United States v. Arrowgarp

253 F. App'x 790
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedNovember 8, 2007
Docket06-4149
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 253 F. App'x 790 (United States v. Arrowgarp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Arrowgarp, 253 F. App'x 790 (10th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

STEPHEN H. ANDERSON, Circuit Judge.

In a prior order, this panel has determined unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral argument. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore submitted without oral argument.

Following a jury trial, Tommy Arrowgarp was convicted on one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor while within Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2241(c) and 1153(a); one count of sexual abuse of a minor while within Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2243(a)(1) and 1153(a); and one count of assault within Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 113(a)(4) and 1153(a). He was sentenced to 262 months’ imprisonment, followed by sixty months of supervised release. Arrowgarp appeals his conviction and sentence, which we affirm.

*792 BACKGROUND

The facts underlying Arrowgarp’s conviction are not in dispute and are as follows: “TA,” the minor victim in this case, moved into Gloria Thompson’s house when she was approximately six years old, and remained there for the next ten years. Gloria Thompson is TA’s grandmother’s sister and she is the mother of defendant Arrowgarp. Arrowgarp lived in Thompson’s house during the same time that TA resided there.

When TA was six years old, Arrowgarp began sexually abusing her, initially by means of digital penetration. Arrowgarp began having sexual intercourse with TA when she was nine years old, and that continued on a regular basis until TA ran away when she was sixteen years old. On September 5, 2001, when TA was sixteen years old, Arrowgarp came home from work and assaulted TA and then raped her. When her bruises from that assault had healed, TA returned to school, but ran away to a friend’s house after school. The friend’s mother took her to the Children’s Justice Center where TA reported the abuse. This prosecution followed. 1

Arrowgarp was first tried in May 2004 on three counts of aggravated sexual assault, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2241(a), and one count of sexual assault of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2241(c). The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the three § 2241(a) counts, but continued to deliberate on the § 2241(c) count. The district court gave an Allen charge to the jury, 2 but the jury remained unable to reach a verdict on the one count. Accordingly, the district court declared a mistrial as to that count.

Ten days later, the government informed Arrowgarp that it would retry the case. The case was reassigned to a different district court judge, additional charges were added, and a second superseding indictment was filed, charging Arrowgarp with aggravated sexual abuse of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2241(c), sexual abuse, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2242(1), sexual abuse of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2243(a)(1), and assault, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(4). The government subsequently moved to dismiss the sexual abuse count.

At trial, following the presentation of evidence from both sides, the district court instructed the jury. After the district court gave the jury its instructions, the jury commenced deliberations at approximately 11 a.m. In the late afternoon, the jury sent a note to the district court judge, who then summoned Arrowgarp, his counsel and government counsel to his chambers. The district court judge informed the parties that the jury was deadlocked and the judge was inclined to give the jury an Allen charge. A lengthy discussion ensued. Defense counsel objected to the Allen charge on the ground that the jury had not been given enough time to deliberate.

The district court judge brought the jury into the courtroom, where the judge read the jury an Allen charge at approximately 5:00 p.m. At approximately 7:15 p.m., the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all three counts.

In preparation for sentencing, the United States Probation Office prepared a presentence report (“PSR”). Pursuant to United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual (“USSG”) (2000) *793 § 2A3.1(b)(1), the PSR recommended a four-level increase in the base offense level because “the offense involved conduct described in 18 U.S.C. § 2241(a) or (b).” Along with other increases in the applicable base offense level, Arrowgarp’s total combined adjusted offense level was thirty-nine. With a criminal history category of I, the advisory guideline sentencing range was 262 to 327 months. Arrowgarp was sentenced to 262 months, at the low end of the advisory guideline range.

Arrowgarp appeals both his conviction and sentence, arguing: (1) the Allen charge given to the jury was impermissibly coercive; and (2) the district court committed errors when it sentenced Arrowgarp in that it failed to assess the reasonableness of the sentence, treated the Guidelines as mandatory and/or applied a presumption of reasonableness to the Guidelines sentence and impermissibly used judge-found facts relating to conduct of which Arrowgarp was acquitted to increase his base offense level by four levels. 3

DISCUSSION

I. Allen charges

“An Allen charge is ‘a supplemental instruction given to the jury and designed to encourage a divided jury to agree on a verdict.’ ” United States v. LaVallee, 439 F.3d 670, 689 (10th Cir.2006) (quoting United States v. Zabriskie, 415 F.3d 1139, 1147 (10th Cir.2005)). “When an Allen

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Related

United States v. Coulter
57 F.4th 1168 (Tenth Circuit, 2023)
United States v. Arrowgarp
558 F. App'x 824 (Tenth Circuit, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
253 F. App'x 790, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-arrowgarp-ca10-2007.