United States v. Lake
| Decision Date | 07 July 1997 |
| Docket Number | Criminal No. 1996–161. |
| Citation | 37 V.I. 217 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Hilton LAKE, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Virgin Islands |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Defendant who was found not guilty of carjacking but guilty of carrying a firearm during commission of a carjacking filed motion for judgment of acquittal or for new trial. The District Court, Moore, Chief Judge, held that: (1) evidence was sufficient to establish defendant's attempt to cause death or serious bodily harm; (2) evidence was sufficient to establish that victim's car was taken “from the person or presence” of victim, as element of carjacking; and (3) government's failure to produce “rough notes” of government agent who did not testify did not require new trial.
Motions denied. Mark Patterson, Assistant United States Attorney, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., for plaintiff.
Stephen Brusch, Assistant Federal Public Defender, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., for defendant.
Hilton Lake was tried before a jury on a two-count indictment charging carjacking and carrying a firearm during the commission of a carjacking. Lake was found not guilty on the carjacking count but guilty on count two, carrying a firearm during a crime of violence. Lake has filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal or in the alternative for a new trial. For the following reasons, Lake's motion for an acquittal is denied. Lake's motion for a new trial is also denied.
On June 3, 1996, the defendant Hilton Lake approached Milton Clarke at a secluded beach, while Clarke was sitting on the sand reading a newspaper, and asked whether a white car parked on the top of the road belonged to Clarke. Clarke answered yes and asked whether there was a problem. The defendant replied no and that he just wanted to know whether the car was Clarke's. Clarke returned to reading his newspaper because Lake did not show any more interest in him at that point. Lake walked further down the beach but then turned around and returned to Clarke and asked to borrow the car. Clarke refused. Lake said it was an emergency. Clarke said the car belonged to a friend and that he could not lend his friend's car. Lake again walked away, returned a second time, and again asked to borrow the car and asked whether Clarke had a cellular phone. Getting fed up, Clarke told Lake to leave him “the hell alone.” Lake retreated for a third time, and sat a distance away for three to five minutes, but then approached Clarke for a third time asking to borrow the car and Clarke again told him to leave him “the fuck alone.” Lake then lifted up his shirt revealing the handle of a gun in his waist band and asked Clarke if he knew what that was. Clarke stood up and started backing away. Lake pulled the gun out, put it against Clarke's face, and asked for the keys to his car. Clarke backed away, grabbed his knapsack and headed towards and went into the water. Lake followed him, but walked out onto a promontory of rocks and pointed the gun and demanded the keys. Clarke continued to tell Lake loudly to just leave him alone.
While Clarke was in the water exchanging words with Lake, Clarke's friend, Pamela Croaker, came down to the beach. Croaker observed Clarke in the water and the defendant on the rocks with his back facing her. When Clarke saw her he yelled to her, “He's got a gun,” which Croaker apparently did not hear. (Tr. 60.) Lake turned around and walked off the promontory towards Croaker. When he approached Croaker, Lake asked whether she was with Clarke and she responded yes because she had planned to sit with Clarke on the beach. Lake then demanded her car keys and she refused. When Lake suddenly grabbed the keys she was holding in her right hand, Croaker grabbed them back. Croaker testified that Lake then
had hold of my wrist and was trying to twist [the keys] off my hand and we rolled in the sand and the water and kind of were fighting. And then we both stood up. And on my key chain I have mace and managed to get it undone and aim it at him so when I stood up I had the mace aimed at him but he had a gun aimed at me.
(Tr. 94–95.) Clarke also observed Croaker and Lake “kind of rolling around in the sand.” (Tr. 60.) Lake waved the gun in front of Croaker demanding her keys. She protested that she did not have the keys and that she had hitchhiked to the beach. Lake told her to show him her keys and noticed a car key on the key chain. When he again demanded the keys, Croaker relaxed her grip and let Lake take them. She then asked that he leave her house keys and only take her car keys.
