U.S. v. Leon D.M., 97-2000

Citation132 F.3d 583
Decision Date22 December 1997
Docket NumberNo. 97-2000,97-2000
Parties98 CJ C.A.R. 433 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LEON, D.M., Defendant-Appellee.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)

Louis E. Valencia, Assistant United States Attorney (John J. Kelly, United States Attorney, with him on the brief), Albuquerque, NM, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Jerry A. Walz, Walz and Associates, Albuquerque, NM, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before TACHA, HENRY and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

HENRY, Circuit Judge.

The United States brings this interlocutory appeal challenging the denial of its motion to transfer the defendant-appellee Leon D.M. to adult status. Applying the collateral order doctrine established in Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949), we first conclude that we have jurisdiction to consider this appeal. On the merits, we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the government's motion to transfer and therefore affirm its decision.

I. BACKGROUND

In May 1996, the United States Attorney for the district of New Mexico filed an information alleging that, on November 16, 1995 Leon D.M. killed Johnny D.C., Jr., a two-year, eleven-month-old boy, within the boundaries of the San Juan Indian Reservation. At the time of the alleged offense, Leon was seventeen years, nine months old. After filing the information, the government moved to proceed against Leon as an adult pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 5032.

The evidence introduced at the hearing on the government's motion indicated that Leon was a poor student who dropped out of high school at fifteen. In the summer of 1993, he met Charmain Chavez, a twenty-five-year-old woman with three children from a previous marriage: an eight-year-old boy, a five-year-old girl, and Johnny D.C., Jr., who was born on December 29, 1992. Shortly after he met her, Leon moved in with Ms. Chavez and her children. In September 1995, when Leon was seventeen, he and Ms. Chavez had a son.

Ms. Chavez and Leon first lived with his mother in Chimayo, New Mexico. They later moved to his grandparents house in Truchas, New Mexico and then to Ms. Chavez's house on the San Juan Pueblo Reservation. When they lived in Chimayo, Leon worked at a nursing home as a cook. After the move to the reservation, he stayed home to care for the children while Ms. Chavez worked at the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council. Ms. Chavez, Leon's mother, and a high school friend all testified at the evidentiary hearing that Leon was never violent or abusive with Ms. Chavez's three children or with his infant son. According to his mother, Leon took good care of Johnny, getting up in the middle of the night to feed and change him. All of these witnesses characterized Leon as of average intelligence and noted that he enjoyed working on cars. Ms. Chavez said that he was mature.

On November 16, 1995, Leon called Ms. Chavez at work and told her that she should come home because Johnny had fallen off his tricycle and needed to be taken to the hospital. When she arrived at home, she found Johnny in the bedroom. His clothes were wet and he was unresponsive. Ms. Chavez noticed a large bump on his head. Leon told Ms. Chavez that after Johnny had fallen down, he had tried to administer cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and, when that did not work, had placed Johnny in the shower in order to revive him. Ms. Chavez and Leon took Johnny to the hospital, where he died.

At the evidentiary hearing, the government presented testimony from Dr. Eugene Zumwalt, a forensic pathologist who served as the Chief Medical Investigator for the State of New Mexico and who supervised Johnny's autopsy. Dr. Zumwalt testified that the autopsy revealed multiple external bruises on the child's head, neck, back, chest, abdomen, buttocks, right knee, shins, and feet. Further examination revealed extensive internal bleeding in the brain, a complex skull fracture, a hemorrhage in the left eye, bruises around the optic nerves, a laceration of the frenulum, a broken vertebrae, and a tear in the mesentery (the tissue that attaches the bowel to the back of the abdomen). According to Dr. Zumwalt, Johnny's injuries were inconsistent with Leon's account of a single fall from a tricycle. He concluded that Johnny died from multiple blunt force injuries that were probably inflicted at the same time.

On cross-examination, Dr. Zumwalt acknowledged that the injuries were consistent with "single episode fatal abuse," which means that "a child who is fatally abused .... [m]ay have multiple injuries, but all the injuries are consistent with having occurred at or about the same time with one episode of injury." Rec. vol. II, at 111 (Tr. of Evidentiary Hr'g dated Oct. 9, 1996). He added this kind of abuse could be committed by individuals lacking sufficient parenting skills who are overwhelmed by their family responsibilities. Id. at 111-12.

