United States v. Eason

• Decision Date: 14 July 2016
• Docket Number: No. 15-1254,15-1254
• Parties: United States of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Marcus Lamont Eason, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

829 F.3d 633

United States of America, Plaintiff–Appellee

v.Marcus Lamont Eason, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 15-1254

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: December 15, 2015

Filed: July 14, 2016

Cameron C. McCree, Alexander D. Morgan, Edward O. Walker, U.S. Attorney's Office, Little Rock, AR, for Plaintiff–Appellee.

Nicole Lybrand, John Charles Williams, Federal Public Defender's Office, Little Rock, AR, for Defendant–Appellant.

Marcus Lamont Eason, Atwater, CA, Pro Se.

Before MURPHY, BENTON, and KELLY, Circuit Judges.

KELLY

, Circuit Judge.

After a jury trial, Marcus Lamont Eason was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1)

and 924(e)(1) (Count 1), and of being a felon in possession of ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(e)(1), and 3147(1) (Count 2). Eason appeals, challenging the district court's exclusion of evidence he attempted to introduce at trial, the sufficiency of the evidence for his conviction on Count 2, and the application of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) at sentencing. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. Background

On June 16, 2012, in North Little Rock, Arkansas, Eason was involved in a domestic incident with his then-girlfriend, Sheila Noble. Noble's mother reported the disturbance to the police, and then called again to report that Eason was “shooting up” behind her house. Radio dispatch gave officers a description of the person suspected of firing the shots, and relayed that the suspect's name was Marcus Eason. Police Sergeant Terry Kuykendall heard the dispatch and soon spotted Eason walking and carrying a black t-shirt in his left hand. According to Kuykendall, it looked like Eason had something concealed in the shirt. Kuykendall stated he had no difficulty identifying Eason from 50–60 yards away. While making a U-turn, Kuykendall saw Eason drop an item to the ground.

Kuykendall stopped Eason, patted him down, and waited for backup. After backup arrived, Kuykendall searched the area where he believed Eason had thrown something and found a .45-caliber pistol lying on the ground in the path where Eason had been walking. Later, Kuykendall also found two .45-caliber shell casings in the area of the reported shooting, which he deemed to be from a gun like the one he had recovered. Eason was indicted on one count of possession of a firearm as a felon, was arraigned in federal court, and on December 18, 2012, was released on conditions to the supervision of the United States Probation Office pending trial.

On April 9, 2013, while on pretrial release, Eason was involved in an incident at the residence of Hiawatha Williams, also in North Little Rock. At that time, Eason was engaged to Williams's daughter, Erica Davis, and he and Davis had a dispute. When Williams saw that Eason had a firearm, he ran next door and borrowed a .380 pistol. Williams returned to his home and fired a warning shot, which hit the ceiling immediately above him on the front porch. According to Williams, Eason then left the residence. As Williams returned to his bedroom, he heard a shot fired. Although he did not see the shooter, Williams believed it was Eason. Later, during the investigation, Detective Gibbons of the North Little Rock Police found a 9-millimeter bullet in Williams's bedroom closet and a spent shell casing nearby. A superseding indictment was filed, adding Count 2: possession of ammunition as a felon. On April 16, 2013, Eason was ordered to be detained pending trial.

The jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts—Count 1, for possession of the .45-caliber pistol that Officer Kuykendall retrieved, and Count 2, for possession of the 9-millimeter ammunition found in Williams's closet. At sentencing, the court determined that Eason had at least three prior convictions for a violent felony or serious drug offense, or both, and therefore was subject to sentencing as an armed career criminal. At an offense level of 34, and a criminal history category VI, Eason's advisory Guidelines range was 262-327 months. The district court imposed a sentence of 300 months. Eason timely appealed.

