U.S. v. Crawford

• Citation: 982 F.2d 199
• Decision Date: 04 January 1993
• Docket Number: No. 91-6198,91-6198
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jerry A. CRAWFORD, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

Page 199

982 F.2d 199

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jerry A. CRAWFORD, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 91-6198.

United States Court of Appeals,

Sixth Circuit.

Argued Oct. 8, 1992.

Decided Jan. 4, 1993.

Ed Bryant, U.S. Atty., Cynthia J. Collins, Asst. U.S. Atty. (argued and briefed), Memphis, TN, for plaintiff-appellee.

April R. Ferguson, Asst. Federal Public Defender (argued and briefed), Memphis, TN, for defendant-appellant.

Before: MERRITT, Chief Judge; MARTIN and BOGGS, Circuit Judges.

BOGGS, Circuit Judge.

Jerry A. Crawford appeals his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm that had travelled in interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). The district court sentenced Crawford to fifteen years of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Crawford raises two issues on appeal: 1) whether the district court erred by failing to dismiss the indictment because Crawford was not brought to trial within the time limits mandated by the Speedy Trial Act; and 2) whether the district court erred by failing to charge the jury on the proposed justification defense recognized by this court in United States v. Singleton, 902 F.2d 471, 472 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 872, 111 S.Ct. 196, 112 L.Ed.2d 158 (1990).

I

On May 6, 1989, Crawford, a felon, had a dispute with his wife, Sandra Jean Spencer. During the argument, Spencer crossed the street to her mother's house and called the police. When police officer William Oeding arrived on the scene about three minutes later, Spencer, family members, and neighbors were outside in the yard; Crawford was inside the house. Shortly after Officer Oeding arrived, Crawford came out of the house and immediately resumed his argument with Spencer. Officer Oeding separated Spencer and Crawford. Officer Oeding then observed that Crawford had his hand inside his overalls and also observed what appeared to be a pistol inside the overalls. Officer Oeding asked Crawford to remove his hand. When Crawford did as instructed, a pistol dropped to the ground. At this time, Officer Oeding put his foot on the pistol, seized Crawford, and held him against the police car. He then asked Crawford what he was doing with a pistol. Crawford explained that he was protecting himself from his wife and her brothers and sisters, who lived nearby. Shortly thereafter, back-up officers arrived and Crawford was arrested and charged with carrying a dangerous weapon.

Crawford and Spencer gave conflicting testimony as to how Crawford came into possession of the pistol. At trial, Crawford testified that the facts are as follows. Crawford began arguing with Spencer over whether she would loan him her car to drive his brother home. Spencer adamantly refused to loan Crawford the car. Crawford became frustrated and told her that he was going to call his uncle to come and pick him up. Spencer told him he was not going anywhere and stormed out of the house. Soon, she returned with a pistol. Spencer's mother entered the house before she did and begged Crawford not to go outside. Crawford remained inside, and Spencer and her mother returned to the mother's house across the street. Crawford, thinking that Spencer did not have a key, locked the doors.

Soon, Spencer returned, unlocked the back door, and entered the house with a pistol. Crawford met her at the back door and took the pistol away from her. Spencer ran out the door. Crawford testified that he took the pistol in order to protect himself. He claimed that he feared Spencer because she had threatened him in the past with a pistol.

Members of Spencer's family began to congregate in the yard, and Crawford feared they would try to hurt him. He remained inside the house until Officer Oeding arrived. When he did leave the house, he went directly to Officer Oeding. Before he had a chance to explain to Officer Oeding about the pistol, Spencer started arguing with him again. It was then that Officer Oeding noticed the pistol in his overalls and disarmed him. Spencer denied that she brought a pistol into the house. She also denied that the pistol later found on Crawford belonged to her.

On April 9, 1990, a federal grand jury indicted Crawford on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm that had travelled in interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). Crawford made his initial appearance before the court on October 25, 1990, and he was arraigned on October 29.

