U.S. v. Lawson

• Decision Date: 01 August 2008
• Docket Number: No. 04-4480.,04-4480.
• Citation: 535 F.3d 434
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Allen Chester LAWSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

535 F.3d 434

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Allen Chester LAWSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04-4480.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: April 24, 2008.

Decided and Filed: August 1, 2008.

ARGUED: David E. Koerner, Law Office, Perry, Ohio, for Appellant. Joseph R. Wilson, Assistant United States Attorney, Toledo, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: David E. Koerner, Law Office, Perry, OH,

for Appellant. Joseph R. Wilson, Ava M. Rotell Dustin, Assistant United States Attorneys, Toledo, Ohio, for Appellee.

Before: DAUGHTREY, GILMAN, and ROGERS, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

This case is part of a consolidated appeal involving thirteen defendants who were members of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club ("OMC"), an international motorcycle club with chapters across the country and around the world. In 1997, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state law enforcement agencies began an investigation into the Green region of the OMC, which consists of chapters in Dayton, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As a result of the investigation, a grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio returned a 40-count indictment in 2003 charging the defendants with various offenses, including Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), drug trafficking, and firearms offenses. The defendants were tried before an anonymous jury.

Defendant Allen C. Lawson, a member of the OMC chapter in Dayton, Ohio, was charged with four offenses: (1) substantive RICO in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c); (2) RICO conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); (3) conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846; and (4) distribution and possession with intent to distribute marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). In support of the RICO charge, the indictment alleged four RICO predicate acts against Lawson: (1) conspiracy to distribute controlled substances; (2) distribution of marijuana; (3) distribution of valium; and (4) the 2001 murder of Eric Coulter at a Dayton, Ohio, strip club named Spanky's Dollhouse.

To prove the charges against Lawson, the Government introduced evidence showing that Lawson was a large-scale drug dealer. Former OMC members testified that Lawson had supplied them with large quantities of drugs. Richard Gilligan testified that while he was an OMC member, he purchased as much as 10 pounds of marijuana from Lawson at one time and then resold the marijuana to other individuals in smaller quantities. Further, Gary Watkins testified that while he was an OMC member, Lawson supplied him with 20,000 valium pills so that he could make money from reselling those drugs to others. A witness named James Dilts also testified that Lawson claimed to have had three people selling valium for him and claimed to be making $1,200 per week from their efforts.

The Government also introduced extensive evidence pertaining to the murder of Eric Coulter in order to establish the murder as one of Lawson's RICO predicate acts. Coulter was murdered during a brawl in 2001 at a Dayton, Ohio, strip club named Spanky's Dollhouse. Through eyewitness testimony and videotape from security cameras, the Government sought to prove that Lawson was guilty of murder under Ohio law. The evidence showed that in February of 2001 a fight broke out at Spanky's Dollhouse between OMC members and other patrons. Lawson's role in the fight is disputed. The Government contends that Lawson assaulted Eric Coulter with wooden clubs and a beer bottle. Lawson says that he merely threw things at Coulter and swung a beer bottle at him. What is undisputed is that OMC member Glen Carlisle approached Coulter during the fracas and shot him in the buttocks. Shortly thereafter, a member of a different motorcycle gang delivered a fatal gunshot wound to Coulter's chest. Lawson admits that he was present during the incident and assaulted Coulter, but he denies that he had anything to do with the murder.

The jury found Lawson guilty of all four offenses with which he was charged. In a special verdict, the jury also concluded that Lawson had committed each of the four RICO predicate acts alleged in the indictment. Following this verdict, the district court sentenced Lawson to 235 months in prison.

On appeal, Lawson argues that his convictions and sentence should be reversed for the following reasons: (1) because his right to an impartial jury was violated by the district court's empaneling of an anonymous jury, as well as the district court's reading of the indictment to the prospective jurors and the pre-trial publicity furthered by the Government; (2) because the district court committed reversible error by admitting evidence that his nickname is "Psycho" and by admitting evidence of the Coulter murder; (3) because his convictions were not supported by sufficient evidence: and (4) because the district court erroneously sentenced him under a mandatory Guidelines regime.¹ None of these claims has merit.

