United States v. Martin
| Citation | 777 F.3d 984 |
| Decision Date | 04 February 2015 |
| Docket Number | 13–3221,Nos. 13–2410,14–1039.,s. 13–2410 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee v. Geshik–O–Binese MARTIN, Defendant–Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff–Appellee v. David John Martin, Defendant–Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff–Appellee v. Edward McCabe Robinson, Defendant–Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
Mark D. Nyvold, argued, Fridley, MN, for Appellant Geshik Martin.
Paul C. Engh, argued, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellant David Martin.
Caroline Durham, argued, St. Paul, MN, for Appellant Edward Robinson.
Deidre Yvonne Aanstad, AUSA, argued, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellee.
Before MURPHY, MELLOY, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.
A jury convicted Geshik–O–Binese Martin and Edward Robinson of robbing and murdering Craig Roy and Darla Beaulieu on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1153. David Martin was acquitted of the murder charges but also convicted of robbery under § 1153. Geshik Martin, Edward Robinson, and David Martin now appeal.
Appellants claim improper ex parte contact by the district court with the jury venire. They also challenge their convictions. Geshik Martin contends that the government failed to prove his Indian status under § 1153 even though he stipulated to that fact. Edward Robinson asserts that the district court erred by denying his motions to sever and allowing the prosecutor to comment on his failure to testify. David Martin argues that the court erred by declining to give a lesser included instruction on theft and by enhancing his sentence by six levels under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(3)(C) for infliction of permanent bodily injury. We affirm.
Law enforcement responded on January 1, 2011 to a fire at the home of Craig Roy on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, a large reservation in northern Minnesota adjacent to the Canadian border. Roy's residence was already engulfed in flames and collapsed before fire crews could extinguish the fire. The next morning the bodies of Roy and his partner, Darla Beaulieu, were retrieved from the rubble. Both bodies were charred beyond recognition. Autopsies indicated that Roy and Beaulieu had been stabbed multiple times before the fire and that their death was caused by exsanguination. Details of the crimes were discovered over several months. Law enforcement learned that Roy and Beaulieu had attended a New Year's Eve party the night before their deaths and that Beaulieu had a fight there with a woman named Vicki Neadeau. Roy defended Beaulieu and severely injured Neadeau who left the party to tell Terin Stately and other friends about his attack.
According to Stately, Geshik Martin had reacted to the news by urging Edward Robinson, David Martin, Kevin Needham, and George Martin to get revenge on Roy by robbing him of his cocaine. After everyone had allegedly agreed to the plan, Stately drove the group to Roy's home and waited in the car while the others went inside. They emerged after 10 to 20 minutes with Robinson carrying a long gun. As Stately drove away from the home, she asked what had happened inside. No one answered.
In August 2012, Geshik Martin, Robinson, David Martin, Needham, George Martin, and Stately were charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1153 for robbery and the deaths of Roy and Beaulieu. Geshik Martin, Robinson, David Martin, and George Martin were also charged with first and second degree murder in violation of § 1153. Section 1153(a) allows the government to prosecute certain “offenses committed within Indian country,” including any Indian who has committed murder or robbery against another person. 18 U.S.C. § 1153(a). Geshik Martin signed a stipulation of fact prior to trial stating “the following facts are true and the jury must treat these facts as having been proven at trial: The defendant is an Indian.” Stately and Needham pled guilty prior to trial without contesting their Indian status under § 1153(a). Although Robinson also did not contest his Indian status, he moved to sever due to antagonistic defenses among the codefendants. While Robinson intended to testify that he had not been present at Roy's home during the murders, Geshik Martin intended to testify that all defendants had been present but that they had not planned to murder Roy. The district court denied the motions to sever, stating that “with the proper instructions to the jury ... [it could] deliver a fair trial.”
A.
Jury selection began on February 25, 2013. As counsel prepared to exercise their peremptory challenges, the district court commented that the jurors were waiting to be called forward and offered to meet separately with the 51 person jury venire in order to thank them for their service. The court informed counsel that he planned to answer questions about the differences between federal and state judges but would remain “hands off on cases.” All counsel consented as long as the court's comments were recorded.