II. Discussion

1. Dash Camera Video

Eason's first argument is that the district court erred in excluding evidence of a dash camera video from Officer Kuykendall's squad car. At trial, Sergeant Kuykendall testified on cross examination that his patrol car did not have a dash camera. At that point, Eason's counsel requested a bench conference, and informed the court that, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, she had obtained a dash camera video for June 16, 2012, which showed “an officer who looks like [Kuykendall]” in the footage.¹ Defense counsel told the court the video was “not relevant to this case in that it's not about this case, but it would show that he does have a dash camera.” The government did not object to the defense questioning Kuykendall about the video, but expressed concern about the video being played for the jury. The court concluded that the defense had “a good faith basis to impeach” Kuykendall with the video and allowed Eason to question him about it. At that point, the court did not permit the video to be played for the jury, but said “we'll just call him back tomorrow.” When cross examination resumed, Kuykendall testified that he did not “remember exactly” whether he had a dash camera in his patrol car on the night of Eason's arrest. After his testimony concluded, Officer Kuykendall was told he was subject to recall as a witness.

Two days later, the parties revisited the issue of the dash camera video with the court outside the presence of the jury. Apparently, in the interim, counsel for Eason watched the video in full for the first time. This time, she informed the court that she had “discovered that there was evidence directly relevant to the investigation in this case” on the video, because it showed Officer Kuykendall returning to the scene of Eason's arrest. The government objected to use of the video because the defense had not provided it to the government prior to trial, which the government regarded as a violation of its request for reciprocal discovery under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16

. The court sustained the objection, reiterating that the defense could use the video as impeachment through questioning, but could not play it in front of the jury.

On appeal, Eason argues that the district court erred in excluding the dash camera video at two separate times: when the district court prevented the defense from showing the video to the jury (1) during the initial re-cross examination of Kuykendall, and (2) when the defense attempted to re-call Kuykendall as a witness to impeach him with the video. We analyze each instance in turn, reviewing evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Medearis , 380 F.3d 1049, 1056 (8th Cir. 2004)

.

As to the initial re-cross examination, the government argues that Eason did not offer the video, and thus the district court could not have erred in excluding it.² We will assume for the sake of analysis that Eason made a request to show the video, but question whether the district court in fact denied the request. Instead of an outright denial, the court's ruling appears to have been a suggestion to address the issue the following day. Nevertheless, we will further assume the district court's response of “[n]ot in front of the jury” was a denial of the request. However, Eason's counsel stated the video was “not relevant to this case in that it's not about this case.” The district court repeated that the video had “nothing to do with this case,” to which the defense responded “[c]orrect.” “[A] witness may not be impeached on a collateral matter by the use of extrinsic evidence.” United States v. Grooms , 978 F.2d 425, 428 (8th Cir. 1992)

. Eason conceded that the video as presented to the court was not a “matter material to the substantive issues of the case,” id . at 429 (quoting Cwach v. United States, 212 F.2d 520, 530 (8th Cir. 1954) ), and thus it “could not be shown in evidence for any purpose independent of the contradiction.” United States v. Roulette, 75 F.3d 418, 423 (8th Cir. 1996). The video was “therefore inadmissible” based on the information given by defense counsel at the time. Id. The district court allowed Eason to question Officer Kuykendall about the video, agreeing with Eason that this line of impeachment was acceptable. And Eason followed up by questioning Officer Kuykendall about whether he had a “video unit” in his squad car. The district court did not abuse its discretion in not permitting the defense to play the video during initial re-cross examination.

Eason also asserts error when the district court denied his later request to show the video to Officer Kuykendall for the purpose of impeaching him. The government objected, this time asserting a Rule 16

discovery violation. The reciprocal discovery rule, Rule 16(b)(1)(A), states that if the government complies with a defendant's requested disclosures, the defense must provide the government, upon request, similar items “within the defendant's possession, custody, or control,” if “the defendant intends to use the item in the defendant's case-in-chief at trial.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 16(b)(1)(A)'s requirements for disclosure of evidence, however, do not apply to impeachment evidence. Medearis , 380 F.3d at 1057. Thus, the fact that defense counsel did not turn over the video to the government prior to trial is not grounds to prohibit the defense from using the video for impeachment purposes.³ But when reviewing an evidentiary ruling, we will reverse “only when an improper evidentiary ruling affected the defendant's substantial rights or had more than a slight influence on the verdict.” United States v. Picardi , 739 F.3d 1118, 1124 (8th Cir. 2014) (quoting United States v. Summage , 575 F.3d 864, 877 (8th Cir. 2009) ).

In ...