U.S. v. Williams

• Decision Date: 20 April 1994
• Docket Number: 93-1291,Nos. 92-9005,s. 92-9005
• Citation: 20 F.3d 125
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kenneth Don WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael John MULLINS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 125

20 F.3d 125

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Kenneth Don WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael John MULLINS, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 92-9005, 93-1291.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

April 20, 1994.

Timothy Crooks, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Ft. Worth, TX, Paul D. Stickney, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Ira Kirkendoll, Federal Public Defender, Dallas, TX, for Kenneth Don Williams.

Michael Snipes, Asst. U.S. Atty., Marvin Collins, U.S. Atty., Richard H. Stephens, Dallas, TX, for U.S. in Case no. 92-9005.

Timothy Crooks, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Fort Worth, TX, Susan Bronstein Dunleavy, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Ira Kirkendoll, Federal Public Defender, Dallas, TX, for Michael John Mullins.

Candina S. Heath, Asst. U.S. Atty., Paul E. Coggins, Dallas, TX, for U.S. in Case no. 93-1291.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before GOLDBERG, DAVIS and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.

GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge:

We consider in these appeals the appellants's challenges to the trial court's definition of reasonable doubt. Guided by the Supreme Court's recent discussion of this issue in Victor v. Nebraska, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1239, 127 L.Ed.2d 583 (1994), and by the realization that no court can guarantee the absolute certitude of any definition of reasonable doubt, we find the instructions given by the district court to be acceptable. We also find that the appellants's individual contentions do not warrant reversal of their convictions. We therefore affirm the judgments of the district court.

I. Facts and Proceedings Below

Kenneth Don Williams was charged in a one count indictment of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. Secs. 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2), and 924(e). In a separate and unrelated indictment, Michael John Mullins was charged with two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. Secs. 922(g)(1) and 924(e)(1). Both men pleaded not guilty, and each proceeded to trial.

At both trials, the juries were instructed that the government had to prove each element of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. The district court gave the juries the same definition of reasonable doubt in both cases. That definition reads as follows:

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof that leaves you firmly convinced of a defendant's guilt. There are few things in life that we know with absolute certainty, and in criminal cases the law does not require proof that a defendant is guilty beyond all possible doubt. If, based on your consideration of all the evidence, you are firmly convinced that a defendant is guilty of the crime charged, you must find him guilty. If, however, you think there is a real possibility that he is not guilty, you must give him the benefit of the doubt and find him not guilty.

(emphasis added by the appellants).

The jury in Williams's case convicted him on the one count on which he was charged. He was sentenced to serve a 240 month term of imprisonment. The jury in Mullins's case convicted him on the first felon in possession of a firearm count on which he was charged, but could not reach a verdict on the second count. After his trial but before sentencing, Mullins filed a motion to have four prior Texas state felony convictions against him invalidated for the purposes of sentencing. The district court denied this motion and used three of these prior convictions to enhance Mullins's sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e). Mullins was sentenced to 235 months of imprisonment.

Both defendants appeal, contending that the district court's definition of reasonable doubt understated the level of proof that the government must meet to win a conviction and overstated the level of uncertainty necessary before the jury must acquit a defendant. Each defendant also raises matters specific to his own conviction. We will examine these issues in turn.

II. Discussion

A. Reasonable Doubt

The Due Process Clause of the Constitution requires the government to prove every element of a charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt. In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). The Supreme Court has recently observed that, "[a]lthough this standard is an ancient and honored aspect of our criminal justice system, it defies easy explication." Victor v. Nebraska, --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1242. Perhaps for this reason, neither the Supreme Court nor this Court have ever required a particular definition of reasonable doubt to be read to the jury. See id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1243 ("[S]o long as the court instructs the jury on the necessity that the defendant's guilt be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the Constitution does not require that any particular form of words be used in advising the jury of the government's burden of proof.") (citation omitted). ¹ Nevertheless, any definition of reasonable doubt that a district court does use must, "taken as a whole, ... correctly convey[ ] the concept of reasonable doubt to the jury." Holland v. United States, 348 U.S. 121, 140, 75 S.Ct. 127, 138, 99 L.Ed. 150 (1954). If there is a "reasonable likelihood that the jury understood the instructions to allow conviction based on proof insufficient to meet the Winship standard," then the instruction runs afoul of the Due Process Clause, and the conviction must be reversed. Victor, --- U.S. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1243.

