U.S. v. Robinzine, 94-3758

• Decision Date: 04 April 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-3758,94-3758
• Parties: 44 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 262 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Carey ROBINZINE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 246

80 F.3d 246

44 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 262

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Carey ROBINZINE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 94-3758.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Oct. 27, 1995.

Decided April 4, 1996.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 93 CR 486--James B. Moran, Judge.

Christopher Cook (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Criminal Division, Barry Rand Elden, Chief of Appeals, Office of the United States Attorney, Criminal Appellate

Division, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Ronald J. Clark (argued), Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.

Before FLAUM, ROVNER, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

Carey Robinzine was convicted by a jury of knowingly transporting a person under the age of eighteen across state lines for the purpose of having that minor engage in prostitution, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423. ¹ Robinzine appeals his conviction based on certain evidentiary claims and the enhancement of his sentence for obstruction of justice. We affirm both the conviction and the sentence.

I.

In February of 1993, M.K. met Carey Robinzine at a party at Robinzine's home in Roseville, Minnesota. M.K. was 16 years old at the time, and she told Robinzine this. Robinzine told M.K. he was 23 years old, though he was actually 39. The two began dating and saw each other regularly until July of that year. M.K. considered Robinzine to be her boyfriend. She testified that during this period they had consensual sex three times, the second of which Robinzine videotaped. On one occasion Robinzine gave M.K. marijuana laced with cocaine, which they smoked together.

During June of that year, Robinzine offered to take M.K. on a trip to the Wisconsin Dells over the Fourth of July weekend. M.K. showed up at Robinzine's home on Friday, July 2, 1993 with her bag packed for a weekend at the Dells. She wore casual clothes and tennis shoes and brought shorts, t-shirts, and a swimming suit for the trip. They planned to stay at Robinzine's home that night and leave the next morning. The next morning, however, Robinzine told M.K. that she was not going to wear the "tomboy clothes" she had packed. He dumped the bag she had brought, packed a different bag of clothes for her, and told her to put on a red mini-skirt, a short top, and black pumps instead, which she did. Robinzine then put the bag he had packed for M.K. in his car--leaving her other clothes and bringing nothing for himself--and they left. They made one stop for an oil change and then another stop to pick up some Wisconsin Dells brochures.

M.K. fell asleep for a few hours while Robinzine drove. When she woke up she was surprised to see signs and toll booths indicating that they were headed to Chicago. When M.K. asked why they were driving toward Chicago, Robinzine told her, for the first time, that they were going to visit his cousin in Chicago and would go to Wisconsin Dells the next day. When they arrived in Chicago, Robinzine stopped at a gas station to call his cousin. They waited at the station until Robinzine's cousin arrived in a white Blazer, along with a woman and three children. Robinzine and M.K. then set off, following the Blazer, in search of a hotel. They eventually ended up at the Blackstone in downtown Chicago. They checked into Room 1103 as "Mr. and Mrs. Carey Robinzine."

Later that evening, while Robinzine was making a phone call, M.K. went down to the lobby to get dinner for the two of them. Phone records for their room reveal that a call was made to a local number at 8:36 p.m. When M.K. brought the food back up to the room, they ate, and then she fell asleep. Another call was made to the same local number at 11:12 p.m. Sometime after midnight, M.K. awoke to the sound of Robinzine on the telephone. When he hung up, Robinzine instructed her to call a particular telephone number--the same local number called twice earlier--and ask for "Christy." Phone records show this call was made at 1:18 a.m., the morning of July 4. When M.K. did so, she spoke to "Christy," who told her to write down the following information: "Damon Buford, Westin, 943-7200, California, 1031, $200." M.K. wrote the information down on a scrap of paper and hung up the phone. She realized that the call was about "sex for money," and she immediately told Robinzine that she wasn't going to do it. Robinzine told her that she was going to do it and started screaming and swearing at her. He called her a "bitch" and a "skankhole" and told her she was "born to be a prostitute."