I.

The decision to empanel an anonymous jury "is within the sound discretion of the trial court." United States v. Talley, 164 F.3d 989, 1001 (6th Cir. 1999) (citing United States v. Eufrasio, 935 F.2d 553, 573 (3d Cir.1991)). In this case, the district court did not abuse its discretion. We have referred in the past to the Second Circuit's preference that "a district court should not order the empaneling of an anonymous jury without `(a) concluding that there is strong reason to believe the jury needs protection, and (b) taking reasonable precautions to minimize any prejudicial effects on the defendant and to ensure that his fundamental rights are protected.'" Id. (quoting United States v. Paccione, 949 F.2d 1183, 1192 (2d Cir.1991)). The anonymity of a jury should be preserved in situations including, but not necessarily limited to, the following: (1) when the case involves very dangerous defendants who were participants in large-scale organized crime, and who participated in mob-style killings and had previously attempted to interfere with the judicial process; (2) when the defendants had a history of attempted jury tampering and serious criminal records; or (3) when there have been allegations of dangerous and unscrupulous conduct by the defendant, coupled with extensive pretrial publicity. See id. (citing Paccione, 949 F.2d at 1192). The district court found all three of these situations to be present in this case, and the defendants have not shown that factual finding to be clearly erroneous.

At least the first and third of the three situations described in Talley are present in this case. The evidence portrays the defendants as very dangerous individuals who, through their membership in the OMC, were part of a large-scale criminal enterprise. Further, the evidence shows that some of them had participated in mob-style killings — for instance, co-defendant Jason Fowler's participation in the murder of a man who owed a drug debt to an OMC member. See United States v. Fowler, ___ F.3d ___ (6th Cir.2008). OMC members had also attempted to interfere with criminal investigations by taking measures to identify government informants. Moreover, there had been allegations of dangerous and unscrupulous conduct by the defendants coupled with pretrial publicity. Though publicity may not have been particularly extensive, the media had reported on the case in two prominent newspaper articles, one of which described the trial as "one of the largest federal racketeering cases ever." More importantly, not only had the defendants dealt drugs and committed violent crimes, but a lawyer for the Government also stated on the record that the FBI had corroborated allegations from a confidential informant that the defendants "were contracting to arrange the murders of witnesses, court officers, and prosecutors [in this case]." Based on all of this, the district court was well within its discretion to empanel an anonymous jury.

Having appropriately determined the need for an anonymous jury, the district court took proper precautions to minimize any prejudicial effects and to ensure that the defendants' fundamental rights were not affected. The district court protected the defendants' ability to challenge potential jurors by providing that, even though the jurors' names would remain confidential, the defendants would be informed of each prospective juror's community of residence, education, and type of work experience. The district court allowed for a three-day voir dire process, which helped to ensure that the defendants received an unbiased and impartial jury by giving the defendants an opportunity to detect and root out prejudice from the jury pool. Finally, the district court avoided implying that anonymity was required because the defendants were dangerous. The court provided the jurors with a neutral, non-prejudicial reason for requiring their anonymity by telling them that anonymity was required by the unusually large number of prospective jurors and defendants and by asserting that anonymity would help ensure a fair trial. The district court's explanation would have been better if it had premised anonymity on the need to prevent the jurors from being harassed by the media, as the district court did in Talley, 164 F.3d at 1002 n. 7, but the explanation offered in this case was sufficient to prevent the jurors from "inferring that anonymity was necessary due to the character of the defendant." Id. at 1002.

Contrary to Lawson's argument, there is no constitutional right to a public jury. The Sixth Amendment provides defendants with a right to a public trial by an impartial jury, but it does not guarantee a right to a public jury. See U.S. Const. amend. VI. Thus, the text of the Constitution does not warrant holding that defendants have a right to be informed of jurors' identities. The absence of any right to juror identification is...