U.S. v. Catalán-Roman

• Decision Date: 23 October 2009
• Docket Number: No. 06-1183.,No. 06-1182.,06-1182.,06-1183.
• Citation: 585 F.3d 453
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Lorenzo CATALÁN-ROMAN and Hernaldo Medina-Villegas, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

585 F.3d 453

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Lorenzo CATALÁN-ROMAN and Hernaldo Medina-Villegas, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 06-1182.

No. 06-1183.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard December 3, 2008.

Decided October 23, 2009.

Steven M. Potolsky for appellant Catalán-Roman.

David Abraham Silva for appellant Medina-Villegas.

Maria A. Dominguez-Victoriano and Thomas Klumper, Assistant United States Attorneys, with whom Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez, United States Attorney, and Nelson Pérez-Sosa, Assistant United States Attorney, were on brief, for appellee.

Before BOUDIN, STAHL, and LIPEZ, Circuit Judges.

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

Appellants Lorenzo Catalán-Roman ("Catalán") and Hernaldo Medina-Villegas ("Medina") were convicted after a jury trial of several counts relating to a conspiracy to rob armored vehicles and the shooting death of an armored vehicle guard, Gilberto Rodríguez-Cabrera ("Rodríguez"), which occurred during a robbery committed in furtherance of the conspiracy.

This appeal requires us to consider Catalán's claim that his constitutional rights were violated when the district court prevented him from introducing extrinsic evidence to impeach a key government witness. In addition, Catalán challenges: 1) the court's denial of his request to sever his trial from that of Medina, 2) restrictions on cross-examination, and 3) its decision to quash a subpoena for the tax records of the victimized armored car company and its owner. He also challenges his convictions on counts two, eight, and nine on double jeopardy grounds.

Medina challenges: 1) the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the convictions on counts five and six (the carjacking charges) and eight (the murder charge), 2) the court's failure to allow him the opportunity for allocution before sentencing him to life imprisonment on the murder charge, and 3) the court's calculation of the guideline sentencing range on the murder charge.

The government concedes that the convictions on counts eight and nine violated double jeopardy. It also concedes that Medina must be re-sentenced on count eight because he was not allowed the opportunity to allocute for that count. After careful consideration, we reject appellants' other claims.

I.

We recount the pertinent facts in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict. United States v. Cruz-Diaz, 550 F.3d 169, 171 (1st Cir.2008).

A. The November 30 Armed Robbery

On November 30, 2001, James Cruz-Matias ("Cruz"), an armored truck guard working for Ranger American Armored Services ("Ranger"), was robbed at gunpoint while making a delivery of cash for his employer to the Saulo D. Rodriguez Credit Union in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. That day, Cruz worked as the messenger in a two-man team. As such, he had to carry the cash from the truck to the bank. His co-worker, Eluber Torres-Alejandro ("Torres"), was the driver and remained inside the truck during the delivery. As Cruz carried a bag containing $180,000 toward the door of the credit union, a man who had been waiting by the credit union's ATM approached him, pointed a gun at his face, and demanded the money. Two other assailants then appeared, also pointing guns toward Cruz's head. Cruz gave them the money. Before leaving, one of the assailants took Cruz's pistol from its holster, cocked it, and pointed it at Cruz's face. Instead of pulling the trigger, the assailants left with the gun and the $180,000, fleeing the parking lot in a gray or blue Jeep Cherokee Laredo. Soon after the robbery, Gurabo municipal police recovered nearby a burned-out blue Cherokee Laredo that had been carjacked from its owner two days before the robbery. Six fingerprints matching Medina's were retrieved from a newspaper left near the ATM, where the first assailant had been waiting just before the robbery. At trial, Cruz identified Medina as the first assailant.

B. The March 6 Attempted Armed Robbery

On March 6, 2002, several men attempted to rob two Ranger guards. Torres was again working that day, acting this time as the messenger while his partner, Rodríguez, drove the truck. As Torres carried a bag containing $300,000 from the armored truck to the door of the Valenciano Credit Union in Juncos, Puerto Rico, a man appeared and walked towards him in the parking lot. The man made a gesture toward his waist, revealing a firearm tucked in his waistband. Torres and Rodríguez both pulled out their own weapons and pointed them towards the man, who had pulled out the pistol and managed to point it at Torres. Apparently realizing that he was outnumbered, the man turned and ran away. Torres saw a two-toned motorcycle and a blue Chevrolet Lumina depart from the parking lot.¹ At trial, Torres identified Catalán as the man who had walked toward him in the parking lot and flashed a weapon before fleeing.

