United States v. Eaton

• Citation: 784 F.3d 298
• Decision Date: 20 April 2015
• Docket Number: No. 13–6125.,13–6125.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Christopher Brian EATON, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

784 F.3d 298

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee

v.Christopher Brian EATON, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 13–6125.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: June 19, 2014.

Decided and Filed: April 20, 2015.

ARGUED:J. Guthrie True, True Guarnieri Ayer, LLP, Frankfort, Kentucky, for Appellant. Erin H. Flynn, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF:J. Guthrie True, True Guarnieri Ayer, LLP, Frankfort, Kentucky, for Appellant. Erin H. Flynn, Mark L. Gross, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

Before: SILER, CLAY, and GIBBONS, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Defendant and former Barren County Sheriff Christopher Eaton (“Defendant”) was convicted of two counts of witness tampering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3) by a federal jury in the Western District of Kentucky for instructing two officers in his command to give false statements in an investigation regarding the alleged excessive use of force against Billy Randall Stinnett on February 24, 2010. Defendant appeals his conviction. For the reasons stated below, we AFFIRM.

BACKGROUND

Procedural History

The second superseding indictment in this case, issued on November 14, 2012, charged Defendant with eight counts related to excessive force, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice based on his conduct during the arrest of Billy Randall Stinnett and the subsequent federal investigation. Deputies Aaron Bennett, Adam Minor, and Eric Guffey were also charged in the same indictment. Defendant, Bennett, and Guffey were tried in a combined trial. After nine days of trial and due deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of acquittal of all charges as to Bennett and Guffey. Defendant was acquitted on all counts except two counts of witness tampering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(3). The district court subsequently denied Defendant's motion for a judgment of acquittal, and this timely appeal followed.

Factual History

On February 24, 2010, Defendant and several of his deputies were involved in the arrest of Billy Randall Stinnett following an hour-long car chase that involved three different law enforcement agencies. Stinnett crashed his van into a church in Glasgow, Kentucky and fled on foot into a blind alley next to the church. Defendant chased after Stinnett and was the first to reach him in the alley. Stinnett testified at trial that once he realized that his way out of the alley was blocked, he raised his hands behind his head and tried to get on his knees in an effort to surrender. Defendant struck Stinnett over the head with his baton, drawing blood. Stinnett fell to the ground, but Defendant continued to strike him.

Defendant was shortly followed by Deputy Eric Guffey, Deputy Aaron Bennett and Deputy Adam Minor. Stinnett was placed in handcuffs while on the ground. He testified that Defendant and the other deputies continued to strike him, punching him in the head and “all over.” (R. 249, Transcript, PGID 2404.) Stinnett acknowledged kicking Defendant with his steel-toed boots in an effort to stop the blows; in return, Defendant struck him on the back of his legs with the baton. Deputy Minor testified that he and Deputy Bennett arrived on the scene as Stinnett was being handcuffed. Minor acknowledged kicking Stinnett twice, although Stinnett was handcuffed and was not resisting, and testified that Bennett punched Stinnett five to ten times hard in the head. With the last punch, Bennett broke his hand. Bennett then switched to using a baton, and Defendant approached and began striking Stinnett with his baton.

Minor eventually pulled Stinnett up and took him back towards the road. Stinnett received more abuse during this walk, including a punch to the head from a special deputy by the name of Shannon White. Minor asked Stinnett if he had any weapons on him, and Stinnett answered that he had a pocket-knife in his pocket. Minor testified that he had Stinnett sit down so that he could be searched, and that Defendant pulled a closed pocket knife from a visible clip in Stinnett's pocket. The group continued walking. In a moment allegedly captured by photo, Defendant struck Stinnett in the groin with his fist, causing Stinnett to lean over in pain. (The photo, according to some witnesses, was later deleted at Defendant's request.) Minor placed Stinnett into his vehicle and took him to the hospital to be treated for his injuries.

Three teenagers in the church witnessed the scene in the alley from a second story window. Two of the teens would later report what they witnessed to their father, who in turn reported it to the Glasgow Police Department. The Glasgow Police Department informed the FBI of the allegations, and the FBI launched an investigation. FBI Agent Mike Brown interviewed Stinnett at the Berren County Jail on March 4, 2010 to learn his version of the arrest and document Stinnett's injuries.

