U.S. v. Thompson

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
• Writing for the Court: Ripple
• Citation: U.S. v. Thompson, 359 F.3d 470 (7th Cir. 2004)
• Decision Date: 23 February 2004
• Docket Number: No. 02-3965.,02-3965.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael E. THOMPSON, Defendant-Appellant.

359 F.3d 470

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael E. THOMPSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 02-3965.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued November 7, 2003.

Decided February 23, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Timothy M. Morrison (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Robert A. Handelsman (argued), Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.

Before COFFEY, RIPPLE and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Michael Thompson was indicted on one count of possession of ammunition by a felon, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). During his jury trial, the district court permitted the prosecution to cross-examine a defense witness about Mr. Thompson's past acts of physical violence and threats. Mr. Thompson was convicted and now appeals this conviction. He submits that the district court's evidentiary ruling was error and that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) is unconstitutional. For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I BACKGROUND

A. Facts

About a week prior to his arrest, Mr. Thompson rented a Dodge Neon automobile from C.J. Auto Sales. Mr. Thompson and Kimberly Shinnamon, with whom Mr. Thompson had a romantic relationship, then drove the rental car throughout southern Indiana. During their travels, both Mr. Thompson and Shinnamon kept shoes, underwear, jackets and other clothing in the car. This trip concluded for Shinnamon on November 20, 2001, when, after an argument between the two, Mr. Thompson drove away in the rental car and left Shinnamon behind. At the time they went their separate ways, their clothing and other belongings remained intermingled within the automobile.

The following day, Mr. Thompson was arrested in Indianapolis pursuant to a warrant charging him with an offense against Shinnamon,¹ which had occurred about a month before. Subsequent to his arrest, Mr. Thompson, while sitting in the back of an ambulance, asked Detective Ronald Gray for a drink of water and a jacket. Mr. Thompson indicated to Detective Gray that the jacket was in the Dodge Neon which Mr. Thompson had been driving. Detective Gray testified that, when he went to retrieve the jacket from the car, he saw only one jacket, a jacket the officer described as a light-green jacket that would fit a person with a medium to large physique. Prior to handing the jacket over to Mr. Thompson, the detective checked the pockets of the light-green jacket and found twelve live rounds of ammunition.

Detective Michelle Floyd was assigned to this arrest, and she took custody of the bullets at the scene. However, the light-green jacket was not seized, photographed or inspected for fingerprints.² Detective Floyd performed an inventory search on the car and found numerous articles of clothing in the back seat and trunk. The car was then towed to C.J. Auto Sales.

Shortly after Mr. Thompson's arrest, Shinnamon told the police that the light-green jacket and the bullets belonged to Mr. Thompson. Shinnamon also permitted Detective Floyd to copy two answering machine messages she had received from Mr. Thompson after his arrest. One message included a request by Mr. Thompson that asked Shinnamon to "[g]o down there and get my clothes for me and my boots and my three jackets." Gov't Ex.8. About a week after Mr. Thompson's arrest, the police released the car that Mr. Thompson had rented, and Shinnamon went to C.J. Auto Sales where she picked up the clothes, shoes and jackets from the car.³

II DISCUSSION

A. Evidentiary Ruling

Prior to trial, Mr. Thompson filed a motion in limine in which he sought to exclude, among other subjects, any testimony or questioning about certain prior convictions of Mr. Thompson or about his status as a suspect in any uncharged crimes. The Government did not object, and the district court granted the motion.

At trial, Shinnamon testified about the events described earlier, including her romantic relationship with Mr. Thompson and their travels together. Shinnamon admitted on direct examination that she initially had told police that the jacket and bullets belonged to Mr. Thompson. However, during her trial testimony, Shinnamon claimed that the bullets and light-green jacket were hers. R.53 at 97-98. Shinnamon testified on direct examination that she initially had not told the police the truth because she was angry with Mr. Thompson. Defense counsel further inquired:

Q Did you think he would get into trouble?

A I knew he would.

Q Why, because of his prior criminal record?

A Yes.⁴

Id. at 98. Shinnamon further testified that she had not told Mr. Thompson before his arrest that she had purchased a gun or had bullets in her jacket.

