U.S. v. Boone
| Decision Date | 15 February 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-3828.,No. 04-3836.,No. 04-3831.,No. 04-3829.,04-3828.,04-3829.,04-3831.,04-3836. |
| Citation | 437 F.3d 829 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. William BOONE, Appellant. United States of America, Appellee, v. Kelvin Washington, Appellant. United States of America, Appellee, v. Jerome Creighton, Appellant. United States of America, Appellee, v. Barbara Turner, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Dee Wampler, argued, Springfield, MO, for appellant Boone.
Cyril M. Hendricks, argued, Jefferson City, MO, for appellant Washington.
Margaret E. Barker, argued, Springfield, MO, for appellant Creighton.
Jason Coatney, argued, Springfield, MO, for appellant Turner.
David C. Jones, AUSA, argued, Springfield, MO, for appellee.
Before MURPHY, BOWMAN, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.
William Boone, Jerome Creighton, Barbara Turner, and Kelvin Washington were each convicted of felony murder, armed robbery, use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. Turner was also convicted of attempting to murder two law enforcement agents while they were transporting her to a federal correctional institution. The district court1 sentenced each of the four defendants to two consecutive life terms in prison. They now appeal their convictions, raising numerous issues. We affirm.
The armed robbery and felony murder of which all the defendants were convicted took place at the Davis Club, a recreational club for enlisted personnel at Fort Leonard Wood near Kansas City, Missouri. On the night of December 13, 2001 two masked men, one of whom was carrying a shotgun, entered the club through an unlocked door. The robbers surprised Connie Oeffler, a club employee who was preparing to close up for the evening, and her friend Brian Adams who was keeping her company as she finished work. The intruders bound the hands of Oeffler and Adams with cable ties, forced them to lie down on the floor, and started to stuff the contents of the club vault into a black bag. One of the intruders took Adams into an adjoining room, and Oeffler testified that the second robber ran into that room after she heard a scuffle and furniture being overturned. Oeffler then heard two shots. Adams was subsequently found dead from gunshot wounds.
Shortly after Adams was shot, Cassandra Leone and Kathy Warden arrived to deposit into the Davis Club vault the nightly proceeds from another recreational club on the base. This was something they did every night as part of their jobs but they had arrived later than usual that evening because a failed health inspection at their own club had forced them to stay late and clean. When Oeffler told them that a robbery was in progress, the two women attempted to barricade themselves in the vault, but they were eventually apprehended by the robbers who wanted to know if they had pushed "the button." That was a reference to the trigger for the vault's silent alarm system, which neither the women with the deposits nor Oeffler knew about at the time. The robbers subsequently herded Leone and Warden into the men's restroom at gunpoint, where they were held until the robbery was completed. Shortly thereafter a third man appeared without a mask; the government argued at trial that he had been acting as a lookout. The three men eventually departed the club with over $50,000 in cash and coins. Their take was approximately $14,000 more than the amount the club would normally have had on hand because it included the jackpot for a "Super Bingo" event scheduled for later that week.
As soon as the robbers were gone, the three women victims called the military police who undertook an investigation in conjunction with the FBI which continued over the next year. Because a door to the club had been left unlocked and the robbers apparently knew about the vault's security system, the regular schedules of employees who might have been present, and the vault contents on the night of December 13, investigators suspected that the robbery was an inside job. Over the subsequent months they used eye witness accounts from Oeffler, Leone, and Warden along with a variety of other evidence to identify the four appellants, two of whom worked at the Davis Club, as the perpetrators.
