U.S. v. Lentz

• Decision Date: 19 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. 1:01 CR 150.,1:01 CR 150.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Jay E. LENTZ, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

352 F.Supp.2d 718

UNITED STATES of America v. Jay E. LENTZ, Defendant.

No. 1:01 CR 150.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Alexandria Division.

January 19, 2005.

Frank Salvato, Alexandria, VA, Amy Leigh Austin, Office of the Public Defender Richmond, VA, Michael William Lieberman, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Alexandria, VA, for Defendant.

Steven D. Mellin, United States Attorney's Office, Alexandria, VA, for Plaintiff.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLIS, District Judge.

This kidnapping for murder prosecution resulted initially in a jury verdict of guilty and the imposition of a life sentence. It is now here on remand for a new trial following the Court of Appeals' reversal of the district court's entry of judgment of acquittal and affirmance of the district court's grant of a new trial. At the threshold on remand are defendant's motions for a transfer of venue and a stay pending appeal to the United States Supreme Court, which motions raise the following issues:

(i) whether pre-trial publicity in this case is so inherently prejudicial as to warrant an intra-district venue transfer from Alexandria to Richmond, Virginia; and

(ii) whether the trial in this case should be stayed pending resolution of defendant's petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court seeking review of the Fourth Circuit's decision to vacate the district court's judgment of acquittal.

I.

The facts in this case are more fully set forth in the Fourth Circuit's opinion reversing the judgment of acquittal, but upholding the grant of a new trial. See United States v. Lentz, 383 F.3d 191, 195 (4th Cir.2004) (Lentz I). For purposes of the issues at bar, it is sufficient to recount the following facts.

This case arises from an alleged kidnapping by defendant Jay E. Lentz ("Lentz") resulting in the death of his ex-wife, Doris Lentz ("Doris"), in violation of the Federal Kidnapping Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1). Doris Lentz disappeared on April 23, 1996. In her last reported conversation that evening, Doris told a friend she planned to drive from her home in Northern Virginia to Lentz's home in Maryland to pick up her daughter, Julia, after a week of visitation with her father. Following that conversation, no one ever heard from Doris again and her body was never found. On April 28, 1996, authorities found Doris's abandoned car in a District of Columbia parking lot, eight miles from Lentz's home, spattered with Doris's blood, and with Doris's keys and purse in plain view. The government contends that Lentz, involved in a bitter family court litigation with his ex-wife, inveigled Doris across state lines, held her, and killed her. Because a body was never found, the state investigation into the disappearance languished, but the federal investigation continued, ultimately resulting in Lentz's kidnapping indictment over five years later on April 24, 2001.

Two additional years passed before Lentz was finally brought to trial in June 2003. Following a twenty-one day trial, a unanimous jury first found Lentz guilty of kidnapping resulting in death, in violation of the Federal Kidnapping Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a), and then returned a verdict of life imprisonment. Lentz moved for a judgment of acquittal pursuant to Rule 29, Fed.R.Crim.P., which the district court granted on the ground that the government had not adduced evidence of "holding" sufficient to support a kidnapping conviction.¹ See United States v. Lentz, 275 F.Supp.2d 723 (E.D.Va.2003), rev'd in part, 383 F.3d 191 (4th Cir.2004). Also, shortly after the verdict, three jurors contacted defense counsel to notify them that certain day planners belonging to Doris that were never admitted into evidence² had found their way into the jury room and had played a prominent role in the jury's deliberations. The planners contained material not admitted at trial, including (i) Doris's notes regarding Lentz's harassing and threatening behavior directed at her and Julia's day care center, (ii) a list of names and telephone numbers of police officers and a domestic violence support group, (iii) Doris's notes documenting statements Lentz made to Julia about Doris, and (iv) Doris's notes pertaining to her efforts to obtain a protective order against Lentz.

Following the revelation that the planners had somehow reached the jury, Lentz moved to vacate the jury's verdict. The district court concluded that the submission of the evidence "violated [Lentz's] Sixth Amendment right to confrontation and prevented him from receiving a fair trial" and rejected the argument that the admission was harmless because it "completely destroyed the defendant's credibility and therefore, his case." United States v. Lentz, Case No. 1:01cr150 (E.D.Va. Jan. 29, 2004) (Memorandum Opinion). Thus, the district court granted Lentz a new trial pursuant to Rule 33, Fed.R.Crim.P. Thereafter, the government appealed the district court's Rule 29 judgment of acquittal and its Rule 33 grant of a new trial. On appeal, the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court's judgment of acquittal, but upheld the district court's grant of a new trial and remanded the case for further proceedings.

