U.S. v. Jackson
| Decision Date | 26 October 1977 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 76-1500 and 76-1584,s. 76-1500 and 76-1584 |
| Citation | 562 F.2d 789,183 U.S. App. D.C. 270 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Melvin E. JACKSON, Appellant. UNITED STATES of America v. John JOHNSON, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
David E. Schreiber, Washington, D. C. (appointed by this court), for appellants.
Thomas G. Corcoran, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., with whom Earl J. Silbert, U. S. Atty., John A. Terry and Albert H. Turkus, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellee.
Before BAZELON, Chief Judge, and McGOWAN and MacKINNON, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the court filed by McGOWAN, Circuit Judge.
These consolidated appeals present troublesome questions about the division of criminal jurisdiction between the federal and local courts in the District of Columbia. When alleged U.S.Code and D.C.Code violations are properly joined in a single indictment, the District of Columbia Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970 permits all crimes charged to be tried together in the United States District Court. In this case, however, we decide that the District Court lacked jurisdiction over the D.C. robbery offense charged in appellants' indictment. We hold first that the robbery count was improperly joined with the remaining offenses of which appellants were accused. Alternatively, we hold that, even if the original joinder of the robbery count was proper, the District Court divested itself of jurisdiction over that count when it granted appellants' pretrial motion to sever the robbery charge in order to avoid the possibly prejudicial atmosphere of a single trial.
Accordingly, we reverse appellants' robbery conviction. Finding no infirmity with the other convictions challenged here by appellant Jackson, we affirm that portion of the District Court's judgment which reflects the jury's verdict in appellants' first trial.
The events giving rise to these appeals occurred near a tavern in southwest Washington in the early morning hours of April 26, 1975. At about 1:45 A.M., two women, Dari Tritt and Kathy Kirch, left the Pier Nine restaurant and bar. Almost immediately, they were accosted at gunpoint by a man who had just emerged from a late-model gold Chevrolet parked near the intersection of Half and V Streets. This individual, later identified as appellant Jackson, instructed the women to walk toward the Anacostia River. When Ms. Kirch attempted to "talk (her) way out of it," Jackson hit her across the face with sufficient force to knock her to the ground and cause bleeding. The women proceeded to walk in the direction indicated by their assailant. Arriving at the water's edge, they were ordered to disrobe. When they did not comply quickly enough, their attacker ripped off Ms. Kirch's blouse. After Ms. Kirch had also removed her bra, Jackson's attention was distracted by a noise, and Ms. Kirch was able to wrest the sawed-off rifle from his grasp. Jackson fled, and the two women returned to the Pier Nine bar and notified police.
A short while later, Marliese Nakamura, her mother, and a male friend left the Pier Nine, and walked to their nearby car. As they were about to enter, another car, a gold Chevrolet, approached slowly. A man in the passenger seat of the Chevrolet reached out the car window and grabbed Ms. Nakamura and her purse. The young woman was dragged approximately ten feet before she let go of her handbag. The bag contained a topaz necklace, a checkbook, various pieces of identification, a small evening purse belonging to Ms. Nakamura's mother, and a wallet belonging to Lawrence Gorman, the friend. Among the contents of the elder Ms. Nakamura's purse were three of her lipstick cases and a prescription bottle belonging to her daughter. Mr. Gorman's wallet contained approximately $100 in cash.
After the purse snatching, Mr. Gorman and the Nakamuras chased the gold Chevrolet in their own car. Although the fleeing car eventually managed to elude its pursuers, Mr. Gorman and the Nakamuras were able to obtain the Chevrolet's license plate number, and to observe that its occupants were two black men, one of whom, the driver, was wearing a green print shirt. When the chase proved unsuccessful, the trio returned to the Pier Nine bar and called the police.
Upon receiving the gold Chevrolet's license number from Mr. Gorman, the police checked the registration and found that the car's owner listed a home address in the 700 block of 12th Street, Southeast. Approaching this location in his squad car, Metropolitan Police Lieutenant Spurlock saw a gold Chevrolet bearing a license number which matched that obtained from Mr. Gorman and Ms. Nakamura. At 12th and I Streets, Southeast, Lt. Spurlock stopped the car, and arrested its occupants, appellants Jackson and Johnson. Appellant Johnson was wearing a shirt like that described by Mr. Gorman and the Nakamuras. The Chevrolet was also taken into custody. A subsequent search of the car revealed a sack of rifle ammunition of the same caliber as the weapon which Ms. Kirch had taken from her assailant. Also discovered in the Chevrolet were Ms. Nakamura's handbag, her prescription bottle, and her mother's lipstick. None of the remaining contents of the purse were found.
