U.S. v. Taylor, 91-5280
| Decision Date | 18 September 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-5280,91-5280 |
| Citation | 972 F.2d 1247 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David S. TAYLOR, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Richard P. Murad, Asst. U.S. Atty., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Linda Collins Hertz, Dawn Bowen, Asst. U.S. Attys., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellant.
Victor D. Martinez, Bruce Kessler, Martinez & Kessler, Miami, Fla., for defendant-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge, HILL, and SMITH *, Senior Circuit Judges.
The United States (Government) appeals the 7 March 1991 order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida granting David S. Taylor's motion for judgment of acquittal pursuant to Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. 1 The trial court granted Taylor's motion after a jury had found him guilty of two counts of sending threatening communications through the mail in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 876. We reverse and remand.
The issue presented is whether the district court committed reversible error by granting Taylor's Motion for Judgment of Acquittal in light of the evidence presented to the jury that convicted him. In the event that this court reinstates the jury verdict of guilty, we must also decide whether the case should be reassigned to another judge for sentencing.
On 30 October 1990, a federal grand jury charged Taylor with two counts of sending threatening communications through the mail in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 876. Taylor was tried in district court before a jury in a two day trial. At the close of the Government's case, Taylor moved for a Rule 29 judgment of acquittal on the ground that the communications were ambiguous and thus did not constitute threats. The trial judge denied the motion. The defense rested without presenting any evidence, and renewed the motion for judgment of acquittal on the same basis. The trial judge reserved ruling on the motion pursuant to Rule 29(b) and submitted the case to the jury.
On 1 March 1991, the jury returned a verdict of guilty respecting both counts of the indictment. On 5 March 1991, additional arguments were heard in district court on the motion for judgment of acquittal. Two days later, the trial judge granted Taylor's motion for judgment of acquittal.
The relevant facts underlying this appeal span a period of over twenty years. David S. Taylor began dating Kathleen McHugh 2 in the late 1960's while both were high school students in Midlothian, Illinois. Taylor was a senior and Kathleen a junior at that time. Their relationship continued throughout that year and into the following year when Taylor was away at college. He returned during Kathleen's senior year at which time Kathleen voiced her dissatisfaction with the relationship, and in the spring of 1969 she attempted to end the relationship with Taylor. Taylor was unable to accept the break-up, and continued to contact her as well as the young men she was dating.
As a result of Taylor's behavior, Kathleen's parents sent her from Illinois to live in Florida with her grandmother and to attend college. Despite her move to Florida and her persistent pleas to stop his behavior, Taylor continued to contact Kathleen through calls and letters. Taylor's conduct continued even after he learned that Kathleen had been married in 1973 to David Goldstein. In the ensuing years the calls and letters to Kathleen Goldstein persisted. Taylor's letters numbered in the hundreds. The Goldsteins moved several times, but Taylor always managed to locate them.
During this period, Taylor continued to express his love for Kathleen and his desire that they be together. In a 1976 letter, Taylor questioned his own sanity stating in part as follows:
I am deeply troubled as you are aware of by my behavior. I can't apologize for it is predictable of someone who has lost his gourd, bananas, marbles or whatever. I hate to use the term crazy as I find it hard to believe that I have slipped that far. I am sure I have though.
In the same letter, Taylor finishes by asking for Mrs. Goldstein's forgiveness
Some of the letters expressed his love for Kathleen, while others contained ethnic slurs directed at Mr. Goldstein's Jewish heritage. Other letters advised that Taylor had been conducting surveillance on the Goldstein family; in one particular letter Taylor described the Goldstein's son in detail. In 1982, the Goldsteins filed a civil suit against Taylor in the Circuit Court of Broward County and obtained a restraining order. Taylor ignored the order and continued to contact the Goldsteins in violation of the order.