C. The March 26 Carjacking

On March 26, 2002, while parked in his green Ford Explorer outside his daughter's house and talking with her, Armando Jula-Diaz ("Julía") was approached by two assailants, one of whom pointed a nickel-plated pistol at him and demanded he turn over the vehicle.² The two assailants stole the Explorer, along with a black, 9mm Glock pistol that Julía had kept in the glove compartment.

D. The March 27 Armed Robbery and Murder

The next day, on March 27, 2002, Ranger guards Torres and Rodríguez were assigned to deliver $100,000 to the Saulo D. Rodríguez credit union in Gurabo. Torres, the driver, remained in the truck while Rodríguez, the messenger, exited with the money and walked towards the credit union. As Rodríguez approached the entrance, an assailant appeared and pointed a black, 9mm Glock pistol at his face and chest. A second assailant then appeared carrying a Beretta semi-automatic firearm. At trial, Torres identified the first assailant as Medina and the second as Catalán. Rodríguez raised his hands above his head in an act of surrender. As Catalán attempted to remove Rodríguez's firearm from its holster, Medina fired two shots at Rodríguez. Torres then opened the door of the armored truck and began firing at Catalán, who was hit and fell to the ground. Torres was shot in the left hand by a fourth indicted co-conspirator, Quester Sterling-Suarez ("Sterling"). Torres fell back into the truck and closed its doors.

Medina took the money and fled the scene in a green Ford Explorer, leaving the injured Catalán behind. Rodríguez was still alive at this point. According to Torres, Rodríguez pleaded for his life just before Catalán, seated on the ground nearby, picked up his Beretta firearm and fired it several times into him. Sterling then arrived and tried to help Catalán, but fled the scene alone when police arrived.³ Catalán was apprehended at the scene, seriously wounded and still holding the Beretta. Rodríguez died soon thereafter, having received a total of eight gunshot wounds, three of which would have proven fatal even independent of the other wounds. One of the fatal wounds came from Medina's 9mm Glock (the gun that had been stolen from Jula the day before), while the other two came from Catalán's Beretta. At the scene, the FBI obtained shell casings, bullet fragments, and bullets that matched Catalán's Beretta and Medina's Glock. Not far from the credit union, police recovered Jula's stolen green Ford Explorer with its doors open, the engine running, and a small tank of gasoline nearby. Inside the vehicle, they recovered the stolen Glock 9mm pistol used by Medina during the robbery.

Shortly after the robbery, Morales picked up his girlfriend, Jocelyn Serrano-Castro ("Serrano"), in his blue Chevrolet Lumina. She spent the day with him, during which time he switched the car he was driving, retrieved a pistol hidden behind a highway mile marker, and conversed with a fifth co-conspirator, Pablo Sanchez-Rodríguez ("Sanchez"), about "getting rid" of the blue Lumina. At six o'clock that evening, Serrano observed Morales retrieve a sack of cash from Sanchez and buy new cell phones with some of the cash. Several days after the robbery, she went with Morales to visit appellant Medina at his home. Medina and his wife had bought all new furniture. Medina told Serrano that he had "scored a robbery and that they had to take everything out and bring in everything new."

The FBI arrested Medina on April 2, 2002. The vehicle Medina was driving at the time of his arrest had three newspaper articles about the March 27 robbery in the glove compartment. After his arrest, he was housed in the same prison cell as Miguel Alamo-Castro ("Alamo"). At trial, Alamo testified that while they were cellmates Medina had revealed several incriminating details about the conspiracy to rob Ranger vehicles. For example, Medina told Alamo that he had carjacked a green Ford Explorer from a man and his daughter the night before the March 27 robbery, stealing a 9 mm Glock in the process. He said that he had participated in the shootout during the March 27 robbery and that the FBI had recovered the gun he had used from the seat of the stolen Explorer after the robbery. Medina also told Alamo that he was going to use the robbery money to buy furniture and remodel his home, among other things.

E. The Indictment and Trial

Approximately one year later, on March 14, 2003, a grand jury returned a ten-count second superseding indictment charging Catalán, Medina, Morales, Sterling, and Sanchez with conspiracy to rob armored vehicles and a number of substantive offenses related to the conspiracy. Specifically, both Catalán and Medina were charged with: conspiracy to commit robbery of an armored vehicle, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(b)(3) (count one), aiding and abetting the use of a firearm in relation to the conspiracy in count one, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 924(c)(1)(A)(iii) (count two),⁴ aiding and abetting the March 27 robbery of an armored vehicle, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1951(a) (count seven), aiding and abetting the use of a firearm to commit a...