Informed of appellants' arrest, police at the Pier Nine bar brought Dari Tritt and Gisela Nakamura, Marliese's mother, to the southeast Washington location where appellants had been apprehended. Ms. Tritt was unable to identify either appellant as the man who forced her and Ms. Kirch to accompany him to the river bank. However, the elder Ms. Nakamura, relying primarily on the color and pattern of appellant Johnson's shirt, did identify Johnson as the driver of the gold Chevrolet. Appellants were then taken to George Washington University Hospital, where Ms. Kirch had gone for X-rays. Ms. Kirch did not recognize appellant Johnson, but she did identify appellant Jackson as her attacker.
In a nine-count indictment filed on May 22, 1975, appellants were each charged with possession of an unregistered firearm (26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) (1970)); possession of a firearm not identified by serial number (26 U.S.C. § 5861(i)); robbery (22 D.C.Code § 2901 (1973)); assault with intent to commit rape while armed (two counts; 22 D.C.Code §§ 501, 3202); assault with intent to commit rape (two counts; 22 D.C.Code § 501): and assault with a dangerous weapon (two counts; 22 D.C.Code § 502).
With the exception of the robbery count, all charges against appellants stemmed from the incident involving Ms. Tritt and Ms. Kirch. As a consequence, trial counsel for appellants moved to sever the robbery count, alleging both improper joinder under Fed.R.Crim.P. 8, and the likelihood of prejudice within the meaning of Fed.R.Crim.P. 14. The motion was granted by the District Court, 1 and appellants were tried on the remaining eight counts of the indictment. At the conclusion of this trial, on November 20, 1975, appellant Johnson was acquitted; and appellant Jackson was convicted of possession of an unregistered firearm and two counts of assault with intent to commit rape while armed. Approximately six months later, appellants were tried in District Court on the robbery charge which had been severed. Both were convicted. For his offenses, appellant Jackson was sentenced to concurrent terms under the Youth Corrections Act, 18 U.S.C. § 5010(b) (1970). On the basis of his robbery conviction, appellant Johnson was sentenced to a prison term of twenty months to five years.
Of the numerous assignments of error pressed upon us, only those concerning the District Court's jurisdiction over the robbery count merit extended discussion. As a preliminary matter, we briefly dispose of two other arguments advanced by appellants. We believe first of all that the police unquestionably had probable cause to arrest appellants when they did. A gold Chevrolet was mentioned prominently in reports of two crimes occurring in the vicinity of the Pier Nine bar. Appellants were observed driving such a vehicle near that general location shortly after the crimes were committed. Moreover, the license number of appellants' car matched exactly the number of the gold Chevrolet obtained from the victims of one of the crimes. Taken together, these circumstances surely constituted probable cause for arrest.
Likewise, we are not persuaded by appellant Jackson's contention that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of assault with intent to commit rape while armed. The requisite intent need not be proved by direct evidence, but may be inferred from the totality of the circumstances presented to the jury. Here, the evidence adduced at trial tended to show that appellant Jackson led Ms. Tritt and Ms. Kirch at gunpoint to a secluded spot on the bank of the Anacostia River, and then ordered them to remove their clothing. In addition, testimony indicated that Jackson impatiently ripped off Ms. Kirch's blouse when she failed to follow instructions swiftly enough. From these facts, we believe the jury could permissibly infer beyond a reasonable doubt that Jackson possessed the intent necessary to sustain a conviction for the offense charged. While no purpose would be served by detailed commentary on the cases cited by appellant in support of a contrary position, we have examined those precedents and find them clearly distinguishable from the present case.
We turn now to the only substantial issue presented by these appeals, namely, the propriety of appellants' robbery conviction. At the outset, we look to the language of the relevant jurisdictional statute, 11 D.C.Code § 502(3) (1970):
(T)he United States District Court for the District of Columbia has jurisdiction of . . . (a)ny offense under any law...
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