United States v. Bailey

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided June 2, 1997·No. 95-50254·Published

Opinion

REVISED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS For the Fifth Circuit

No. 95-50254

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Plaintiff-Appellee

VERSUS

JIMMY C. BAILEY

Defendant-Appellant

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas

April 25, 1997

Before DAVIS and DUHÉ, Circuit Judges, and Dowd,1 District Judge.

JOHN M. DUHÉ, JR., Circuit Judge:

Appellant Jimmy C. Bailey challenges his conviction on multiple counts related to his breaking and entering into the homes of Vicki LaShawn Griffin2 and Michelle Joshua, residents on the Fort Hood Military Reservation. For reasons that follow, we

1 District Judge of the Northern District of Ohio, sitting by designation.

2 At the time of trial, Griffin was using the name Vicki LaShawn Armstrong. Because she was known as Vicki LaShawn Griffin during the events in question, we will refer to her as Griffin.

affirm.

BACKGROUND

Count 1 of the indictment charges Bailey with the aggravated sexual abuse of Griffin, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2241(a)(1) and 2245; count 2 charges Bailey under theAssimilative Crimes Act 18 U.S.C. § 13, with the burglary of Griffin’s habitation with intent to commit aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, and aggravated sexual abuse, in violation of Tex. Pen. Code §§ 22.011, 22.021, 30.02, and 18 U.S.C. § 2241(a)(1); count 3 charges Bailey under the Assimilative Crimes Act, with burglary of Joshua’s habitation with intent to commit aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated sexual abuse, and theft, in violation of Tex. Pen. Code §§ 22.011, 22.021, 30.02, and 18 U.S.C. § 2241(a)(1); count 4 charges Bailey with receipt of a stolen firearm valued at more than $100, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 662.

The acts alleged in counts 1 and 2 arose out of an incident occurring in Griffin’s home on the Fort Hood military base in Texas.3 In the pre-dawn hours of May 25, 1992, Griffin, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, awoke to being choked by a man she later identified as Bailey. As he was choking her, Bailey placed his hand in Griffin’s underwear and inserted his finger into her vagina. Griffin pushed Bailey away, screamed for help, and asked Bailey to leave her alone. Bailey left but then returned,

3

Fort Hood, an United States military reservation, is a federal enclave as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 7, the basis for which the Assimilative Crimes Act applies.

and Griffin again pleaded for her safety. This time, Bailey left and did not return.

Griffin, having observed her attacker in the bright hallway light while he stood in her bedroom doorway, described him as a five foot ten or eleven inches tall, light-skinned, Hispanic male with hair close to his head and a light mustache, and clothed only in light blue hospital pants and white canvas shoes.4 Although a police sketch was made, Bailey was not identified as Griffin’s attacker until some months later when Griffin spoke with Staff Sergeant Yvette Smalls about a similar attack on Smalls. That conversation led Griffin to a high school yearbook containing Bailey’s photo, by which she identified Bailey as her attacker. Griffin identified Bailey again in three subsequent photo line-ups.

Counts 3 and 4 of the indictment are based upon an incident that occurred on August 25, 1993, in the home of Michelle Joshua. Joshua, who lived alone on the Fort Hood base, was sleeping on her couch when she awoke in the pre-dawn morning because she felt that someone had pulled her toe. Awake, she began watching television but was interrupted by “a bumping sound.” Joshua arose from the couch, turned around, and saw a man in one of the bedrooms emerging from a closet. He wore a ski mask and dark-colored pants but no shirt. Joshua screamed and ran to a neighbor’s house to call the police. When the police arrived, Joshua informed them that a foreign car she believed belonged to the intruder was parked at the

4 Griffin testified that at the time of trial, Bailey looked heavier and had more hair on his head and under his chin than he had had at the time of the attack.

end of her driveway. Upon investigation, the police found a black ski mask on the back seat of the car and a Ruger nine millimeter pistol and two magazines in the trunk. The car belonged to one of Bailey’s parents. When Joshua later returned to her house, she found nothing missing but noticed that the closet was “messed up.” The police later discovered that the pistol found in Bailey’s trunk belonged to a mechanic on Fort Hood, who had reported it stolen in June 1993.

When questioned, Bailey initially denied entering Joshua’s home but admitted to having been in the area. He then changed his story and confessed to entering Joshua’s residence but claimed he did not know why he had done so. Bailey also acknowledged he owned a ski mask that he wore “for fun.” He denied having worn the mask in Joshua’s home, however. He also stated that he had bought the gun found in his car with full knowledge that it was stolen.

Bailey was convicted by a jury on all counts.

DISCUSSION

Bailey argues that (1) the district court erred in admitting evidence of an extrinsic offense; (2) the evidence is insufficient to convict him on the burglary charge (count 3); (3) the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss counts 3 and 4 for alleged violations of the Speedy Trial Act; and (4) the district court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of criminal trespass. We are unpersuaded by Bailey’s arguments.

I.

The district court, under Fed. R. Evid. 404(b), admitted evidence of Bailey’s attack on Smalls only to demonstrate Bailey’s intent and identity in committing the burglaries charged in counts 2 and 3. The 404(b) evidence showed the following: On November 22, 1991, Smalls was awakened before sunrise when her touch- sensitive bedside lamp came on, and found a stranger standing in her bedroom doorway. Alarmed, Smalls asked the intruder his identity. The intruder did not respond and instead sat down on Smalls’s bed while Smalls was still in it. He informed Smalls that he was coming to visit a previous occupant who had given him unrestricted access. He failed to identify this person, however, and did not leave Smalls’s home despite the realization of his purported mistake. Although Smalls asked him to leave, he refused. Eventually, the intruder told Smalls, without revealing his name, that he was a football player at Killeen High School. Four to six hours after his entry into Smalls’s home, during which time he constantly guarded Smalls for fear she would call the police, the intruder finally left. As he was leaving, the intruder pulled Smalls towards him, pushed her up against the wall, and grabbed her breast and crotch. When she screamed, he ran out. Thereafter, Smalls examined photographs of high school football teams in Killeen and identified Bailey as her attacker.

During an interview conducted two days after the incident, Bailey admitted that he had entered Smalls’s home uninvited, that he had stayed some length of time, that he had seen her breasts, and that he had asked Smalls to have sex with him. He denied

grabbing Smalls’s breasts or vaginal area, however, but conceded he may have brushed up against her chest.

Bailey maintains that the admission of this evidence is not relevant to the charged burglary offenses and that its prejudicial effect outweighs its probative value. We disagree.

The decision to admit or exclude extrinsic evidence is subject to reversal only upon a clear showing of an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Sanchez, 988 F.2d 1384, 1393 (5th Cir. 1993); United States v. Peden, 961 F.2d 517, 521 (5th Cir. 1992). Rule 404(b) provides, in pertinent part:

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident . . . .

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