The district court set a report date for November 26, 1990, and a trial date for December 17, 1990. At the report date, defense counsel requested an additional two weeks to file pretrial motions. Defense counsel also pointed out a possible conflict on December 17, 1990. The court granted the request for additional time and reset the report date to December 10, with the parties agreeing that the intervening days would be excluded under the Speedy Trial Act. The court did not make an express ruling on the issue of a continuance.

On November 28, 1990, Crawford, through his attorney, filed a motion to suppress statements. On November 29, the court set the motion for a hearing on December 14, 1990. The government moved to reset the suppression hearing until December 17, 1990, and the court deferred the hearing until that time. The hearing was held December 17, and the court took the motion to suppress under advisement. On December 20, 1990, the court granted the motion to suppress.

No further action was taken on Crawford's case until March 7, 1991, when the court set the trial date for March 18, 1991. On March 11, 1991, Crawford moved to dismiss the indictment for violation of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161 et seq. The government responded with the following calculations. The government calculated thirty-three non-excludable days in the period between October 25, 1990, the date of the initial appearance, and November 28, 1990, the date Crawford filed the motion to suppress. The government argued that time under the Act was tolled between November 28 and December 20, when the court granted the motion to suppress. Finally the government argued that "[d]efendant's request for a continuance of the December 17, 1990 trial date tolled the running of time from December 17, 1990 until the new setting on March 18, 1991." Crawford argued that none of the days after December 20, 1990, were excludable because the court never expressly granted a continuance.

On March 22, 1991, the court entered a brief order, which stated:

Upon consideration of Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the Indictment in this case for violation of the Speedy Trial Act, and the government's response thereto, the Court concludes the motion should be denied for the reasons stated by the government in its response, which is so ordered this 21 day of March, 1991.

The trial commenced on March 18, 1991. During the trial, Crawford testified that he took the pistol from Spencer and kept it for a short period of time because he was afraid that Spencer and her family members would hurt him. He also testified that he tried to tell Officer Oeding why he had a pistol but, amidst the commotion, was not able to tell Officer Oeding before Officer Oeding noticed the pistol.

Crawford requested that the court instruct the jury on the defense of justification. Although 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) provides only that "it shall be unlawful" for a felon to possess a firearm, this court has recognized a justification defense, which may be asserted by a defendant if the defendant can prove the following four factors:

1) the defendant was under an unlawful and "present, imminent, and impending [threat] of such a nature as to induce a well-grounded apprehension of death or serious bodily injury" ...;

2) that defendant had not "recklessly or negligently placed himself in a situation in which it was probable that he would be [forced to choose criminal conduct]," ...;

3) that defendant had no "reasonable legal alternative to violating the law," ...; and

4) "that a direct causal relationship may be reasonably anticipated between the [criminal] action taken and the avoidance of the threatened harm." [citations omitted]

United States v. Gant, 691 F.2d 1159, 1162-63 (5th Cir.1982) (quoted in its entirety in United States v. Singleton, 902 F.2d 471, 472 (6th Cir.1990)). In Singleton, this court "emphasize[d] that the keystone of the analysis is that the defendant must have no alternative--either before or during the event--to avoid violating the law." Id. at 473.

The district court refused to instruct the jury on the justification defense because it determined that Crawford had no well-grounded apprehension of death or bodily injury. During deliberation, the jury asked the court if it needed instruction on "the defense of self-defense." The court answered with a simple "no." The jury later sent another note, which stated: "Would fear for personal safety override the 'specific intent' to possess the firearm?" The court declined to answer the question.

Thereafter, the jury found Crawford guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm that had travelled in interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). Crawford was sentenced to fifteen years of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. For the reasons that follow, we dismiss the indictment and remand to the district with directions to determine whether the dismissal of the indictment should be with or without prejudice. Because we dismiss Crawford's indictment, we need not decide whether the district court was required to charge the jury on the proposed justification defense.

II

The Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3161-74 (1982), requires that the trial of a criminal defendant commence within seventy days from the date of the arrest, the filing of the indictment or information, or the first appearance before the court, whichever date last occurs. 18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(1); see also Henderson v. United States, 476...