United States v. Hill
| Decision Date | 28 October 2013 |
| Docket Number | Crim. No. 1:12-CR-0243 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. CARLOS C. HILL |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania |
MEMORANDUM
In this criminal case, Defendant was convicted of one count of possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g) and 924(e), related to his possession of a firearm in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. (Doc. 87.) Presently before the court is Defendant's post-trial motion, in which he seeks judgment of acquittal based on insufficient evidence, or in the alternative, a new trial due to, what he contends was, an improper evidentiary ruling and subsequent prosecutorial misconduct that had a substantial impact on the verdict. (Docs. 95 & 129.) For the reasons stated herein, Defendant's post-trial motion will be denied.
On September 26, 2012, Carlos C. Hill ("Defendant") and Elijah U. Brown Jr. ("Brown") were charged in a single indictment with two counts related to an incident involving an unlawful handgun. (See Doc. 1.)1 On January 29, 2013, Defendant filed two motions. The first motion, which sought to sever defendants (Doc. 46), was unopposed by the Government (Doc. 55) and was granted by the court (Doc. 58). The Government opposed the second motion, which sought tosuppress two out-of-court pretrial identifications made by the alleged victim, Tamela Corish ("Corish"). (Doc. 48.) Following an evidentiary hearing, the court denied Defendant's motion to suppress (Doc. 57), finding that the identification procedure was not unnecessarily suggestive and that the totality of the circumstances established the independent reliability of Corish's identifications (Doc. 56, p. 21 of 21). On February 22, 2013, the court granted the Government's motion to continue trial (Doc. 54), and scheduled jury selection to commence at 9:30 a.m., on March 11, 2013 (Doc. 59).
On February 28, 2013, Defendant filed a motion in limine that requested the exclusion of photographs of Corish's injuries (Doc. 66), which was opposed by the Government (Docs. 76 & 77). During a conference call on the motion, defense counsel made an oral motion to bifurcate the issue of Defendant's prior conviction from the remainder of trial (see also Doc. 79), which was similarly opposed by the Government (see also Doc. 81). Finding that the photographs depicting Corish's injuries were irrelevant to the Government's case in chief, the court granted Defendant's motion in limine without prejudice to the Government to request admission during trial for rebuttal purposes or other relevant reasons. (Doc. 78.) The court also indicated its intention to bifurcate the charges, and the Government withdrew Count II, which had charged Defendant with the possession of a stolen firearm. (See Doc. 82.)
A jury trial on Count I, charging Defendant with possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon, commenced on March 11, 2013.
Defendant moves for judgment of acquittal on the basis that the Government presented insufficient evidence to establish he had constructive possession of the firearm on July 13, 2012. Underlying his argument is his assumption the jury convicted him on its finding he had constructive, rather than actual, possession of the firearm. Defendant contends that two questions posed by the jury during its deliberations show both that the Prosecutor's summation exacerbated the damage of an erroneous evidentiary ruling, and that the court presented an improper jury instruction. The court will first present the facts established during the evidentiary phase of trial before discussing the challenged portion of the Prosecutor's summation and the court's jury instructions.
In the early morning of July 13, 2012, Corish and Rodney Nicholson ("Nicholson") left a party at a family member's house. (Tr. 65.) Corish and Nicholson drove separately; Corish drove Nicholson's vehicle, a silver BMW, and Nicholson drove Corish's Green Dodge Stratus. (Id.) On their way home, the two stopped at the City Gas and Diesel station, located on State Street in the City of Harrisburg, to purchase cigarettes. (Id.) Both Nicholson and Corish noticed a green SUV ("SUV") upon entering the gas station's parking lot. (Tr. 66.) Nicholson parked and exited the Dodge Stratus to enter the convenience store, leaving the vehicle unlocked with the keys in the ignition. (Tr. 68, 100.) From inside the BMW parked to the right of the Dodge Stratus, Corish saw a young male exit the SUV and enter the driver's seat of the parked Dodge Stratus. (Tr. 101.) In an attempt to stop the thief, Corish jumped out of the BMW and grabbed hold of the Dodge Stratus'door handle, yelling at the young male driver to stop. (Id.) Corish's attempt was unsuccessful, and she was dragged for a short distance before she let go of the door handle. (Id.) The young male continued driving the Dodge Stratus out of the parking lot and onto the roadway. (See Tr. 68.)
