Coleman v. United States

• Decision Date: 07 March 2019
• Docket Number: No. 16-CM-345,16-CM-345
• Citation: 202 A.3d 1127
• Parties: Johnnie COLEMAN, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

202 A.3d 1127

Johnnie COLEMAN, Appellant,

v.UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 16-CM-345

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued February 23, 2017

Decided March 7, 2019

Matthew J. Peed, Washington, for appellant.

Giovanni Di Maggio, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Channing D. Phillips, Washington, United States Attorney at the time the brief was filed, and Elizabeth Trosman, Candice Wong, and Janani J. Iyengar, Assistant United States Attorneys, were on the brief, for appellee.

Before Blackburne-Rigsby, Chief Judge,^* and Glickman and Beckwith, Associate Judges.

Opinion by Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsby, concurring in part and dissenting in part, at page 1147.

Beckwith, Associate Judge:

Soon after appellant Johnnie Coleman asserted his right to a jury trial, the government filed an amended information reducing the charge against him from stalking¹ to attempted stalking.² The case was transferred to a misdemeanor calendar, and Mr. Coleman was convicted of attempted stalking after a bench trial. On appeal, Mr. Coleman argues that he was denied his right to a jury trial and that his conviction was not supported by constitutionally sufficient evidence.

One of the elements of stalking is that the defendant "purposefully engage in a course of conduct" involving at least two "occasions" of certain statutorily specified types of behavior—for example, following the complainant or communicating with him or her. D.C. Code §§ 22-3132(8), - 3133(a). As part of his sufficiency claim, Mr. Coleman argues that the government failed to prove that he possessed the requisite mental state—namely, that he "should have known" that a "reasonable person in the [complainant's] circumstances" would fear for her or another's safety, "[f]eel seriously alarmed, disturbed, or frightened," or "[s]uffer emotional distress"—during at least two of the occasions that allegedly comprised his course of conduct. D.C. Code § 22-3133(a)(3). We agree that the government was required to prove that Mr. Coleman possessed the requisite mental state on at least two occasions. Accordingly, although we reject Mr. Coleman's jury trial arguments and conclude that the government introduced sufficient evidence to meet its burden, we vacate Mr. Coleman's conviction and remand to allow the trial court to evaluate the evidence under the principles set forth in this opinion.

I.

During the time period relevant in this case, Mr. Coleman lived in a group home for "men who had mental[ ] or behavioral issues." The home was located on the Kansas Avenue side of a triangular block bounded by Kansas and Eastern avenues and Tuckerman Street in Northeast Washington, D.C. The complainant lived with her husband and adult son in a house on the Tuckerman Street side of the block, and the backyard of their home abutted the backyard of the group home. The allegation of stalking arises out of a series of four incidents.³

A. The Two "Staring" Incidents

The first two incidents occurred in the spring of 2015. One morning, on her way to work, the complainant boarded a bus at the corner of Tuckerman Street and Kansas Avenue. A man whom the complainant later identified as Mr. Coleman boarded the bus at the next stop, at the corner of Kansas and Eastern avenues. According to the complainant, Mr. Coleman "practically just stared at [her] the entire" five- to ten-minute bus ride. She "never would have recalled" the incident of "Mr. Coleman staring at [her] on the bus[,] except for the fact that maybe a week or two later" a second incident occurred. The complainant was with her family in her backyard and saw Mr. Coleman "standing in the backyard of the group home," "staring at [her] and [her] family." Because the complainant recognized Mr. Coleman from the bus ride a week or two earlier, she found his behavior "a little alarming."

B. The October 12 Incident

After these two incidents, Mr. Coleman and the complainant had no further contact for several months. Around 8 a.m. on Monday, October 12, 2015, the complainant was walking to the Lamond Recreation Center, which is at the corner of Tuckerman Street and Kansas Avenue, "about half a block away from" her home. The center consists of an indoor facility and a baseball field with a walking path around it. The complainant was "heading up the sidewalk" on Tuckerman Street "to go on to the field" when Mr. Coleman approached from the opposite direction. According to the complainant, after they passed each other, Mr. Coleman "quickly turned around[ ] and ... ran back up and like stood directly in front of [her]," "stopp[ing] [her] in her tracks." Mr. Coleman said "something to the effect [of] like oh, how are you doing? You look really nice. Can I talk to you? That kind of thing." The complainant testified that she was "startled." She walked away from Mr. Coleman "[b]risk[ly]" and told him, "You know, you're my neighbor. I'm not trying to talk to you. You know I have a husband. I have a dog. Okay. Good bye. Have a good day."

