Enriquez v. United States

818 F. Supp. 280, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4424, 1993 WL 107046
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedMarch 22, 1993
DocketNo. 91-1704 C (2)
StatusPublished

This text of 818 F. Supp. 280 (Enriquez v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Enriquez v. United States, 818 F. Supp. 280, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4424, 1993 WL 107046 (E.D. Mo. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

FILIPPINE, Chief Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the motions of Henry Francis Enriquez to show cause, for summary judgment, and “for the Court to Re-Examine hair samples via D.N.A. profiling analysis under Rules 34(C) and 45(B) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure” (“motion to re-examine”).

The matter was referred to United States Magistrate Judge Lewis M. Blanton,1 who has filed his Order and Recommendation addressing these and certain other motions.2 28 U.S.C. § 636(b). Movant has filed a response thereto, which challenges the magistrate judge’s denial of the motion to reexamine and objects to the magistrate judge’s recommended disposition of movant’s original and addendum motions to show cause. Movant does not object to the magistrate judge’s disposition of or recommendations regarding the other pending motions of movant.

[282]*282After careful consideration of this matter and having made a de novo determination,

It Is Hereby Ordered that the Order and Recommendation of the United States magistrate judge is Sustained and Adopted.

It Is Further Ordered that movant’s original and addendum motions to show cause are Denied.

It Is Further Ordered that movant’s motion for summary judgment is Denied.

All other rulings of the magistrate judge set forth in the December 4,1992, Order and Recommendation remain in full force and effect. The case remains referred to Judge Blanton for appropriate disposition.

ORDER

BLANTON, United States Magistrate Judge.

On November 5, 1992, this court entered an order sustaining petitioner’s Motion to Subpoena Documentary Evidence, which permitted petitioner to file a request for production under Rule 34 seeking documentary evidence concerning hair samples taken from the clothing allegedly worn by the petitioner during the kidnapping of Mrs. Barbara Dontrich and the robbery of the State Bank of De Soto, Missouri. Subsequent to the order the petitioner filed his Request for Test Analysis under Rule 34. The government filed its response to the petitioner’s motion to subpoena documentary evidence attaching a laboratory report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning said hair samples.

Previously, the petitioner had filed his Motion for the Court to Re-examine Hair Samples Via DNA Profiling Analysis. In its order of November 5, 1992, the court deferred a ruling on this motion until the report concerning the results of earlier tests on the hair samples was received. The court also issued an Order to Show Cause directed to the government why various pending motions including the motion for DNA testing should not be granted. The government has filed its response to the order to show cause and the petitioner has filed Petitioner’s Response to Governments DNA Opposition and Answer to Summary Judgment on Jurisdiction Motion. The various pending motions, apart from the principal petition for habeas corpus, will be taken up one by one.

Motion for the Court to Re-examine Hair Samples Via DNA Proñling Analysis

The government opposes petitioner’s motion.

This court does not see what will be accomplished by requiring the government to perform a DNA analysis on the hair samples taken from the clothing allegedly worn by the petitioner. The FBI report already produced indicates that the one brown head hair found on Q9 (coat) was of Caucasian origin and the one brown head hair fragment found on Qll (shirt) was also of Caucasian origin (which is different from petitioner’s hair). This evidence was provided to the defendant prior to trial (Government’s Response to Petitioner Enriquez’s Motion to Subpoena Documentary Evidence, paragraph 2) and is not new evidence. The government is not claiming that the two hairs found on the clothing were the petitioner’s. There is no issue on this question. Performing DNA testing would only confirm what has already been admitted by the government. Such DNA testing would be merely cumulative of the hair analysis in both the government’s and defendant’s possession prior to trial. Of course, the fact that these two hairs were not the petitioner’s does not mean that the petitioner did not wear the clothing. Possible sources for the hair are almost limitless. The clothing, a jacket, a pair of pants and a shirt, were found outside, tucked in behind an area of the septic tank system of a business located at Herculaneum, Missouri, between the tank and the building. In a pocket of the jacket were found a hair piece and a bottle of glue. Herculaneum is 20 to 30 miles from the De Soto area. The person who found the hair piece thought it was a fake beard. (T. IV, 11 to 18) The hair samples in question could have been part of the hair piece used as a beard. The clothing worn by the robber and kidnapper could have been stolen and the hair come from the former owner or the property could have come from a used clothing store. The mere fact that hair found on clothing is not that of [283]*283the petitioner does not prove that the petitioner did not commit the crimes of which he was convicted.

As noted, such evidence would be merely cumulative of a fact which is not an issue and was not an issue at the trial, namely, that the two strands of hair found on the clothing did not belong to the petitioner. Also, as noted, the results of the tests conducted by the FBI were available to and given to the petitioner’s attorney and any decision to use or not use the results of the test would have been a matter of strategy and not cognizable in a habeas corpus petition.

Petitioner’s motion that the hair be reexamined under DNA profiling analysis will be denied.

Demand to Show Cause

Petitioner states in his brief filed with the motion for summary judgment that on May 14, 1992, he mailed to the court a Motion to Show Cause [Pursuant to “Full Proof’ of Jurisdiction]. The file shows no such pleading has been received by the court. However, in connection with petitioner’s motion for summary judgment he attaches as Exhibit 2 a copy of a document titled Demand to Show Cause [Pursuant to “full proof’ of Jurisdiction.] In his letter of May 26, 1992 to the Clerk of the Court, petitioner inquired whether his “Motion to Show Cause” mailed May 13, 1992, arrived in the Clerk’s office. In the same letter the petitioner indicated that he had been having trouble getting his mail out. The file does not reflect any reply to petitioner’s letter of May 26, 1992. Since the Demand to Show Cause is before the court as an exhibit to the motion for summary judgment and since the government apparently received a copy of the pleading (see page 1 of Government’s Response to Show Cause Order of November 5, 1992), this court will proceed to consider the Demand to Show Cause. This pleading sets out petitioner’s reasoning that the federal court had no jurisdiction to try him for the kidnapping and bank robbery of which he was convicted because he was not a resident of the District of Columbia nor did the crimes occur on a reservation or other territory owned by the United States.

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Bluebook (online)
818 F. Supp. 280, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4424, 1993 WL 107046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/enriquez-v-united-states-moed-1993.