M.K. started crying and told him repeatedly that she was not going to do it. Robinzine then got out the clothes he had packed for her--a revealing black dress and highheeled pumps--and demanded that she put them on. After she put on the dress, Robinzine ordered her to go downstairs and call a taxi. When M.K. refused, he slapped her four times across the face. She cried harder and pleaded with him, asking why he was doing this to her. He responded by cursing at her and ordering her to take off the dress she had put on, saying that she was not going to ruin his stuff. He told her that she couldn't wear anything of his and then forced her to sit naked by the air conditioner, which he turned to cold. Hours passed while M.K. sat naked and crying, too cold to sleep.

When she crawled to the bottom of the bed for warmth, Robinzine got up and slapped her across the face with the back of his hand. He again called her names, ordered her to get on the bed, and then grabbed her by the hair and forced her to perform oral sex. M.K. was so repulsed by the act that she ran to the bathroom and threw up repeatedly. M.K. then returned to the bed and waited until she thought Robinzine was asleep. At about 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. the morning of July 4, M.K. got out of bed and put on her leather jacket and tennis shoes--the only clothes that she had along belonging to her. Robinzine woke up and told her that he wasn't giving her a ride home and that if he did give her a ride, he would kill her and throw her body in a ditch. Not wanting to go into the lobby only partially dressed, M.K. pretended to leave and, at the last minute, grabbed the red outfit from the previous day, ran down the hall, got dressed in a stairwell, and then ran down five flights of stairs to the sixth floor, all the while afraid Robinzine was going to come after her. M.K. then took the elevator to the first floor and called 911 for the police.

Just after the police arrived and M.K. had begun telling them her story, Robinzine stepped out of the elevator. The officers arrested him, and as he was being led out of the hotel, Robinzine looked at M.K. and mouthed the words "I'm going to get you, bitch." Detective Adeline Raducha, a Chicago police officer who interviewed Robinzine on the day of the arrest, stated that Robinzine initially claimed that he thought M.K. was 18 years old, but admitted that he had "knocked her around a few times." Later that day Robinzine admitted to Raducha and a state's attorney that M.K. had told him she was 16 and that he had called his cousin's friend to arrange a "date" for M.K. while they were in Chicago. Raducha also testified that when she observed M.K. that day, M.K. had bruises on her arms.

The evidence presented at trial revealed that the phone number called three times the evening of July 3-4 was assigned to Christy Atkins, doing business as American Playhouse. The American Playhouse advertised in the yellow pages as an "escort service." Vakellye Lynn McCoy, who had been working for American Playhouse during July of 1993, testified that American Playhouse was actually engaged in the business of prostitution and that she had worked there as a prostitute. McCoy explained that the business was run by Christy Atkins and her husband Curtis Atkins, who was a cousin of Carey Robinzine. McCoy explained how the business was run, how calls from potential clients were handled, and how a price would be set for a "date" without ever actually mentioning the word "sex" on the phone. McCoy testified that four women, including herself and Christy Atkins, were working as prostitutes for the American Playhouse during the summer of 1993. It also came out at trial that on June 25, 1993, approximately a week before Robinzine and M.K.'s trip to Chicago, a 30 minute call was made from the home of Carey Robinzine to the American Playhouse.

Damon Buford, a professional baseball player, testified that he was in Chicago the night of July 3, 1993, staying at the Westin Hotel in Room 1031. Sometime after midnight (the morning of July 4), he picked up the Yellow Pages and called four or five of the numbers from the escort section. Phone records reveal that one of these calls was to the American Playhouse and was placed at 12:44 a.m. Only two of the "services" called Buford back. When the first one called, Buford found the prices ($300-$500) too steep and refused. Then the second one called, and after Buford rejected the $300 and $400 prices, they struck a deal at $200. The service told Buford they would "send someone over," but no one ever came.

Vakellye McCoy also testified to an incident that occurred in early August 1993, after Robinzine had already been arrested in regard to the July 3-4 incidents in Chicago. McCoy returned from a prostitution "date" to the hotel room from which the American Playhouse was then conducting its business. Robinzine was in the room with Christy and Curtis Atkins. Curtis directed McCoy to give the Playhouse's share--one-half of the $150 she had just made--to Robinzine. So McCoy gave Robinzine $75. McCoy also testified to a conversation at this time in which Curtis asked if she would be interested in a Yellow Pages ad for $800, with the condition that Robinzine would be her pimp. McCoy refused the offer. Finally, McCoy testified that when FBI agents contacted her in mid-August, she initially...