As agreed, the court then spoke with the jury venire without counsel or any of the parties present. He explained that he would “just kind of make small-talk” and answer any questions the jurors might have. He discussed the differences between state and federal judges, noting that the latter are “appointed for life” while the former are first appointed by the governor and must later run for election to a six year term. He also discussed the methods for summoning jurors, stating that Minnesota ranks “either the first or in the top three for the last few years [for] the highest response rate by citizens to jury summons.” He also explained how jury selection had changed since he “was a young trial lawyer in the seventies, [when] you would show up for jury selection ... and you would have primarily retired individuals, unemployed people, or part-time students, [but] ... we have [now] gone [to] almost the other extreme where we have excused almost no one.” The district court commented that although lawyers are commonly stereotyped for “tricking jurors,” juries “usually always make the right decision” but occasionally “take the law into their own hands” by engaging in jury nullification. While the court could not “comment on [this] case,” he mentioned the “O.J. Simpson case” and the “Marilyn Manson trial” in explaining jury sequestration and the duty not to discuss a case during trial. The court closed with this comment: “If it is your secret dream or goal to sit on a case, I hope you get the opportunity ... [and] if there are no further questions, we will get set up [for trial].”
B.
At trial Stately testified that Geshik Martin, Robinson, David Martin, Needham, and George Martin had conspired to get revenge on Roy for having attacked Neadeau at a New Year's Eve party. David Martin had allegedly informed Geshik Martin that he knew where Roy stored his crack cocaine, and a plan was devised to travel to Roy's home in order to steal it. According to Stately, the group had agreed that David Martin, who had been living with Roy, would knock on the front door under the guise of retrieving his clothes. The others would then rush in behind him to carry out the robbery. Stately testified that after she had driven “the boys” to Roy's home, Geshik Martin returned to the car with blood on his arms, Robinson was carrying a long gun, and all of the defendants disposed of their clothes in garbage bags. Stately also testified that when she had asked Geshik Martin what had happened inside the home, he had responded, “they got killed ... and [we] lit the house on fire.”
In contrast to Stately's testimony, Geshik Martin testified that he had not intended to rob Roy. Rather, he had gone to Roy's home in order to retrieve David Martin's clothes. He also claimed that he had stabbed Roy and Beaulieu in self defense after Roy attacked him inside the home. David Martin similarly testified that he had gone to Roy's home to get his clothes and that he and the other defendants had not been inside the home at the time Roy attacked Geshik Martin. Robinson and George Martin did not testify, but their counsel argued that they had no knowledge of the crimes. The prosecutor pointed out in her closing argument that: “the only people that [actually talked] about what occurred at the house are Geshik Martin and David Martin.” Geshik Martin's testimony should be closely evaluated she said because it “just is incredible” and full of “internal inconsistencies” undermining his claim of self defense.
After the evidence was received, the district court discussed the jury instructions with counsel. David Martin proposed a lesser included offense instruction for theft. He argued that even if the jury found that he had taken cocaine from Roy, the jury could still find that he had not engaged in a “violent act” and convict him of theft rather than robbery. The government responded that there was no basis for a theft instruction because the evidence showed that David Martin had participated in “forced violence and intimidation for crack cocaine.” The district court decided not to give the instruction.
The jury convicted Geshik Martin and Robinson on all counts of murder and robbery. David Martin was also convicted of robbery, but he was acquitted of murder. George Martin was acquitted on all counts. The district court sentenced Geshik Martin and Robinson to consecutive terms of life imprisonment for their murder convictions and a concurrent term of 15 years for robbery. David Martin was sentenced to 160 months on his robbery conviction after application of a U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(3)(C) six level enhancement for the infliction of permanent bodily injury. In applying that enhancement, the district court found that “everybody knew, if not a murder, [there] would be violence in [Roy's] home and there would be injury in that home to one or both parties.” Geshik Martin, Edward Robinson, and David Martin now appeal, claiming numerous errors before,...
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