United States v. Chappell
| Decision Date | 11 March 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 13–1748.,13–1748. |
| Citation | 779 F.3d 872 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee v. Arthur James CHAPPELL, Defendant–Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Lisa D. Kirkpatrick, James Lackner, Saint Paul, MN, David P. Steinkamp, U.S. Attorney's Office, Minneapolis, MN, for Plaintiff–Appellee.
Arthur James Chappell, Inez, KY, pro se.
Gary R. Wolf, Wolf Law Office, Minneapolis, MN, for Defendant–Appellant.
Before RILEY, Chief Judge, SMITH and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.
On September 15, 2010, a jury convicted Arthur James Chappell of sex trafficking an underage female in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591 based on his recruitment and prostitution of CB, a seventeen-year-old high school student. See United States v. Chappell, 665 F.3d 1012, 1013–14 (8th Cir.2012). Exercising our discretion on appeal to notice plain error in one of the jury instructions, seeFed.R.Crim.P. 52(b), we “reverse[d] and remand[ed] for a new trial.” Chappell, 665 F.3d at 1015. On remand, the government secured an eleven-count superseding indictment, charging Chappell with sex trafficking CB and AW, another underage female prostitute; possessing and producing child pornography; and various prostitution transportation charges. Claiming vindictive prosecution, Chappell moved to dismiss all but the original count of sex trafficking. After the district court 1 denied the motion, a second jury convicted Chappell on all counts. Chappell again appeals, and we affirm.2
I. BACKGROUND
In June 2007, the Bloomington, Minnesota, Police Department received a complaint from the manager of a local hotel who suspected prostitution was occurring in a room registered to Chappell. Already suspicious of the scantily clad young women she saw staying in the room and the large volume of male visitors daily, the manager called the police after identifying one of her hotel rooms in what she believed was an illicit personal advertisement on Craigslist.
Acting on the manager's complaint, Detective Judson Broen identified similar advertisements on the erotic services and adult sections of Craigslist and the website Backpage. The ads depicted young women suspected of performing acts of prostitution in the area, including at least one young woman seen occupying Chappell's room. As part of the investigation, the police interviewed the hotel staff and began conducting surveillance at the hotel from an unmarked vehicle.
On June 20, 2007, Detective Broen observed Chappell enter the hotel parking lot in a silver Dodge Durango. Three young women exited Chappell's vehicle and entered the hotel through a side entrance. Detective Broen recognized two of the three from photographs in the illicit advertisements. Detective Broen followed the Durango as it left the hotel, confirmed Chappell was driving, and arranged for a marked vehicle to stop Chappell. After Detective Broen and a uniformed officer arrested and searched Chappell and his passenger, another officer impounded and searched the Durango. The officers seized $5,738 in cash, false identification for Chappell, the credit card used to pay for the hotel room, and a “trick note”—a piece of paper containing the aliases of prostitutes in the case, dollar amounts, and the names and contact information of their customers.
The police released Chappell, but the investigation continued. On July 3, 2007, a team of officers executed a search warrant at a private residence Chappell rented. Chappell, CB, and two other suspected prostitutes were there. The police seized $3,811 in cash and additional evidence of prostitution, including a digital camera and laptop computers containing pornographic images of CB and others.
On May 19, 2009, a grand jury indicted Chappell for sex trafficking CB knowing she was a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591. Before trial, Chappell moved to suppress the evidence seized following his June 20, 2007, arrest. Adopting the report and recommendation of the magistrate judge, the district court denied Chappell's motions.
At trial, CB initially struggled to identify Chappell, but later testified he persuaded her to prostitute for him despite knowing she was just seventeen. CB reported Chappell often picked up CB and AW, then just sixteen, from high school and took them to the hotel to work as prostitutes—CB's testimony was corroborated by other witnesses. On cross-examination, CB admitted she had lied to Chappell and the police, but maintained Chappell had been her pimp knowing she was just seventeen.
