U.S. v. Slocum

• Decision Date: 30 April 2007
• Docket Number: No. CR 02-938 DOC.,CR 02-938 DOC.
• Citation: 486 F.Supp.2d 1104
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of California
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. 6) Ronald Boyd SLOCUM, aka "Slo," aka "McKool;" 13) Wayne Bridgewater; 31) Henry Michael Houston, aka "Tweek," Defendants.

486 F.Supp.2d 1104

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. 6) Ronald Boyd SLOCUM, aka "Slo," aka "McKool;" 13) Wayne Bridgewater; 31) Henry Michael Houston, aka "Tweek," Defendants.

No. CR 02-938 DOC.

United States District Court, C.D. California.

April 30, 2007.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Michael R. Belter, Michael R. Belter Law Offices, Pasadena, CA, for Defendants.

Elizabeth R. Yang, Stephen G. Wolfe, Joey L. Blanch, Mark Childs, AUSA — office of U.S. Attorney, Los Angeles, CA, Joseph N. Akrotirianakis, AUSA — US Attorney Office, Riverside, CA, Brett A. Sagel, Terri K. Flynn, AUSA — Office of U.S. Attorney, Santa Ana, CA, for Plaintiff.

ORDER RE: REQUESTS FOR JURY INSTRUCTIONS ON VARIOUS DEFENSES

CARTER, District Judge.

I. Introduction

Before the Court are the following matters relating to proposed jury instructions on various defenses asserted by Defendants Houston and Bridgewater: (1) Government's Motion in Limine to Preclude Duress Defense and Request for Jury Instruction ("Duress Motion"); (2) Defendant Bridgewater's Proposed Self-Defense Instruction ("Self-Defense Request"); and (3) Defendant Houston's Motion in Limine Requesting the Jury be Instructed on Self-Defense and Defense of Others ("Self-Defense Motion"). The Duress Motion, filed on April 1, 2007, seeks an order precluding Defendants from arguing a duress defense in this case and requests a jury instruction prohibiting a duress defense. The Self-Defense Request, filed on April 2, 2007, asks that the Court allow jury instructions on self-defense and defense of others as to racketeering acts thirty-eight and thirty-nine of count one, as well as to counts six and seven. The Self-Defense Motion filed on April 3, 2007, asks for jury instructions on self-defense, defense of others, and imperfect self defense. As the motions raise substantially the same issues, the Court rules on them together. After considering all of the papers filed in support of and in opposition to these motions, as well as the oral arguments of the parties, the Court rules as follows.

II. Facts and Charges

The First Superceding Indictment ("FSI") alleges that Defendants Houston and Bridgewater were members of the Aryan Brotherhood ("A.B.") prison gang and that they participated in an attack on black inmates at the United States Penitentiary ("USP") at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on August 28, 1997. FSI at ¶ 282-86. The evidence established Bridgewater as a longtime and influential member of the A.B. There was also evidence that Houston was associated with the A.B. for years prior to the attacks and was made an A.B. member mere hours before, and in contemplation of, the attacks.

The evidence presented at trial revealed the following details of the attacks and the events preceding them. High-ranking A.B. members Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham sent a message, written in invisible ink, to A.B. member Allen Benton at USP Lewisburg, ordering him to attack inmates there as part of a nationwide war between the A.B. and a rival gang, the "D.C. Blacks." Benton received the message on August 28, 1997, and recruited Defendants Houston and Bridgewater to participate in the attacks. Hours passed during which time Bridgewater recruited two additional inmates, and also retrieved prison-made knives to use in the attacks. Meanwhile, Houston snuck from cell block B to cell block A, where the stabbings would later take place. That evening, Defendants and the others participated in a knife attack on five black inmates and one white inmate, leaving two dead and the others severely wounded. Defendant Houston, along with Benton, personally stabbed and killed Abdul Salaam. Salaam suffered thirty-four stab wounds, sixteen of which were fatal. Defendant Bridgewater personally stabbed and killed Frank Joyner. Joyner was stabbed thirty-five times, with six fatal wounds. The evidence shows that the victims were unarmed and in non-aggressive postures at the time of the attacks. Salaam was lying on a bunk and Joyner was playing monopoly with two of the other victims. There is no evidence that the victims ever assaulted or threatened Defendants. Immediately after the stabbings, Defendants discarded their weapons.

Count one charges Defendants with racketeering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) and includes racketeering act thirty-eight for the murder of Joyner and racketeering act thirty-nine for the murder of Salaam. Counts six and seven charge Defendants with violent crime in aid of racketeering ("VICAR"), in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959, for the killings of Joyner and Salaam. The Government seeks the death penalty against Defendants on counts six and seven.