Nicholson exited the store and saw Corish laying on the ground and the Dodge Stratus exiting the parking lot followed by the SUV. (Id.) They entered the parked BMW: Nicholson sitting in the driver seat and Corish sitting in the front passenger seat. (Tr. 68, 71.) Nicholson and Corish followed directly behind the SUV, which was following the Dodge Stratus. (Tr. 71.) At some point, the Dodge Stratus turned onto a side street, out of sight from Corish and Nicholson. (Id.)
Eventually, the SUV parked on the 1600 block of Park Street, and Nicholson stopped the BMW in the street parallel to the SUV. (Tr. 71.) A man, whom Corish and Nicholson later identified as Brown, exited from the driver's position of the SUV, and Nicholson demanded, across Corish and through the passenger window, for Brown to tell him the location of the Dodge Stratus. (Tr. 72-73.) Another man exited the vehicle from the passenger side and, while standing on the sidewalk, pointed a handgun at Nicholson and Corish, and directed them to leave. (Tr. 73.) Worried they may be injured, Corish and Nicholson complied. (Id.)
In response to an emergency call made by Corish, Harrisburg City police officers located the SUV parked on the 1600 block of Park Street, at which time the officer in charge directed the vehicle be towed to the police station. Although Corish gave a statement to the responding officer, Nicholson left the area due to his being on probation, and the fact that he was driving despite his having a suspended license. (Tr. 77-78.) During the investigation, the Harrisburg PoliceBureau detectives determined that the SUV was registered to Robert Hearn ("Hearn"), who resided on the 1600 block of Park street. (Tr. 147.) Detective Christopher Krokos spoke with Hearn, and determined that Hearn had loaned his vehicle to Brown at the time of the incident. (Tr. 161.) Detective Krokos subsequently spoke with Brown, and was ultimately given consent to search Brown's residence. (Tr. 149.) A silver handgun and magazine were found behind a mattress in Brown's bedroom. (Tr. 150.) During Detective Krokos's conversation with Brown, Brown implicated Defendant in the Park Street encounter. (Tr. 160.)
Based on the investigation, Detective Timothy Carter utilized JNET, an internet-based law enforcement website that allows access to records and information, and compiled a photographic array that contained a photograph of Defendant in addition to seven photographs of unrelated individuals with similar physical attributes. (Tr. 180; Gov. Ex. 11; see also Doc. 56, p. 6 of 21 (explaining that, to create the array, JNET generates a large pool of photographs of individuals who possess similar physical attributes to those of the subject, from which the user selects the seven photographs to include based on his own judgment).) The array was based on Defendant's name learned during the course of the investigation, rather than on the description given by Corish. (Tr. 180.) Corish selected Defendant's photograph from the array and identified him as the person who pointed the gun at her. (Tr. 110-11.)
Detective Krokos arrested Defendant on September 6, 2012. (Tr. 160.) After being advised of his rights, Defendant admitted that he was with Brown during the early morning hours of July 13, 2012, that he was present when a juvenile male stole the Dodge Stratus (Tr. 161), and that he was present when Corish andNicholson confronted him and Brown on Park Street (Tr. 162). However, according to Defendant's statement, Brown was the individual who had the gun and told Nicholson and Corish to leave. (Tr. 162.)
Brian LePrell, an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives who has been employed by law enforcement for over thirteen years, interviewed Corish on November 21, 2012. (Tr. 196-97.) Agent LePrell presented Corish with another photographic array, which he also created by inputting Defendant's name and information into the JNET system.2 (Tr. 198; Gov. Ex. 13.) In addition to Defendant's photograph, the array contained the photographs of seven individuals who had similar physical characteristics to those of Defendant. (See Tr. 198-200.) Corish again identified Defendant as the individual who pointed the gun at her and Nicholson. (Tr. 111-12.) At trial, Agent LePrell further testified that he presented Corish with a second photographic array, created by inputting Brown's name into JNET. (Tr. 202; Gov. Ex. 14.) Corish selected Brown's photograph and identified him as the driver of the SUV. (Tr. 113-15, 203.) Although Nicholson accompanied Corish to this interview, no one encouraged Corish to select Defendant's photograph. (Tr. 200-01.)
In his case-in-chief, and after Brown became unavailable due to the invocation of his Fifth Amendment rights (see Tr. 60-62), Defendant presented a letter, written by Brown while he was incarcerated, which was entered into evidence through Michelle Taylor, a corrections officer at Dauphin County Prison. (Tr. 221.) Taylor...
To continue reading
Request your trial