After this testimony, but prior to Shinnamon's cross-examination, the Government requested that, despite the earlier ruling prohibiting mention of certain convictions and past conduct of Mr. Thompson, the Government now be permitted to raise evidence of past threats and past charges Shinnamon brought against Mr. Thompson.⁵ The Government asserted that it had evidence that Mr. Thompson threatened Shinnamon and that her direct testimony regarding the light-green jacket and bullets may have been the product of Mr. Thompson's threats and intimidation. The district court ruled that the proposed cross-examination was "admissible to [Shinnamon's] credibility because if she is testifying under fear, coercion, or intimidation so that it calls into question what she says, the jury is entitled to make that assessment." Id. at 101.

On cross-examination, Shinnamon testified about Mr. Thompson's guilty plea to domestic battery against her. Specifically, she testified that Mr. Thompson previously had been convicted of domestic battery against her; she had suffered a black eye, and Mr. Thompson also had pointed a weapon at her. She further testified that she had provided police with other weapons that she claimed Mr. Thompson also had pointed at her. The prosecution also elicited testimony from Shinnamon that she had permitted the police to record answering machine messages left by Mr. Thompson after his arrest. The prosecution stated that, "In fact, he was threatening you, wasn't he?", to which Shinnamon responded, "Yes." Id. at 104. However, when asked by the Government whether "there could be repercussions for you if you don't sing his line," in her current testimony, Shinnamon denied any such fear. Id. Shinnamon nevertheless testified that, within the last six weeks, friends of Mr. Thompson's had come to her house at 3:00 a.m., prompting her to call the police.

After Mr. Thompson was convicted, he moved for a new trial. In Mr. Thompson's motion for a new trial, he argued that the Government improperly had elicited testimony from Shinnamon about his past conviction and conduct. The district court denied the motion for a new trial.

The district court held that testimony of the threats that Mr. Thompson allegedly had made against Shinnamon and testimony about prior charges that she brought against him did not violate Federal Rule of Evidence 403. The court reasoned that the evidence offered was admissible as to Shinnamon's credibility and could be used to examine Shinnamon's possible reason for changing her account of the events between Mr. Thompson's arrest and the trial. Id. at 10. The district court concluded that Shinnamon's testimony regarding Mr. Thompson's domestic battery conviction and other threats was relevant and highly probative of her bias and credibility. The district court further noted that the Government confined its cross-examination to only the subjects raised on direct examination. The past threats were relevant to explain Shinnamon's possible fear. Furthermore, ruled the district court, the evidence of past violence only was offered after the defense attorney "opened the door to such testimony." R.38 at 8. Therefore, continued the court, the evidence did not produce a risk of prejudice sufficient to outweigh substantially the testimony's probative value.

Mr. Thompson now renews his contention that the district court erred when it allowed the Government, asserting its intention to impeach the witness by demonstrating her bias, to cross-examine Shinnamon about Mr. Thompson's past acts of physical violence or threats. He relies on our decision in United States v. Thomas, 86 F.3d 647 (7th Cir.1996). We review the district court's evidentiary rulings under an abuse of discretion standard. See United States v. Bonner, 302 F.3d 776, 780 (7th Cir.2002).

The Supreme Court has noted that

[b]ias is a term used in the "common law of evidence" to describe the relationship between a party and a witness which might lead the witness to slant, unconsciously or otherwise, his testimony in favor of or against a party. Bias may be induced by a witness' like, dislike, or fear of a party, or by the witness' self-interest. Proof of bias is almost always relevant because the jury, as finder of fact and weigher of credibility, has historically been entitled to assess all evidence which might bear on the accuracy and truth of a witness' testimony.

United States v. Abel, 469 U.S. 45, 52, 105 S.Ct. 465, 83 L.Ed.2d 450 (1984). "The admissibility of evidence regarding a witness's bias ... in his testimony is not specifically addressed by the Rules and thus admissibility is limited only by the relevance standard of Rule 402." United States v. Lindemann, 85 F.3d 1232, 1243 (7th Cir.1996) (citing 27 Charles Allen Wright & Victor James Gold, Federal Practice and Procedure § 6092 (1990)).

Relevant evidence is, of course, generally admissible, see Fed.R.Evid. 402, but even relevant evidence will be "excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury," Fed.R.Evid. 403. With respect to the admission of the evidence in question here, Mr. Thompson takes the view that, under Rule 403,...