United States v. Ernest Lee Jennings

991 F.2d 725, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 12318, 1993 WL 148949
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMay 26, 1993
Docket92-6117
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 991 F.2d 725 (United States v. Ernest Lee Jennings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Ernest Lee Jennings, 991 F.2d 725, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 12318, 1993 WL 148949 (11th Cir. 1993).

Opinion

DUBINA, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Ernest Lee Jennings (“Jennings”) was charged with (1) knowingly forcibly assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with Officer Kevin Lee. Poole (“Poole”) of the Bureau of Prisons while he was engaged in his official duties, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) (Count I); and (2) knowingly forcibly assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with Lieutenant Edwin L. Hughston (“Hughston”) of the Bureau of Prisons while he was engaged in his official duties, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) (Count II). After a trial by jury, Jennings was acquitted on Count I but convicted on Count II.

Jennings appeals his conviction on the grounds that the district court (1) committed reversible error by refusing to quash the indictment, declare a mistrial or grant a continuance based on prosecutorial misconduct or improprieties regarding the grand jury that indicted him; (2) abused its discretion by failing to grant an evidentiary hearing regarding his motion to quash the indictment and dismiss prosecution on the ground of selective prosecution; and (3) committed reversible error by failing to give his proposed jury instructions. In addition, Jennings appeals his sentence on the ground that the district court erred in applying the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.” or the “Guidelines”). While we find no merit in Jennings’ arguments regarding his conviction, we hold that the district court erred in applying the Guidelines. Accordingly, we affirm Jennings’ conviction but vacate his sentence and remand for resentencing.

I. BACKGROUND FACTS

At the time of the offenses charged in the indictment, Jennings was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institute, Tal-ladega, Alabama, serving a prison sentence for several convictions. Poole, a correctional officer, stopped Jennings and asked him to produce his identification card. Jennings responded that he did not have the card. Poole told Jennings to get the card and Jennings refused. Poole detained Jennings and called Hughston, who was Poole’s supervisor. Hughston had basically the same conversation with Jennings and then told Poole to handcuff Jennings and take him to segregation. With Hughston watching, Poole began to handcuff Jennings, and Jennings struck Poole in the mouth with his right fist causing him to lose consciousness for a moment. Jennings then turned on Hughston and struck him twice. Additional correctional officers arrived and subdued Jennings.

*728 As a result of the altercation, Poole had a three-quarter inch cut through his upper lip requiring a three-level suture and several other abrasions and cuts. Hughston also received multiple abrasions and cuts. Both men were treated at a local hospital and immediately released.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Grand Juror

During the trial the government disclosed the grand jury testimony of the single grand jury witness pursuant to the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500 (requiring government to disclose to criminal defendant any prior statement made by government witness that relates to the witness’ trial testimony). The disclosed portion of the grand jury proceeding contained a statement by an unidentified grand juror that he/she was a friend of Hughston. After thanking the grand juror for that information, the Assistant United States Attorney promised to get back to the grand juror concerning his/her statement. Although it is not part of the record, the government alleges that it did get back to the grand juror and that it asked additional questions about the relationship between the grand juror and Hughston. The government did not disclose the additional information, however, because it was not related to the witness’ trial testimony, and therefore was not Jencks material.

After Jennings received the disclosed portion of the grand jury proceeding, he moved the court to conduct an evidentiary hearing on the matter and to give him additional time to investigate; in the alternative he moved for a mistrial or to quash the indictment on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct. 1 The district court denied the motion because Jennings failed to show how he was prejudiced by the relationship between the grand juror and Hughston.

Jennings contends that the district court erred in requiring him to show that he was prejudiced by the grand juror’s relationship with Hughston because the district court refused to grant a continuance or conduct an evidentiary hearing to allow him to discover evidence of prejudice. Jennings’ argument is flawed because he has failed to consider the impact of the harmless error rule, Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a). We have applied the harmless error rule to similar facts in a habeas corpus case and have determined that a conviction on an indictment makes this type of grand juror problem harmless. Porter v. Wainwright, 805 F.2d 930 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 918, 107 S.Ct. 3195, 96 L.Ed.2d 682 (1987).

In Porter a grand juror was related by marriage to the murder victims, but we held that even assuming arguendo that the grand juror’s presence was error, the error was harmless because the defendant was convicted of the murders. Following United States v. Mechanik, 475 U.S. 66, 70, 106 S.Ct. 938, 941-42, 89 L.Ed.2d 50 (1986), in which the Supreme Court held that a subsequent conviction on an indictment made harmless the error of having two witnesses testify before a grand jury simultaneously, we stated that while a grand jury’s function is to prevent a defendant from having to defend against a crime for which there is no probable cause, a petit jury’s guilty verdict establishes both probable cause and guilt. Porter, 805 F.2d at 941. We went on to say that the error of a grand juror knowing a victim was no different from the error held harmless by the Supreme Court in Mechanik of having two witnesses testify before a grand jury simultaneously. Id. at 942. Furthermore, we held that Me-chanik controlled the issue of whether any error created by the prosecutor failing to reveal the grand juror’s relationship with the victims was harmless. Id. We held that the conviction made harmless the government’s failure to disclose the relationship between the grand juror and one of the victims and since the defendant could not prevail on this claim he was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the issue. Id.

While the holding in Porter is directly applicable to this case and would dictate that Jennings’ conviction renders harmless *729

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. William A. Goldstein
989 F.3d 1178 (Eleventh Circuit, 2021)
United States v. Lark Suddith
635 F. App'x 678 (Eleventh Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Richard Scrushy
721 F.3d 1288 (Eleventh Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Wesley Edwards
490 F. App'x 6 (Ninth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Navarro
608 F.3d 529 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Andreas Jejuan Smith
370 F. App'x 29 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Felipa Herrera Caballero
333 F. App'x 485 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Billy Hinton
202 F. App'x 349 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Carlos Israel Cosme
134 F. App'x 391 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Martin
53 F. App'x 195 (Third Circuit, 2002)
United States v. David J. Farrow
198 F.3d 179 (Sixth Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Sigma International, Inc.
196 F.3d 1314 (Eleventh Circuit, 1999)
United States v. Damian Valdez-Torres
108 F.3d 385 (D.C. Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Brenson
104 F.3d 1267 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Behr
93 F.3d 764 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Kummer
89 F.3d 1536 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
United States v. William E. "Jack" Street
66 F.3d 969 (Eighth Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Gregory D. Jones
52 F.3d 924 (Eleventh Circuit, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
991 F.2d 725, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 12318, 1993 WL 148949, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ernest-lee-jennings-ca11-1993.