The jury found Chappell guilty on September 15, 2010. Chappell moved for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel. The district court denied the motion, explaining Chappell's trial counsel had been very effective, particularly with respect to impeaching CB's and AW's credibility. On March 16, 2011, the district court entered judgment and sentenced Chappell to 336 months imprisonment. Chappell appealed, and this court reversed and remanded for a new trial based on a faulty jury instruction. See Chappell, 665 F.3d at 1015.
On remand, a second grand jury—at the request of a different prosecutor—returned an eleven-count superseding indictment against Chappell, charging additional crimes against different victims. In addition to charging Chappell with sex trafficking CB in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591, the superseding indictment charged Chappell with sex trafficking AW (count 2); possessing and conspiring to possess child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B), (b)(2) (counts 3 and 4); conspiring to produce child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), (e) (count 5); enticing and transporting HB and RN to engage in prostitution in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2422(a), 2421, and 2 (counts 6 through 9); and conspiring to entice and transport an individual to engage in prostitution, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2422(a), 2421, and 371 (counts 10 and 11).
Chappell moved to strike counts 2 through 11 of the superseding indictment for vindictive prosecution. Initially, the magistrate judge granted Chappell's request for an evidentiary hearing at which Chappell expected to call the prosecutors as witnesses. The government objected, averring the additional charges were not vindictive but involved “new and different offenses” and were compelled by changed circumstances. The government explained it obtained a superseding indictment because (1) Chappell rejected a plea agreement on remand, (2) the government had “new” evidence, and (3) Chappell's effective impeachment of CB at the first trial required a different trial strategy.
Substituting oral argument for an evidentiary hearing, the magistrate judge concluded the rebuttable presumption of vindictiveness from North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969), and Blackledge v. Perry, 417 U.S. 21, 94 S.Ct. 2098, 40 L.Ed.2d 628 (1974), compelled dismissal of counts 2 through 11. The magistrate judge decided the government, by objecting to an evidentiary hearing, had frozen the record and failed to rebut the presumption with record evidence. Rejecting the government's proposal to make a proffer or submit affidavits if necessary, the magistrate judge recommended the district court grant Chappell's motion.
On the government's objection, the district court declined to adopt that recommendation, concluding “the context and objective circumstances d[id] not present a reasonable likelihood of vindictiveness.” Noting “seven of the ten new counts pertain[ed] to different events involving different victims” and the other three new counts “relate[d] to entirely different events and conduct” than count 1, the district court reasoned Blackledge did not deprive the government of its traditional prosecutorial discretion on remand. The district court also noted the government did not substitute “a more serious charge for the original charge” of sex trafficking under count 1.
The district court further concluded, even if the presumption of vindictiveness applied, the government had given “sufficient legitimate, non-vindictive reasons ... to rebut the presumption.” Specifically, the district court emphasized CB “had been effectively cross-examined and possibly discredited during the original trial” based on “credibility and recollection problems that surfaced” at trial. The district court decided those problems supported the new prosecutor's strategy of bringing additional charges that did not depend on CB's credibility and memory. The district court also noted the record indicated AW only admitted she was a victim of sex trafficking a few days before the first trial, preventing the government from obtaining a superseding indictment before trial.
On October 9, 2012, Chappell went to trial for the second time. On October 24, 2012, the jury convicted Chappell of every count charged. After a sentencing hearing, the district court again sentenced Chappell to a total term of 336 months imprisonment. Chappell timely appealed.3
II. DISCUSSIONA. Probable Cause to Arrest
Before his first trial, Chappell moved to suppress evidence derived from his arrest in Bloomington based on Chappell's claim the police lacked probable cause to arrest him. The district court denied Chappell's motions. On remand, Chappell sought to reopen the suppression issue “based upon new facts brought forth at trial” through Detective Broen's testimony regarding the investigation and his prior knowledge of Chappell.
After hearing argument at trial and ordering supplemental briefing, the district court denied Chappell's motion, concluding “[t]he record d[id] not support a reopening of the issue.” Explaining that, “even if the record were reopened, it would be to put testimony on that has already been adduced either at the suppression hearing or items of probable cause that have come out through the testimony of other witnesses,” the district court reiterated “[t]here [wa]s no doubt,...
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