The top of the road where the cars were parked was out of sight from the beach. To access the beach from the road required a walk down a steep path through bushes, rocks and shrubbery. After taking Croaker's keys, Lake walked up the path to Croaker's car and departed. When Croaker and Clarke arrived at the top of the path, they noticed that Lake had left Croaker's house keys on top of Clarke's car. Shortly thereafter Croaker and Clarke went to the police to make a report. Lake was arrested in Croaker's car that same day while at a McDonald's drive-through. He was identified by Croaker and Lake from a photo array that same night.
After his arrest, Lake was questioned by police officers and an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Lake told the FBI agent he had hitched a ride to the secluded beach, that he had asked a man for his car keys, and when that man said no, he asked a woman for her car keys. He struggled with her for the keys, and then pulled out what he said was a toy gun, pointed it at her and took her car. Lake told the FBI agent and officers that he had thrown the gun in a swampy area in Red Hook on the East end of St. Thomas, but declined to take the officers to where the gun might have been located. When asked to tell the truth about whether it was a toy gun or not, he responded that he would think about it. (Tr. 82–83.) Clarke and Croaker provided descriptions of the gun during their testimony. Clarke described the gun as (Tr. 53.) Clarke also testified that he didn't know if it was real or if it was a toy, but that he was very frightened. (Tr. 54.) Croaker testified that it was a “long gun” that was “silver white” and looked like a “cowboy gun.” (Tr. 95.)
The indictment charged in Count One:
On or about the 3rd day of June 1996, at St. Thomas, in the District of the Virgin Islands, the defendant, HILTON LAKE, did with the intent to cause serious bodily harm, take a motor vehicle that has been transported in interstate commerce, from the person or presence of another, by force and violence or by intimidation....
Count Two charged a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c):
On or about the 3rd day of June 1996, at St. Thomas, in the District of the Virgin Islands, the defendant, HILTON LAKE, did knowingly carry a firearm, during and in relation of a crime of violence for which he may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, that is carjacking in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2119.
At the close of the government's case, Lake moved for a judgment of acquittal pursuant to Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The motion was denied and Lake put on his case, which included an alibi defense. After deliberations, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty of carjacking (count one) and guilty on count two, the gun charge.
Lake argues that he is entitled to a judgment of acquittal on the ground that there was insufficient evidence to find him guilty on count two. Lake also claims that he is entitled to a new trial because the government did not produce rough notes from officers who questioned Lake, and because the Court failed to list the elements of carjacking when it instructed the jury on count two. This Court finds there was sufficient evidence to convict the defendant on count two. In addition, the Court finds that a new trial is not required.
In order to find a defendant guilty of carrying a firearm in relation to the commission of a carjacking under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), there must be sufficient evidence from which a jury could find the defendant guilty of the elements of carjacking as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2119. See United States v. Jenkins, 90 F.3d 814, 821 (3d Cir.1996) (). However, the mere fact that the jury acquitted Mr. Lake of carjacking is not a finding as a matter of law that there was not sufficient evidence for the jury to have convicted him of 18 U.S.C. § 2119. Nor does his acquittal mandate a reversal of his conviction on the gun charge. See United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 105 S.Ct. 471, 83 L.Ed.2d 461 (1984) ().
The standard used by a trial court in granting a Rule 29 motion for acquittal is the same as the standard used by an appellate court reviewing a conviction. When reviewing a jury verdict, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the government, and the conviction is affirmed if a rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jenkins, 90 F.3d at 817. “A defendant challenging the sufficiency of the evidence bears a heavy burden.” United States v. Casper, 956 F.2d 416, 421 (3d Cir.1992). Only “when the record contains no evidence, regardless of how it is weighted, from which the jury could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, may an appellate court overturn the verdict.” United States v. Anderson, 108 F.3d 478, 481 (3d Cir.1997) (citation and internal quotations...
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