In this case, the Constitution is not our only benchmark. Through our supervisory powers, we "may, within limits, formulate procedural rules not specifically required by the Constitution or the Congress." United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499, 505, 103 S.Ct. 1974, 1978, 76 L.Ed.2d 96 (1983). Thus, in order "to preserve judicial integrity," id., we may reverse the appellant's convictions if we are persuaded that the district court's jury instruction is not acceptable, even though it passes constitutional muster. In these cases, however, we find that under any standard, the instruction that the district judge gave acceptably defined reasonable doubt.

The definition of reasonable doubt that the district court gave the juries in the present cases is similar to a definition of reasonable doubt endorsed by the Federal Judicial Center. See Federal Judicial Center, Pattern Criminal Jury Instructions 17-18 (1987) (instruction 21). ² However, the parentage of the district court's definition of reasonable doubt is not all that recommends it; previous panels of this Court have explicitly endorsed the very instruction that the district court used in these cases. See United States v. Hunt, 794 F.2d 1095 (5th Cir.1986); United States v. Haggard, 5 F.3d 1494 (5th Cir.1993) (unpublished).

Nevertheless, the appellants argue that the district court's definition of reasonable doubt, and by implication this Court's opinion in Hunt and cases that have followed it, were drawn into question by Cage v. Louisiana, 498 U.S. 39, 111 S.Ct. 328, 112 L.Ed.2d 339 (1990) (per curiam). In that case, a Louisiana state court trial judge instructed the jurors as follows:

[A reasonable doubt] is one that is founded upon a real tangible substantial basis and not upon mere caprice and conjecture. It must be such doubt as would give rise to a grave uncertainty, raised in your mind by reasons of the unsatisfactory character of the evidence or lack thereof. A reasonable doubt is not a mere possible doubt. It is an actual substantial doubt. It is a doubt that a reasonable man can seriously entertain. What is required is not an absolute or mathematical certainty, but a moral certainty.

Id. at 40, 111 S.Ct. at 329 (emphasis supplied by the Court). The emphasized portions of the instruction in Cage rendered the charge used in that case unconstitutional because it "suggest[ed] a higher degree of doubt than is required for acquittal under the reasonable doubt standard." Id. at 41, 111 S.Ct. at 329-330. The Court explained that when the highlighted portions of the charge were then "considered with the reference to 'moral certainty,' rather than evidentiary certainty, it becomes clear that a reasonable juror could have interpreted the instruction to allow a finding of guilt based on a degree of proof below that required by the Due Process Clause." Id.

After this case was argued, the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Victor v. Nebraska, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1239. In that case, the Court considered and rejected constitutional challenges to two other state court definitions of reasonable doubt. In the first case, a California state court defined reasonable doubt as follows:

[Reasonable doubt] is not a mere possible doubt; because everything relating to human affairs, and depending on moral evidence, is open to some possible or imaginary doubt. It is that state of the case which, after the entire comparison and consideration of all the evidence, leaves the minds of the jurors in that condition that they cannot say they feel an abiding conviction, to a moral certainty, of the truth of the charge.

Id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1244. The Court rejected the defendant's contention that use of the terms "moral evidence" and "moral certainty" rendered the charge unconstitutional. The Court ruled that the reference to "moral evidence" did not focus the jury's attention on the ethics or morality of the defendant's acts; instead, the Court held that the charge, taken as a whole, adequately instructed the jury to consider the facts of the case. Id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1247. Similarly, the Court held that the reference to "moral certainty", although more problematic, and ambiguous in the abstract, did not render the instruction given in that case unconstitutional. Other parts of the charge (particularly the "abiding conviction" language) supplied the instruction with the necessary content....