The government also introduced evidence regarding prior acts of abuse. An FBI agent testified that Ms. Chavez's daughter had told him that Leon would occasionally force-feed Johnny. Additionally, two neighbors informed law enforcement agents that that they had observed Leon violently shaking the boy. These witnesses stated that they had told Leon to stop and that he had complied.

Johnny's father then testified that he suspected Leon of abusing his son, stating that on several occasions he had noticed bruises on his son's chin. When Johnny, Jr. was hospitalized for a viral infection in February 1995, he said, he reported these observations to medical personnel, but they told him that the bruises were caused by the infection. From February 1995 until his son's death in November, Johnny's father added, he had discovered no additional bruises. He also testified that Leon appeared to him to be a violent person, threatening him and his family several times and once actually throwing a punch at him.

Finally, the government offered evidence regarding the lack of treatment programs for individuals like Leon. Dr. David Miller, a forensic psychologist and Acting Deputy Superintendent of the New Mexico Boys School, testified there were no programs or juvenile facilities available within the State of New Mexico for violent offenders of Leon's age. Dr. Miller listed three reasons for the lack of such programs: the violent nature of the crime, Leon's age, and overcrowding at the New Mexico facilities.

After hearing all the evidence, the district court took the case under advisement. The court requested both the government and counsel for Leon to present additional information regarding out-of-state facilities that accepted violent juvenile offenders and that had educational and treatment programs. Both parties complied, and their submissions revealed several out-of-state facilities accepting individuals over eighteen who had committed violent crimes before their eighteenth birthday and providing education and treatment programs for them. See Rec. vol. I, docs. 44, 45. After the hearing, Leon's counsel also submitted the results of a Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, administered to him in October 1996, that estimated Leon's mental age at 14.4 years. See id. doc. 47.

In November 1996, after the hearing and after reviewing the information regarding out-of-state programs, the district court entered an order denying the government's motion to transfer Leon to adult status. See id. doc. 48. The court considered the six factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 5032 as relevant to the decision regarding transfer: (1) Leon's age and social background; (2) the nature of the alleged offense; (3) his prior delinquency record; (4) his present intellectual development and psychological maturity; (5) the nature of past treatment efforts and his response to those efforts; and (6) the availability of programs designed to treat his behavioral problems.

The court found two factors favoring a transfer to adult status. First, the court noted that Leon was almost eighteen at the time of the alleged offense, and this fact favored treating him as an adult. Second, the court concluded that the heinous nature of the alleged offense also favored transfer. See id. at 3-4.

However, the court also identified several factors supporting Leon's contention that he should be treated as a juvenile. First, Leon's social background indicated that he was an immature teenager whose relationship with Ms. Chavez and her children had thrust him into an adult role that he did not understand and for which he was inadequately prepared. Second, even with regard to the nature of the offense, there were some characteristics that supported juvenile adjudication. The court cited Dr. Zumwalt's testimony that "under the pressure of caring for four younger children, an immature teenager could easily lose his temper and react with violence." Id. at 4.

The court also discussed Leon's prior delinquency record. It observed that he had been convicted in the San Juan Tribal Court of several offenses (malicious mischief, disorderly conduct, and a minor drug violation) and had been ordered to pay a $100.00 fine for each charge. He was also cited for contempt when he failed to pay these fines. There was also testimony from several witnesses at the evidentiary hearing that Leon used marijuana. However, the court characterized Leon's record as "relatively insignificant." Id. at 5. As to Leon's intellectual development and psychological maturity, the court concluded that he was a slow learner with limited intellectual ability and that this factor also weighed against transfer to adult status.

Finally, the court considered the prospects of effectively treating Leon. It noted that he had received no prior treatment whatsoever and concluded that this factor favored retention of juvenile status. The court then cited the supplemental evidence provided by both parties indicating that several out-of-state facilities could provide education and...

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