U.S. v. Quartermaine
| Decision Date | 02 October 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-5276,90-5276 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Stephen QUARTERMAINE, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
William I. Shockley, Asst. U.S. Atty., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellant.
Samuel I. Burstyn, Robert F. Dunlap, Miami, Fla., for defendant-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before HATCHETT and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges, and GODBOLD, Senior Circuit Judge.
In this pretrial detention case, we reverse the district court because the government proved to the required degree that Quartermaine poses a risk of flight and a danger to the community. 1
On July 6, 1989, law enforcement officers arrested Stephen Quartermaine at his home on an indictment charging him with importation of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 952, 841(a)(1), and 955a. 2 The officers found Quartermaine free-basing cocaine, and he resisted arrest. On July 10, 1989, a grand jury returned a second superseding indictment against Quartermaine for continuing criminal enterprise and the use of a communication facility to commit a felony in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 848 and 843(b). 3
On July 11, 1989, at the first pretrial detention hearing, the government contended that Quartermaine should be detained because no conditions of release could guarantee the safety of the community or his appearance at trial. 4
The government presented extensive evidence concerning Quartermaine's risk of flight at the first detention hearing. Documents seized pursuant to search warrants revealed Quartermaine's ownership interest in foreign corporations. Additionally, on two occasions, Quartermaine failed to appear in court on misdemeanor charges. From 1975 to 1989, Quartermaine failed to file income tax returns. According to the government, a bank account in the Cayman Islands in the name of Stephen Quartermaine contained $374,000. The government believed that the Quartermaine family had from $10 to $15 million in assets outside the United States.
In response, Quartermaine proffered that his mother would post her home as collateral for his release. Julie Telleachea, Quartermaine's girlfriend, also expressed a willingness to post her home as collateral. Quartermaine contends that he has not paid taxes because he has not worked in eight years and that he is supported by income from a trust created by his grandfather in 1977.
The government also presented the following evidence concerning Quartermaine's reputation for violence and danger to individuals and the community. Quartermaine resisted arrest, and two loaded firearms were seized from his bedroom. According to the government, twelve witnesses who were interviewed, or who testified before the grand jury, expressed fear of Quartermaine. Three witnesses expressed strong reservations concerning their safety and the safety of their families. The government represented that none of the witnesses had agreed to testify publicly prior to trial, and most were reluctant to testify at all. One confidential source stated that Quartermaine had been armed on every occasion when the source had seen him.
In 1979, Broward County sheriff's deputies arrested Quartermaine at his ranch, called the "High Time," for beating his wife. When the deputies restrained Quartermaine, he broke away from them and began to beat her again in the presence of the officers and his children. When the deputy asked Quartermaine about his occupation, Quartermaine responded, "I'm a smuggler, now you go and prove it." When the deputy asked Quartermaine's wife about his occupation, she stated that the officers should ask Customs or the Drug Enforcement Agency. On March 8, 1989, Police Officer Peter Gates arrested Quartermaine for beating his daughter in the parking lot of a hotel. When Gates attempted to separate them, Quartermaine lunged at his daughter screaming, "I'll kick her ass anytime I feel like it." When Gates inquired about his address, Quartermaine responded,
Quartermaine sought to rebut this evidence in several ways. He argued that the fact that he did not attempt to use the guns in his bedroom to resist arrest contradicts the implication that he is a violent person. Quartermaine also explained that the seized weapons belonged to his father, and that the incidents of domestic violence should not be considered indicative of whether he poses a danger to the community.
On September 9, 1989, the magistrate ordered Quartermaine's pretrial detention. The magistrate found that the government failed to prove that Quartermaine presented a risk of flight, but did prove that he posed a danger to the community. The magistrate made the following findings pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3142(i):
Whether intentionally or not, the defendant has instilled fear into co-conspirators and others who have agreed to be witnesses for the government.
Even if the defendant never intended to instill fear of himself and was just 'talking,' he nonetheless succeeded in creating an atmosphere where his actions, words, and ownership of weapons led these witnesses to fear for their lives.
From the proffer of the Assistant United States Attorney, the court finds that confidential source ("CS") number 7 has expressed fear of Stephen Quartermaine from events CS # 7 witnessed in the early 1980s. The fear of this witness is a present and strongly held belief, additionally based upon the knowledge that Stephen Quartermaine always carried a weapon.
Confidential source No. 8 received a direct threat from Stephen Quartermaine in connection with a prior investigation, that a family member would be dismembered if CS # 8 testified at any proceeding. No testimony was forthcoming and no injury occurred. These events happened prior to 1985.
Another witness who has strong current reservations about testifying in this matter was in a position to have seen the Quartermaines at work for two years in the early 1980s. This witness, along with CS # 7 and two other witnesses, first expressed their individual fears of testifying twelve to fourteen months prior to the bond hearing, at the time of their respective grand jury testimony.
Another four individuals were interviewed by Assistant United States Attorney Shockley in the two or three months prior to the hearing. One was generally concerned because of the violent reputations of the Quartermaine brothers, and One of the reasons the investigation was lengthy is because of the reluctance of witnesses to come forward.
three expressed strong reservations for themselves and their families.
The court finds further that Stephen Quartermaine has cultivated a reputation for violence with the result that potential witnesses against him and the enterprise were intimidated from testifying.
On September 5, 1989, the magistrate held a second detention hearing on Quartermaine's motion. At that hearing, a witness for the government, John Stanton, a retired Pembroke Pines police officer, testified that Quartermaine was a suspect in the January 21, 1981, murder of Harvey McElroy. The investigative file on McElroy's death contained affidavits stating that Quartermaine had fought with McElroy the night of the murder.
At this hearing, Quartermaine proffered testimony that he had a loving relationship with his daughter and that he only struck her in the parking lot because she had run away from home. The daughter was in the courtroom at this hearing, but did not testify. The magistrate again refused to recommend Quartermaine's release, but stated that Quartermaine could renew his motion if the district court granted a continuance. The magistrate considered the length of time Quartermaine would spend in jail a factor in determining whether to recommend his release pretrial.
On September 12, 1989, the district court granted the government's motion to continue the case, and the following day the magistrate heard Quartermaine's renewed motion. At this hearing, the magistrate emphasized the significance of the continuance, stating that "any practical judge is going to find a correlation between the proposed amount of time pretrial and the government's burden to establish dangerousness to the community or risk of flight."
When the magistrate indicated his intention to release Quartermaine, the government presented new evidence that Quartermaine threatened to harm a witness's children. The prosecutor stated that he had not presented this information earlier because he had promised Trudy Klein, the witness to the threat, not to reveal the testimony "unless it became absolutely essential." According to the prosecutor, Klein feared for her safety if it became necessary for the government to release her name.
On September 1, 1989, Trudy Klein went to the Metropolitan Correctional Center ("MCC") to visit her ex-husband, Timothy Klein. While waiting for her ex-husband in the visiting room, she spoke with Quartermaine who was visiting with Julie Telleachea. Quartermaine told Klein that Gary Ballough was testifying against him. Klein, who is a friend of Gary's wife, Karen Ballough, told Quartermaine that she did not believe that Ballough would testify. Quartermaine stated that Ballough's testimony was keeping Quartermaine from seeing his children, and that if he could not see his children, he would hurt Ballough's children.
The government became aware of this threat because Quartermaine spoke loudly enough for other people in the visiting area to overhear it. The government tracked down Klein and prepared a subpoena for her attendance at the detention hearing. Rather than appear at the hearing, Klein chose to speak directly with the...
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