On March 4, 2010, Brown also visited Defendant at the Sheriff's Office to inform him of the investigation and request evidence related to the arrest. To Brown's surprise, Defendant responded that no use-of-force reports had been prepared. Minor would later testify at trial that Defendant as a practice did not require his deputies to complete use-of-force reports because of Defendant's belief that “the more reports you write, the more you could get hemmed up.” (R. 210, Transcript, PGID 34.) Brown asked Defendant to have the deputies involved in the incident draft reports to be turned over to the FBI.

Two deputies testified at trial that Defendant asked them to write false reports regarding the incident—Adam Minor, and another deputy named Steve Runyon, who had arrived on the scene when Stinnett, already in handcuffs, was being walked to Minor's car.¹ Runyon and Defendant were long-time friends and colleagues; Defendant was grooming Runyon to replace him as Sheriff. Runyon testified that Defendant approached him at the gym on March 4, 2010. Defendant told Runyon about the FBI investigation into Stinnett's arrest. Runyon testified that Defendant told him that he needed Runyon to write a report stating that he saw a knife belonging to Stinnett at the arrest scene, although Defendantknew Runyon was not present in the alley and could not have seen any such knife. Runyon testified that when he resisted Defendant's request, protesting that he was not even familiar with the scene, Defendant drove him over to the alley where Stinnett was taken into custody to instruct Runyon on where he should say the knife was located.

Runyon testified that he felt nauseated by Defendant's efforts to persuade him to provide a false report. He was afraid to ask why Defendant needed him to write a report about the knife, and he was afraid that he would lose his job if he did not comply with the request. Runyon complied, writing falsely that he returned to the alley with Defendant and “[t]here was a gray metal type knife found lying on the ground which Stinnett claimed.” (R. 211, Transcript, PGID 1756–57.) Runyon testified that Defendant told him what to write in the report, read it over when it was completed, and took it from Runyon to transmit to the FBI. Runyon also told the jury that in the following months Defendant conducted “a few closed-door meetings” with Runyon where Defendant would make comments about how Runyon had a good job, and it would be difficult for him if he lost it. (Id. at 1766.) Runyon said the meetings would generally end with his telling Defendant how much he appreciated his job “and a few times just begging him” to let Runyon stay until he reached retirement. (Id. at 1766–67.) Runyon was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury in February 2011. At trial, Runyon testified that he gave false testimony before the grand jury when he told them that Defendant did not tell him what to include in his report; he did disclose to the grand jury, however, that he was not present when the knife was found. Runyon testified that after the indictments came out he was isolated in the department, excluded from operations and denied opportunities to work. He told the jury that no one spoke to him for months, and that Defendant once sent another deputy home as punishment for talking to Runyon.

Deputy Minor also testified that he wrote a false report about the incident at Defendant's direction. Minor received a call from a detective with the sheriff's office informing him of the FBI investigation and requesting that Minor complete a written report. Minor testified at trial that he wrote his report in Defendant's presence with Deputy Bennett. He described Defendant “walking around the office before we started writing the reports” and going over “this story line for us to write.” (R. 209, Tr. at 1512.) Specifically, Defendant told them to state that Stinnett had “pulled a knife on [Defendant],” resisted arrest, and did not obey verbal commands. (Id. ) Minor said as he was writing the story, Defendant continued walking around the office “going over that story again and again.” (Id. ) Minor testified that Defendant reviewed his completed report and instructed him to include additional information, including that once Stinnett was handcuffed the incident was over, and that Defendant showed Stinnett a knife and asked if it was his. Minor complied with Defendant's directions. Minor testified that the information Defendant told him to include in his report was false, and that he included it because he was afraid of losing his job if he refused the orders. Minor testified at trial that Defendant asked him to prepare a false report in order to “cover up what we had done” from “[t]he FBI.” (R. 210, Transcript, PGID 1536–37.) Minor further testified at trial that he repeated the false information in a subsequent interview with FBI Agent Brown and in three different state court proceedings. Minor testified that he gave these false statements because Defendant told him to and because he was afraid he would be...