Following receipt of the Fourth Circuit's mandate, a status conference was held on November 17, 2004 and a trial date was set for January 31, 2005.³ At issue here are two threshold motions filed by Lentz. Specifically, Lentz has filed a(i) motion for a change of venue to the Richmond Division of this district, and (ii) a motion to stay the trial pending filing⁴ and resolution of Lentz's certiorari petition to the United States Supreme Court. Each motion is separately addressed.

II.

A. Change of Venue

Lentz requests an intradistrict transfer to the Richmond Division pursuant to Rule 18, Fed.R.Crim.P.,⁵ on the ground that prejudicial pre-trial publicity makes it impossible for him to have a fair trial in this division.⁶ Not surprisingly, given the unusual nature of the facts, the first trial in this case generated considerable media coverage, extending notably to both the Alexandria and Richmond areas.⁷ Yet, the mere fact that a case has drawn media attention does not, by itself, warrant a change in venue. Rather, it is well-settled that "transfers of venue based on pre-trial publicity are not often granted, as `the effects of pre-trial publicity on the pool from which jurors are drawn is [generally] determined by a careful and searching voir dire examination.'" United States v. Lindh, 212 F.Supp.2d 541, 548 (E.D.Va.2002) (citing United States v. McVeigh, 918 F.Supp. 1467, 1470 (W.D.Okla.1996)). In this regard, a motion for a change of venue due to prejudicial pre-trial publicity calls for a two-step analysis. First, a motion for a change of venue should not be granted before jury selection unless a trial court determines that "the publicity is so inherently prejudicial that trial proceedings must be presumed to be tainted." United States v. Bakker, 925 F.2d 728, 732 (4th Cir.1991). This is a stringent standard and thus, "only in extreme circumstances may prejudice be presumed from the existence of pre-trial publicity itself." Id. (quoting Wells v. Murray, 831 F.2d 468, 472 (4th Cir.1987)). Instead, "a trial court should customarily take the second step of conducting a voir dire of prospective jurors to determine if actual prejudice exists." Id. (citing Wansley v. Slayton, 487 F.2d 90, 92-93 (4th Cir.1973)). And, significantly, when conducting the voir dire it is not necessary that prospective jurors be entirely ignorant of the facts of a case; rather "[i]t is sufficient if the juror can lay aside his impression or opinion and render a verdict based on the evidence presented in court." Lindh, 212 F.Supp.2d at 548 (citing United States v. Bakker, 925 F.2d 728, 734 (4th Cir.1991) and Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 722-23, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961)).

These principles, applied here, compel the conclusion that transfer to the Richmond Division is unwarranted. While some or many prospective jurors may have read or listened to media references to this case, a review of the pre-trial publicity in this matter does not establish that this publicity "is so inherently prejudicial that trial proceedings must be presumed to be tainted."⁸ Bakker, 925 F.2d at 732. Despite some references to prejudicial or inadmissible evidence, the majority of the news coverage consisted of straightforward factual reports of the legal proceedings, rather than inflammatory coverage, and is "hence less likely to poison the jury pool." Lindh, 212 F.Supp.2d at 549 (citing Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 801 n. 4, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 44 L.Ed.2d 589 (1975)); see also Bakker, 925 F.2d at 732 (denying transfer motion where "vast majority" of evidence reflected "unemotional, factual reports of legal proceedings"). In these circumstances, transfer is unwarranted; instead, a searching voir dire is the appropriate means to ensure the defendant's constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury untainted by pre-trial publicity. Thus, all prospective jurors will be questioned about what they have seen, read, or heard about the case. And, as constitutionally required, no juror will be qualified to serve unless it appears that the juror "(i) is able to put aside any previously formed opinions or impressions, (ii) is prepared to pay careful and close attention to the evidence as it is presented in the case and finally (iii) is able to render a fair and impartial verdict based solely on the evidence adduced at trial and the Court's instructions of law." Lindh, 212 F.Supp.2d at 549.

Lentz challenges the conclusion that pre-trial publicity has not been "inherently prejudicial," by focusing sharply on the nature of the publicity, noting specifically the inadmissible and prejudicial evidence published in the Alexandria-area media. In support of his argument, Lentz cites United States v. Jones, 542 F.2d 186 (4th Cir.1976), for the proposition that "[w]ith hardly an...