III. Legal Standard

"As a general proposition a defendant is entitled to an instruction as to any recognized defense for which there exists evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to find in his favor." Mathews v. United States, 485 U.S. 58, 63, 108 S.Ct. 883, 99 L.Ed.2d 54 (1988) (citing Stevenson v. United States, 162 U.S. 313, 16 S.Ct. 839, 40 L.Ed. 980 (1896)). A jury instruction should be given if "there, is any foundation in the evidence [to support the instruction], even though the evidence may be weak, insufficient, inconsistent or of doubtful credibility." United States v. Sanchez-Lima, 161 F.3d 545, 549 (9th Cir.1998).

The "merest scintilla of evidence" is insufficient to support giving an instruction. United States v. Wagner, 834 F.2d 1474, 1486 (9th Cir.1987). Instead, an instruction "must be given if there is evidence upon which the jury could rationally sustain the defense. This standard protects the right of the defendant to have the jury weigh the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses when the evidence raises a factual dispute and, at the same time, protects against improper verdicts." Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). In Pennsylvania, "[b]efore the issue of self-defense may be submitted to a jury for consideration, a valid claim of selfdefense must be made out as a matter of law, and this determination must be made by the trial judge." Commonwealth v. Mayfield, 401 Pa.Super. 560, 564, 585 A.2d 1069 (1991). "Such claim may consist of evidence from whatever source. `Such evidence may be adduced by the defendant as part of his case, or conceivably, may be found in the Commonwealth's own case in chief or be elicited through cross-examination.'" Id. (quoting Commonwealth v. Rose, 457 Pa. 380, 389, 321 A.2d 880 (1974)).

IV. Self-Defense

A. Count One

1. Applicable Law

Racketeering acts thirty-eight and thirty-nine charge Defendants with violations of the Pennsylvania murder statute, 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 2502. The RICO statute defines "racketeering activity" to include "any act or threat involving murder ... which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year...." 18 U.S.C. § 1961. Although a murder is technically "chargeable under State law" if an affirmative defense exists, such a murder would not be "punishable" at all. The Court must therefore look to Pennsylvania law in assessing those defenses raised against racketeering acts thirty-eight and thirty-nine. See United States v. Muskovsky, 863 F.2d 1319, 1330-31 (7th Cir.1988) ("state substantive defenses are incorporated into federal law for purposes of RICO") (emphasis in original); see also United States v. Carrillo, 229 F.3d 177, 183-86 (2d Cir.2000) (discussing hypothetical case where defendant charged with RICO based on state law racketeering act of murder asserts self-defense).

2. Legal Standard

To establish a prima facie case of self-defense in Pennsylvania, a defendant must point to evidence supporting three elements:

a) the slayer was free from fault in provoking or continuing the difficulty which resulted in the slaying; b) that the slayer must have reasonably believed that he was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, and that there was a necessity to use such force in order to save himself therefrom; and c) the slayer did not violate any duty to retreat or to avoid the danger.

Commonwealth v. Black, 474 Pa. 47, 53, 376 A.2d 627 (1977) (construing 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 505(b)).

3. Analysis

Defendants contend that a state of war existed between the A.B. and the D.C. Blacks at the time of the Lewisburg killings. Based on this contention, Defendants assert that they killed Joyner and Salaam in self-defense because they reasonably believed the D.C. Blacks would kill them had they not struck first.¹

a. Defendants were the Aggressors

To make out a case of self-defense, a defendant must show that he "was free from fault in provoking or continuing the difficulty which resulted in the slaying." Id. As stated in § 505(b)(2), "[t]he use of deadly force is not justifiable ... if ... the actor, with the intent of causing death or serious bodily injury, provoked the use of force against himself in the same encounter." 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 505(b)(2). "Thus, in order to find that the defendant had forfeited his right to self-defense pursuant to the doctrine of provocation, the facts must support the statutory requirement that the defendant, with the intent of causing death or serious bodily injury, provoked the use of force." Commonwealth v. Samuel, 527 Pa. 298, 304, 590 A.2d 1245 (Pa.1991). This provocation element involves a determination of "who was the initial aggressor." Commonwealth v. Brown, 491 Pa. 507, 513, 421 A.2d 660 (1980).

Here, the undisputed evidence establishes Defendants as the aggressors. As noted, Defendants approached the victims armed with prison-made knives while all of the victims were unarmed and in non-aggressive postures at the time of the attacks. Salaam was lying on a bunk and Joyner was playing monopoly with two of the other victims. There is no evidence or allegation that either Salaam or Joyner assaulted or threatened Defendants prior to the killings. The requirement that the actor did not "provoke[ ] the use of force against himself' implies that self-defense...