United States v. Edward Dollson

609 F. App'x 108
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 21, 2015
Docket14-3169
StatusUnpublished

This text of 609 F. App'x 108 (United States v. Edward Dollson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Edward Dollson, 609 F. App'x 108 (3d Cir. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION *

SHWARTZ, Circuit Judge.

Edward Dollson appeals his judgment of conviction, arguing that the Government improperly vouched for its witnesses and that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) is unconstitutional. For the following reasons, we will affirm.

I

A grand jury indicted Dollson for being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). 1 At trial, the Government presented testimony from Officers Matthew York and Carmen Palmie-ro about an incident involving Dollson and his girlfriend, Khariyyah Goldsmith. On December 10, 2012, the officers witnessed a woman run out of a house exclaiming that a man inside was “going to kill” someone. App. 88. Hearing a “disturbance” upstairs, the officers entered the house. Id.

Officer York testified that, as he ascended the stairs, he saw Dollson “holding ... a black firearm about head level, pointed at a female in the room.” App. 88. Officer Palmiero testified that from his vantage point on the upstairs landing, he could only see part of Dollson’s body and “a hand going up” but not “what exactly [was] in his hand.” App. 166. Both officers agreed that Officer York then “yelled gun,” App. 89, and Officer York testified that he saw Dollson then “diseard[] that firearm back behind him, lunge[] across the room with both hands and grab[ ] the female around the neck,” App. 88-89.

*110 Both officers testified that Officer Pal-miero then tackled Dollson and Officer York “escorted” Goldsmith, “who was hysterical, out of the room,” although he did not completely leave the room. App. 89. Seeing Dollson’s “hands [ ] reached out to where the firearm was tossed” as he struggled with Officer Palmiero on the ground, Officer York stepped on Dollson’s hand “to make sure that [Dollson] couldn’t grab the weapon,” picked up the gun, and cleared a live round from the chamber. App. 89.

On cross-examination, defense counsel questioned both officers about why their police reports mentioned only that a gun was recovered and did not mention that Officer York saw Dollson holding the weapon. Defense counsel also asked Officer York why he would have entered the room without drawing a weapon, and then left his partner struggling with Dollson while he escorted Goldsmith from the room, if in fact he had seen Dollson with a firearm. Defense counsel also asked Officer York about differences between his trial and preliminary hearing testimony.

After the Government rested, Dollson presented testimony from Goldsmith, who testified that, on the day of the incident, she returned to her house to find Dollson lying in bed next to a gun. The two began to argue, and Dollson blocked Goldsmith from leaving the room. Goldsmith testified that she then picked up the gun and pointed it at Dollson’s feet. According to Goldsmith, Dollson said, “you don’t know what you’re doing with a gun,” grabbed it from her, and tossed it on the floor beside the bed. App. 207. They continued to argue and Dollson shook her a couple of times before Officers York and Palmiero entered. She claimed that the officers knocked twice before entering, ordered Dollson to the floor, and then saw the gun.

During closing arguments, the Government reviewed the elements of the felon-in-possession charge and argued that the officers’ testimony established that Dollson possessed the gun. The defense challenged the officers’ credibility, emphasizing that their reports failed to mention that Officer York had seen Dollson with a gun and arguing that the officers’ actions — entering the room without guns drawn and Officer York’s removal of Goldsmith from the room during Officer Pal-miero’s struggle with Dollson — were inconsistent with the behavior of officers who knew a weapon was in the room. Defense counsel also questioned why Officer York’s preliminary hearing testimony differed from his testimony at trial, pointing out that Officer York had sworn to tell the truth and was “under oath” at the preliminary hearing. App. 262. Defense counsel asked the jury to credit Goldsmith’s account that Dollson disarmed her and find that his brief possession of the gun was justified.

The Government opened its rebuttal with several statements that prompted three objections from defense counsel on the ground of improper vouching, each of which the District Court overruled. The Government stated first that “[t]o believe the defense’s theory of the case, you would have to believe that Officers York and Palmiero came to court today, took an oath, swearing to tell the truth, and lied.” App. 282. The Government then reiterated that to find the defendant not guilty, the jury “would have to believe ... that two Philadelphia police officers came into this court, stood at that stand, swore and took an oath, and then lied to you about what they saw in that room.” App. 283. The Government then stated: “I submit to you that there’s no evidence in this case suggesting to you why these two Philadelphia police officers would contrive [this] story” about Dollson. App. 283-84.

*111 The Government then pointed out that the officers’ stories differed based on their vantage points and asked: “[I]f you believe that the officers contrived a story about seeing the defendant point a firearm, then ... why wouldn’t both officers just tell you they both saw a gun?” App. 285. The Government urged the jury to credit the testimony of the officers, who, unlike Goldsmith, have “no stake in the outcome of this case.” App. 286.

After arguing that the evidence failed to satisfy the four prongs of a justification defense, the Government asserted that the officers entered the premises out of concern for the safety of the people in the house and that “this is the kind of danger that these police officers face on their daily job, but they took this risk in this case in order to break up a fight and to prevent possible serious injury to the woman upstairs.” App. 289-90.

After the rebuttal concluded, defense counsel again objected, arguing that the statements were impermissible “vouching.” App. 293. The Government explained that it was “using the language that defense counsel used in [her] closing” and was “refuting” defense counsel’s argument that the officers had lied. App. 293. The District Court overruled the objection.

The jury convicted Dollson, and he now appeals.

II 2

A

“A prosecutor improperly vouches when he (1) assures the jury that the testimony of a government witness is credible, and (2) bases his assurance on either his claimed personal knowledge or other information not contained in the record.” United States v. Lore, 430 F.3d 190, 211 (3d Cir.2005). Where, however, a prosecutor merely “argues that a witness is being truthful based on the testimony given at trial, .,. the prosecutor is engaging in proper argument and is not vouching.” United States v. Walker,

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Richardson v. Marsh
481 U.S. 200 (Supreme Court, 1987)
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155 F.3d 180 (Third Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Robert E. Brennan
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United States v. Clarence Shambry
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United States v. Lore
430 F.3d 190 (Third Circuit, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
609 F. App'x 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-edward-dollson-ca3-2015.