U.S. v. Chancey

• Decision Date: 19 September 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-5363,82-5363
• Citation: 715 F.2d 543
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Clarence CHANCEY, a/k/a Sonny, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 543

715 F.2d 543

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Clarence CHANCEY, a/k/a Sonny, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 82-5363.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Sept. 19, 1983.

Mark P. Bryan, Federal Public Defender (Court appointed), Robert W. Knight, Tampa, Fla., for defendant-appellant.

Judy Schropp Hoyer, Asst. U.S. Atty., Tampa, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Before JOHNSON and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges, and COLEMAN ^*, Senior Circuit Judge.

COLEMAN, Senior Circuit Judge:

I

The indictment charged that Clarence Chancey, on September 19, 1981, in Tampa, Florida, willfully, knowingly, and unlawfully did seize, confine, inveigle, kidnap, abduct, and carry away Tamara Kay Goshern and did willfully transport her in interstate commerce from Tampa to the State of California, all in violation of 18 U.S.C., § 1201(a)(1). After deliberations which ended at 4:35 A.M. the verdict was "guilty as charged". Chancey was sentenced to imprisonment for fifteen years. Motions for a directed verdict of not guilty and for judgment of acquittal were denied. This appeal followed, and we heard oral argument in Atlanta.

The record shows that Tammy Goshern was a high school dropout. The record also shows that Chancey had previously been convicted of auto theft, escape from a county jail, burglary of an automobile, and arson. He had served five years in prison and had been released the immediately preceding July 14, about sixty days before the alleged kidnapping. With this kind of record, the jury must have sized him up as a highly unsavory character who stood badly in need of attending to, for it was undisputed that he had transported a seventeen year old girl on a transcontinental copulation spree.

There was no third party witness to the alleged seizure and abduction of the complaining witness. She testified that she was five feet, eight inches tall, and weighed 109 pounds. On the night of September 18, 1981, she was visiting in the home of her sister and had been out with her boyfriend, who had left the house about 12:30 A.M. She then retired to a couch to sleep but awoke about 4:00 o'clock with a hand over her face and was told by a man that she had never seen before that if she made any noise she would get her head blown off. She said that the attacker asked her who else was in the house and told her that if she made any noise he would kill them, he would "shoot 'em". He told Tammy to go outside with him, she did not resist because she was "too scared". She left the house in her nightgown and they walked over to Club 92, where she was put in the defendant's car. She said Chancey told her that "his boss told him that he was supposed to get Carol and take her to him". After awhile he stopped the car and locked her in the trunk. In the meantime, she had been given a T-shirt to wear instead of the nightgown. After a time, he let her out of the trunk, put her back in the car, and gave her a pair of shorts to wear. He stopped at a filling station to get cokes and cigarettes but she made no effort to escape because she "was too scared". He then went to another filling station, which was not open, and made a phone call at which time he told the person on the other end of the line "that he got the wrong girl". The "wrong girl" was not released and they took off again, after which Chancey told her that he had to kill her. She cried and begged him not to do so, and he then said that "the only way he could get out of it is if we left". Further, he told her that if he released her "there would be people waiting for me and they would kill me before I even got to the door". Furthermore, if he released her "they would kill him".

It is about 165 miles from Tampa to Lake City, Florida. There, according to the testimony of the alleged victim, elicited by the government, things became more amicable. According to Tammy, she and the defendant went to a campground. There were other people around but she made no outcry and asked for no assistance. She made no effort to get away. Hand in hand with Chancey she walked around the park area, she rode him piggyback, she played with the tadpoles in a pond, and soon wound up having sex with Chancey on the backseat of his automobile. He used no force to attain his objective but told her that she should do it out of gratitude "for what he had done for her". She made a telephone call to her parents but said that Chancey would not allow her to tell them her whereabouts. She admitted that she told her parents "that I just left".

While they were in the vicinity of Lake City Tammy picked out a dress at a K-Mart store and Chancey stole it for her. There were a lot of people around, including salespersons, but Tammy made no effort to let these people know that she was being kidnapped, because she was "too scared". However, she was not too scared to participate in the theft of the dress or to accept it after it was stolen.

After leaving Lake City, Chancey and Tammy drove to Pensacola, a distance of about 260 miles. No state line was crossed. When they got to Pensacola they found a Phillips 66 gasoline station, for which Chancey had a stolen credit card, but it was closed, so the couple spent the night in the car on the beach. While there, Chancey went in a bar while she remained outside in the automobile. There were people going in and out of the bar but she made no effort to inform them of her situation or to get away even though Chancey had left the keys in the car. When he came out of the bar she drove the car back to the beach.

The next day, the filling station was still closed so Chancey went to a neighboring house to find out when the station would open, leaving her in the automobile, but again she made no effort to get away.

The remainder of that day was spent in Pensacola, while the alleged kidnapper and his alleged victim were walking hand in hand on the beach and "having a good time". At no time did she try to get away. During the stay in Pensacola Miss Goshern had sex with Chancey but declined to state the number of times.

The filling station was open Monday morning. Chancey went inside the service station while buying gasoline with his stolen 66 card, and she made no effort to raise the alarm or to get away.

Although she had no driver's license, when the pair left Pensacola Tammy was doing the driving.

On one occasion, on the trip to California, they helped a man with a flat tire, who allowed them both to go to his house to use the shower. While Chancey took a shower Tammy visited with their host and he played his guitar for her. She made no mention of being detained against her will.

On another occasion, on the trip, Tammy and Chancey stopped to pick up a man who was out of gas on the side of the interstate highway. They took him to a gas station. He then took them to a restaurant, where they remained three hours and Chancey got drunk. She said nothing to the man they picked up, nor to anyone in the restaurant.

Once during the trip she went into a laundromat to wash and dry their clothing while Chancey sat naked in the car. She used the laundromat for about thirty minutes, there were other people around, but she made no effort to obtain help or to inform anyone that she was being detained against her will.

In Santa Monica, California, they went to the boardwalk and walked around where there were a lot of people present. Tammy made no effort to get away because, as she said, she did not know where she was.

She recalled one time going to the 76 service station by herself, parking her car on the west side of the building and using the restroom. Chancey was on the beach. She made no request for help and told no one that she was being kidnapped.

Once in California they got lost, stopped at a doughnut shop to ask for directions, which Chancey obtained from a police officer. Again, no cry for help or effort to escape. Tammy said she did not ask for the police officer's help because "I was scared". She admitted that while they were on the beach in California there were plenty of people around, but no request for assistance.

The jury must have found it considerably difficult to accept this bizarre evidence as proof beyond a reasonable doubt of an involuntary transportation. At 3:57 P.M. the jury retired to consider its verdict. At 12:32 past midnight the trial court, outside the presence of the still deliberating jury, stated to counsel that he had received a message from the jury that "at this point it seems that we are unable to reach a decision. We would like for you to clarify the term 'reasonable doubt' if at all possible".

In the absence of objection, the Court gave further instructions on the meaning of reasonable doubt and the jury returned to its deliberations at 12:45 A.M. At 4:35 A.M., the jury informed the Court that it had reached a...