In 1986, Taylor wrote from Arizona to a Florida newspaper making reference to Mr. Goldstein's statements in federal court that Mr. Goldstein was afraid for the safety of his family due to Taylor's behavior. In the letter Taylor stated that he had access to automatic weapons and was president of the "National Automatic Weapon Hunting Society". He went on to write that "[a]lthough it is impossible to accurately predict the future behavior of any one", he would not do anything to jeopardize the private ownership of automatic weapons.
In 1988, Taylor sent a postcard from Illinois to Mrs. Goldstein at her home in Florida. The front of the card displayed the following maxim:
Mrs. Goldstein testified that she believed this communication directly threatened her life and that this message conveyed Taylor's intent to harm her as well as her husband.
Around Christmas of 1989, the Goldsteins received two "greeting cards" through the U.S. mail. Taylor wrote the two cards and caused them to be delivered by the United States Postal Service to Mrs. Kathleen Goldstein at her residence in Coral Springs, Florida. Government exhibit 4A, which forms the basis for Count II of the indictment, reads in its entirety:
Kathleen,
Your Husband, David Goldstein will have his health take a turn for the worse this Christmas Season and you will be widowed in 1990. I am truly sorry that this is the "Kay Ser Ra Ser Ra" [sic] scenario that has to take place. However you will always be the foci [sic] of my desires as I remember you to be the most exuisite [sic] creature that has ever taken me in. I'm always grateful that we have had the moments given to us and I will be there should you ever desire me again. I can say with all sincerity, I Love You.
/s/David S Taylor
Government exhibit 5A, which forms the basis for Count I of the indictment, was received in a separate envelope and reads as follows:
Kathleen Despite the major disruptions that widowhood will bring about in your life I for whatever value I may be will be there for you. David's death from a cerebral vascular accident of an unknown idiopathy will stun all those who loved him. However despair not as I am of the belief his soul will rest comfortably at the side of the heavenly being he alleges to be of.
/s/David
For when winter cometh before the spring Sing ye the songs of astonishment and bewilder not with bereavement. For as I write the forgiver receive no punishment and David your Husband of thee we sing he was the man who dared to be King
After the jury verdict of guilty on both counts of the indictment, the district court, on 7 March 1991, granted Taylor's motion for judgment of acquittal upon which motion the judge had reserved ruling. He stated that the sole basis for this ruling was that he had erred in submitting the case to the jury; that the communications were ambiguous and thus could not constitute threats under 18 U.S.C. § 876.
When considering a motion for judgment of acquittal, the task confronting a district court is clear. This court's predecessor 3 has stated that the "district court must determine whether the relevant evidence, viewed in a light most favorable to the Government, could be accepted by a jury as adequate and sufficient to support the conclusion of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." 4 The district court must accept all reasonable inferences tending to support the Government's case. 5 Likewise, any conflicts in the evidence are to be resolved in the Government's favor. 6 These same factors must be considered by an appellate court when reviewing a district court's disposition of a motion for judgment of acquittal. 7
This court's function in determining the propriety of the trial court's granting or denying a "motion[ ] for judgment of acquittal is discharged in substantially the same manner as we use in considering whether evidence is sufficient to support a verdict of guilt ..." 8 This circuit has previously stated that sufficiency of the evidence is a question of law subject to independent review upon appeal. 9 The district court's decision on sufficiency of the evidence is entitled to no deference by this court. 10 Also, this court has specifically stated that a district court's decision "setting aside a jury verdict of guilt is entitled to no deference ..." 11
The record reveals that the district court applied incorrect analysis to this case. The trial judge held that the cards sent by Taylor were ambiguous, and therefore could not constitute threats under 18 U.S.C. § 876. On the basis that he had improperly sent the case to the jury, the trial judge granted Taylor's motion for judgment of acquittal. As stated above, we review a grant of a motion for judgment of acquittal as a matter of law. The district court erred in its ruling in this case.
We note as a threshold matter that the District Court relied upon the Eighth...
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