There was evidence that club manager Barbara Turner, along with her friend William Boone who frequently resided with her, had done most of the planning. They developed the idea of robbing the club and recruited Jerome Creighton and Kelvin Washington for the undertaking. They also made necessary preparations, such as purchasing cable ties and walkie talkies from a Wal-Mart in St. Robert, Missouri (they were shown leaving the store on a December 9 videotape). In addition Turner used her computer to make fake military identification badges for Boone and Creighton (whose pictures were found on her hard drive). She also deposited the Super Bingo jackpot in the club vault several days before it would be needed. Turner would have known about the vault's silent alarm system and have been able to predict when the club would have the fewest people inside. Her friend Melissa Winslow testified at trial that in a conversation after the crime, Turner had admitted her involvement and implicated the other defendants. Leone and Warden testified that Turner told them on December 14 that they "were not supposed to be there" when the robbery took place. Turner testified at trial and denied all involvement.
The government alleged that the shotgun used in the robbery had been purchased by Boone from an acquaintance named Jerome Shelton who testified at trial. The government also sought to prove that Boone participated in the actual robbery as one of the masked assailants. Boone did not testify in his own defense but he did offer an alibi to investigators. According to him, he was watching movies with Lani Dvorak at a motel several miles from the base at the time the robbery was committed. Dvorak initially corroborated his story before the grand jury, but later disavowed that testimony. At trial she reported that she had not seen Boone for several weeks until late in the evening of December 13 when he appeared in her motel room without his glasses, claiming to have lost them in a fight (the government argued at trial that they had been knocked off his head during the scuffle with Adams). Dvorak also testified that she spent time with Boone the next day and saw him in possession of large quantities of currency and rolled quarters and that he asked her to dispose of a black duffel bag, to which she was later able to lead investigators. Shortly after the robbery Boone opened a Bank of America checking account with $1700 in cash.
Boone and Turner were both arrested in December 2002. While Turner was being transported to a federal correctional institution in Springfield by FBI agent Christopher Holland and sheriff's deputy Brad Ford, she lunged over the front seat of the car, grabbed the steering wheel, and steered the vehicle into a tractor trailer truck. The car crashed under the trailer which continued down the road a way, and Turner began kicking Holland. She later told Holland and Ford that she had been trying to kill herself. This incident was the basis for the attempted murder charge of which Turner was convicted.
According to the government's theory of the case, Washington, a soldier working at the Davis Club part time, was the second masked robber who actually held the shotgun during the robbery. Washington and Turner were romantically involved, and he appears on the December 9 Wal-Mart videotape. Oeffler told investigators that she recognized Washington's voice during the robbery when he said, "Ooh, we had a pretty good night, didn't we?". She explained that because she had been "scared for my life" she initially said only that the voice reminded her of Washington. Although Washington did not testify at trial, he implicated the other defendants in a statement to investigators and admitted to knowing about their plans. He insisted that his only involvement had been to leave the door of the club unlocked at the end of his shift at Turner's request and to tell Boone by walkie talkie how many people were left in the club that night. He was arrested in New York City in March 2003 while carrying a fake driver license under the name Roman Hodges. He attempted to flee but was apprehended by local FBI agents.
There was evidence that Creighton, a friend of Turner and Boone, was the third robber, the one who appeared without a mask and who may have acted as a lookout. Creighton's photo was found on Turner's computer, and a sketch of the third robber made from Oeffler's description resembled his likeness and included a distinctive facial scar, even though she placed it on the wrong side and described his earrings as studs instead of hoops and him as Hispanic instead of African American. Inside the car of Creighton's girlfriend, which she testified he borrowed the night of the robbery, investigators discovered unused cable ties of the same type used to bind Oeffler and Adams. Shortly after the robbery Creighton left the Kansas City area for several months. He spent some of that time with a friend in Elkton, Kentucky, who testified that Creighton had had rolls of cash in a backpack which he used to pay for his hotel and cover charges at various night clubs. Creighton, who did not testify at trial, denied any involvement in the case.
All four defendants were eventually indicted for felony murder under 18 U.S.C. § 1111, armed robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2111, use of a firearm during a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 924, and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States under 18 U.S.C. § 371. Turner was also charged with the attempted murder of Holland and Ford under 18 U.S.C. § 1114.
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