting Conn. Nat'l Bank v. Germain, 503 U.S. 249, 254, 112 S.Ct. 1146, 117 L.Ed.2d 391 (1992)). In conducting this inquiry, we “review the statutory text, considering the ordinary or natural meaning of the words chosen by Congress, as well as the placement and purpose of those words in the statutory scheme.” Dobrova v. Holder, 607 F.3d 297, 301 (2d Cir.2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review de novo...