The complainant proceeded to walk on the path around the baseball field. She soon noticed, however, that Mr. Coleman had taken a seat on a "bench ... at the baseball diamond." The complainant testified that she was "concerned" because it was "still fairly early in the morning" and because Mr. Coleman "was the only person out there." She was "a little bit worried that [Mr. Coleman] was prepared to ... cause [her] some harm" and that his presence "made [her] feel very uncomfortable." The complainant continued her walk, but she also called her husband, who had not yet left for work. When the complainant's husband arrived, he and Mr. Coleman had what "looked like ... a calm, pleasant conversation." Mr. Coleman walked away, and the complainant's husband told her that Mr. Coleman was "harmless" and that "he understands now that he doesn't need to be out here harassing people." Mr. Coleman left, and the complainant continued her walk around the baseball field. "[S]uddenly," she saw Mr. Coleman "across the street, waiting at the bus stop on Kansas [Avenue] and Tuckerman Street." The complainant continued "walking and watching, walking and watching," and saw two buses go by without Mr. Coleman boarding. The complainant then saw Mr. Coleman leave, and she assumed that he was going back to his group home.

When the complainant finished her walk, "something just told [her] that [she] should probably ... go down the street and knock on the group home door, just to alert them, as a concerned neighbor." The complainant there told a nurse that she was "concerned" because Mr. Coleman had been "wandering around"; the nurse responded that Mr. Coleman had not "take[n] his medication" and had "just left." The complainant began walking back home, and when she was about two houses away from the group home, she heard Mr. Coleman—who was standing in front of the group home—"yell[ ] out to" her. Mr. Coleman said, "I see you tried to get me in trouble. I'm not a bad person.... I read the Bible. It's not like I go around masturbating ...." The complainant "thought [this] was just odd," and she responded by telling Mr. Coleman to "go inside and take [his] medicine." She recalled that this interaction made her "really uncomfortable."

The complainant testified that as a result of the October 12, 2015, incident, she "became a lot more wary" and decided not to go "walking that early anymore."

C. The October 26 Incident

The complainant's next and final encounter with Mr. Coleman occurred two weeks later, on October 26, 2015, around noon. She was walking on the path around the baseball field when she "notice[d] that [Mr. Coleman] was standing up at the doorway to the recreation center." There were some children and their teachers on the baseball field, so the complainant "didn't feel, at that moment, ... like there was any issue." After walking several laps around the field, the complainant saw the "kids and the teachers ... leaving the field." The complainant was on the opposite side of the baseball field from the recreation center, and "before [she] kn[e]w it, [Mr. Coleman] literally sprinted across the entire length of the field, and he was standing about eight feet in front of [her]," on the walking path.⁴ The complainant testified that Mr. Coleman had "this scary-looking grin on his face."

At that moment, the complainant testified, she "knew it was like fight or flight," so she "stopped on [her] heel, ... turned in the other direction," and told Mr. Coleman to "leave [her] alone." The complainant quickly headed towards the baseball field's exit—she was "almost running"—and she "started cussing at [Mr. Coleman]": "[L]eave me alone. Stop acting weird. Stop bothering me. Get the fuck away from me. ... [L]eave me the fuck alone." Mr. Coleman followed her and said, "I'm just out here trying to get some exercise." The complainant proceeded quickly toward her home, and Mr. Coleman continued following.⁵ The complainant "screamed" at Mr. Coleman that she was going to "get [her] husband to fuck [him] up," and the complainant's neighbor also told Mr. Coleman to leave the complainant alone, but Mr. Coleman continued following, shouting things like "F you bitch." When the complainant arrived at her house, she told her son that Mr. Coleman had been following her. The complainant's son went outside and told Mr. Coleman "to get the fuck out of here." Mr. Coleman walked away, stopping briefly at the corner and "erratically shaking a [street] sign" before leaving the area. The complainant's neighbor called the police while these events were unfolding, and Mr. Coleman was arrested soon thereafter.

The complainant testified that this incident was a "traumatic experience" for her and that she had "lost some sleep" as a result.

D. The Trial Court's Verdict

The trial court credited the complainant's testimony and made the following factual findings. The court found that the complainant first noticed Mr. Coleman in the spring of 2015, when he stared at her on the bus. She encountered him a...