United States v. Daniel Greatwalker

356 F.3d 908, 63 Fed. R. Serv. 498, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 1407, 2004 WL 178102
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 30, 2004
Docket02-4082
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 356 F.3d 908 (United States v. Daniel Greatwalker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Daniel Greatwalker, 356 F.3d 908, 63 Fed. R. Serv. 498, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 1407, 2004 WL 178102 (8th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Daniel Greatwalker, a Native American, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Indian country in exchange for a thirty-five year sentence. See 18 U.S.C. § 1111(a), 1153. Greatwalker moved to withdraw his plea, and the district court denied his motion. Greatwalker appealed asserting he should be allowed to withdraw his plea because his sentence was less than the statutory mandatory life sentence. We agreed. United States v. Greatwalker, 285 F.3d 727, 729 (8th Cir.2002).

On remand, Greatwalker’s case went to trial. Testimony established that on the night of the killing, Greatwalker sought out the victim, Linus Wallette, because someone named Wallette had killed Great-walker’s father. See United States v. Wallette, 580 F.2d 335 (8th Cir.1978). Several eyewitnesses testified they saw Greatwalker fight with Wallette and brutally beat him with a knife, pickax, hammer, and shovel. Blood and other evidence supported their accounts of the events. Wal-lette’s blood covered Greatwalker’s shoes and clothes, as well as the four weapons. Greatwalker told witnesses he had finally got the guy who killed his father and asked for help burying him. Greatwalker stated Wallette was still alive, but he was going to chop off his head. Two witnesses rode with Greatwalker in a truck to a wooded area, transporting the severely injured Wallette in the rear. Greatwalker and the witnesses dumped Wallette on the ground and dragged him into the trees. Greatwalker hit Wallette with a pickax, then left with the witnesses. At Great-walker’s direction, others cleaned the truck, burned his pants, and washed his other bloody clothes. After one witness called authorities and told them he had seen a murder, authorities found Wal-lette’s body in the woods. An autopsy revealed Wallette died from blunt force injuries to the head and neck, which were consistent with injuries that could be caused by the hammer, pickax, and shovel. Wallette had also been stabbed and cut. At the trial’s conclusion, the jury convicted Greatwalker of first-degree murder and three assault charges. The district court * sentenced him to life in prison. Great-walker now appeals his jury conviction, raising several issues.

First, Greatwalker claims the jury selection process improperly excluded Native Americans from the jury in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury *911 comprised of a fair cross-section of the community. Greatwalker asserts the mere fact that the jury panel included no Native Americans creates a prima facie case that the process is flawed. We disagree. To prevail on his improper exclusion claim, Greatwalker must show Native Americans are a distinctive group in the community, their representation in his ve-nire was not fair and reasonable in relation to their representation in the community, and their under-representation resulted from their systematic exclusion from the jury-selection process. United States v. Morin, 338 F.3d 838, 843 (8th Cir.2003). Greatwalker was tried in the District of North Dakota, which draws its pools of prospective jurors randomly from lists of those who voted in the last presidential election. Id. We recently upheld the District’s system, stating, “Absent proof that Native Americans, in particular, face obstacles to voter registration in presidential elections, ‘[ejthnic and racial disparities between the general population and jury pools do not by themselves invalidate the use of voter registration lists and cannot establish the “systematic exclusion” of allegedly under-represented groups.’ ” Id. at 844. Greatwalker has not attempted to prove Native Americans, in particular, face obstacles to registering to vote in presidential elections. Thus, like the defendant in Morin, Greatwalker has failed to show Native Americans are systematically excluded from jury pools in the District of North Dakota. Id.

Second, Greatwalker asserts the Government violated its open file discovery policy by failing to provide agents’ handwritten notes of witness interviews, even though he was provided with typed accounts of the interviews. According to Greatwalker, the handwritten notes were either Jencks Act material or impeachment material under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). The Jencks Act provides, “[N]o statement or report in the possession of the United States which was made by a Government witness or prospective Government witness (other than the defendant) shall be the subject of subpoena, discovery, or inspection until said witness has testified on direct examination in the trial of the case.” 18 U.S.C. § 3500(a). A defendant’s conviction may not be overturned for noncompliance with the Jencks Act absent an indication there was bad faith on the part of the Government and prejudice to the defendant. United States v. Newton, 259 F.3d 964, 967 (8th Cir.2001). Providing typewritten reports of interviews satisfied the Jencks Act unless the handwritten notes materially departed from the typewritten reports in substance or there was bad faith on the Government’s part. United States v. Grünewald, 987 F.2d 531, 535 (8th Cir.1993). Great-walker does not .allege the Government acted in bad faith and has not shown the substance of the handwritten notes materially varied from the typed version. Further, Greatwalker has made no showing of prejudice. Indeed, the Government provided over 3000 pages of discovery, including the typewritten reports of the witnesses’ interviews, which Greatwalker used during his cross-examination and questioning of witnesses. Greatwalker also recalled several witnesses after he had access to the handwritten notes, and used the notes when questioning them.

Greatwalker also argues the agents’ handwritten notes constituted impeachment material that the Government was required to disclose under Brady. Because Greatwalker did not raise a Brady claim in the district court, we review only for plain error, and find none. To establish a Brady violation, Greatwalker must show the prosecution suppressed evidence, the evidence was favorable to the accused, and the evidence was material. *912 United States v. Walrath, 324 F.3d 966, 969 (8th Cir.2003). Even if a Brady violation occurred, we do not reverse a conviction if the violation was not prejudicial and amounted to harmless error. Id. In this case, any violation was harmless.

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Bluebook (online)
356 F.3d 908, 63 Fed. R. Serv. 498, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 1407, 2004 WL 178102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-daniel-greatwalker-ca8-2004.