Russell H. Brocksmith v. United States

99 A.3d 690, 2014 D.C. App. LEXIS 383, 2014 WL 4636026
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 18, 2014
Docket12-CF-287
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 99 A.3d 690 (Russell H. Brocksmith v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Russell H. Brocksmith v. United States, 99 A.3d 690, 2014 D.C. App. LEXIS 383, 2014 WL 4636026 (D.C. 2014).

Opinions

BLACKBURNE-RIGSBY, Associate Judge:

Following a jury trial, appellant Russell Brocksmith was found guilty of assault with intent to commit robbery (“AWIR”).1 The complainant, Valerie Villalta, is a male-to-female transgender person. Because this was appellant’s third violent crime conviction, the trial court imposed an enhanced sentence of fifteen years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.2

On appeal, appellant principally argues that the trial court committed reversible error by reinstructing the jury on “reasonable inferences” during jury deliberations. Specifically, the court gave the reinstruction in response to a juror’s note asking whether, in determining witness credibility, he or she could take into consideration the belief that the complainant had an “overwhelming incentive” not to report the crime for fear of discrimination and exposing herself as transgender. Appellant argues that there was no evidence that the complainant harbored such fears, and that, [693]*693consequently, the trial court’s neutral response misled the jury into believing that it could consider a theory that appellant contends was unsupported by the record and speculative. Alternatively, appellant argues that the case should be remanded for resentencing for two reasons: (1) the trial court misread the sentence enhancement statute, § 22-1804a, to impose a “presumption” against suspending any part of his fifteen-year sentence; and (2) the trial court did not strictly comply with the required procedures of D.C.Code § 28-111 (2001), prior to handing down the enhanced sentence.

We affirm. In light of the evidence and arguments made at trial, the trial court’s reinstruction did not have the effect of encouraging the jury to engage in improper speculation because there was evidence to support the inference that the juror’s note sought to make. Further, on this record, we conclude that a remand for resentencing is unnecessary.

I. Factual Background

A. The Assault

On August 1, 2011, at approximately 4:00 p.m., Ms. Villalta3 was walking home from work along 16th Street and Buchanan Street in Northwest, Washington, D.C. When she walked past appellant — whom she had seen around the neighborhood on three or four prior occasions — he “immediately attacked” her and tried to steal her handbag. Ms. Villalta resisted by holding onto her bag and, in response, appellant grabbed her hair, wrapped it around his hand “very tightly,” and cursed “f* * *ing b* * *h, give me your purse.” Appellant then punched Ms. Villalta in the head three or four times. Ms. Villalta threatened to call the police, which caused appellant to stop his attack and walk away very quickly. Although still frightened, Ms. Villalta grabbed her cell phone and snapped a photograph of appellant as he scurried away. Ms. Villalta then went home and called the police roughly ten to fifteen minutes later. The police stopped appellant based on Ms. Villalta’s description. Thereafter, Ms. Villalta identified him at the location where he was stopped, and appellant was arrested.

B. The Trial

The government’s case relied heavily on Ms. Villalta’s account. Consequently, the defense’s primary strategy was to attack Ms. Villalta’s credibility, arguing in its opening statement that Ms. Villalta fabricated the assault after appellant rebuffed her unwanted sexual overtures and insulted her as he walked past her on the street. As part of this strategy, the defense emphasized Ms. Villalta’s status as a transgender female and claimed that because appellant’s insults “cut deep” and “went to the core of who she was,” Ms. Villalta decided to “get even” with appellant by having him falsely arrested.4

[694]*694Defense counsel’s cross-examination of Ms. Villalta further sought to engrain this impression on the jury. Specifically, counsel first questioned Ms. Villalta as to why she delayed calling the police, asking: “[A]t the moment that you started walking toward your house from the alley, you weren’t sure whether you were going to call the police or not? Is that your testimony?” She answered: “I was scared. I didn’t know whether to call the police or not.” Then, later on, defense counsel and Ms. Villalta engaged in the following parley:

Defense Counsel: You made a sexual advance at [appellant]?
Ms. Villalta: I’m sorry?
Defense Counsel: You made a sexual advance at [appellant?]
Ms. Villalta: I never did that.
[[Image here]]
Defense Counsel: He pushed you away at that point?
Ms. Villalta: That never happened.
Defense Counsel: He insulted you?
Ms. Villalta: That never happened. When he insulted me was when he was holding me by the hair and when he tried to steal my purse.
Defense Counsel: He insulted you for being a transgender person, right?
Ms. Villalta: I don’t know whether he did it because that’s — I’m a person that’s like that. I never did anything to call his attention to me. So I really don’t understand.
[[Image here]]
Defense Counsel: So you have been insulted in the past for your status as a transgender person, right?
Ms. Villalta: Well, I don’t know if when people look at me they know that I’m a transgender person.
Defense Counsel: Well, on this day you were offended by [appellant’s] words, right?
Ms. Villalta: Of course.

Subsequently, the government’s redirect focused on Ms. Villalta’s thought process after the assault, presumably to show why she hesitated in calling the police. In response, Ms. Villalta testified:

A lot of things went through my head. I repeat, I was afraid. Never in my life has an incident like this happened to me here. It’s a bit difficult to explain. I never would have wanted this to happen to me. I know I’m a transgender person. And this happened to me.... 5

Ms. Villalta also explained that she initially hesitated in calling the police because she was afraid that the police “would not arrest [appellant] and [she] could have run into him again and he could have done it again[,]” but that she ultimately decided to do so because: “[H]e hit me and he tried to rob me and it hurt too much, and at the same time I was afraid.”

Additionally, the government proffered into evidence the photograph that Ms. Vil-lalta had taken of appellant, her 911 call, and the testimony of the responding police officers for corroboration. Detective Robert Schmidt of the Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) testified that he brought Ms. Villalta to the location where appellant was stopped for a show-up identification. He observed that Ms. Villalta was “upset, flustered” and had a flushed face, red marks on her left arm, and hair “coming right out” of her head. Officer [695]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
99 A.3d 690, 2014 D.C. App. LEXIS 383, 2014 WL 4636026, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/russell-h-brocksmith-v-united-states-dc-2014.