United States v. Fasthorse

639 F.3d 1182, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 6743, 2011 WL 1204276
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 1, 2011
Docket10-30093
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 639 F.3d 1182 (United States v. Fasthorse) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Fasthorse, 639 F.3d 1182, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 6743, 2011 WL 1204276 (9th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

M. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

A jury convicted defendant Marvin Jerome Fasthorse of sexual abuse in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2242(2)(B). On appeal, he contends that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction, and that his sentence was procedurally erroneous and substantively unreasonable. We disagree, and affirm the conviction and sentence.

BACKGROUND

Sometime in the late evening of November 9, 2008, or the early morning of November 10, 2008, Fasthorse engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim. At trial, the victim testified that she had been drinking and smoking marijuana throughout the day on November 9, and that she remembered waking up that night while Fasthorse was having sex with her. Fasthorse testified that she “wasn’t asleep” and that she consented to having sex with him. Both the prosecution and defense presented witnesses addressing the two main witnesses’ credibility and corroborating various aspects of their competing versions of events.

After deliberating for about three hours, the jury found Fasthorse guilty. The district judge imposed a within-Guidelines sentence of 130 months imprisonment.

JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

The district court exercised jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153(a), 3231, and 3242, and we exercise jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review the sufficiency of the evidence de novo, United *1184 States v. Bennett, 621 F.3d 1131, 1135 (9th Cir.2010), which requires us “to determine whether ‘after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt,’ ” United States v. Nevils, 598 F.3d 1158, 1163-64 (9th Cir.2010) (en banc) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). We review the sentence for abuse of discretion. United States v. Carty, 520 F.3d 984, 993 (9th Cir.2008) (en banc). “It is an abuse of discretion for a district court to apply the Guidelines to the facts in a way that is ‘illogical, implausible, or without support in inferences that may be drawn from the facts in the record.’ ” United States v. Treadwell, 593 F.3d 990, 999 (9th Cir.) (quoting United States v. Hinkson, 585 F.3d 1247, 1263 (9th Cir.2009) (en banc)), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 280, 178 L.Ed.2d 184, - U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 281, 178 L.Ed.2d 184, and - U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 488, 178 L.Ed.2d 309 (2010).

DISCUSSION

I. Conviction

Fasthorse was convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2242(2)(B), which prohibits “knowingly ... engaging] in a sexual act” with a person who is “physically incapable of declining participation in, or communicating unwillingness to engage in, that sexual act.” See also id. § 2246(2) (defining “sexual act”). Fasthorse contends that there was insufficient evidence from which a rational juror could conclude that the victim was “physically incapable of declining participation in, or communicating unwillingness to engage in, th[e] sexual act.”

We agree with the reasoning of the Eighth Circuit that “[a] reasonable jury may conclude that a person who is asleep when a sexual act begins is physically unable to decline participation in that act.” United States v. Wilcox, 487 F.3d 1163, 1169 (8th Cir.2007) (citing United States v. Barrett, 937 F.2d 1346, 1347-48 (8th Cir.1991)). If the victim testifies that she woke up while the sexual act was ongoing, this “provide[s] sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that penetration occurred while she was asleep.” Id.; see also United States v. Smith, 606 F.3d 1270, 1281 (10th Cir.2010) (holding that evidence was sufficient where, inter alia, the victim “woke up to find [the defendant] on top of her and engaged in sex”); cf. United States v. Peters, 277 F.3d 963, 967-68 (7th Cir.2002) (holding that evidence was insufficient where the record was silent with respect to the hour-and-a-half period in which the sexual act occurred); United States v. Williams, 89 F.3d 165, 168 (4th Cir.1996) (holding that evidence was insufficient where the victim testified that she was awake and “communicated her desire not to have sexual intercourse” with the defendant).

Here, the jury heard unequivocal testimony that the victim remembered “waking up, because somebody was on top of me. Inside of me.” When asked whether “Marvin Fast[h]orse ha[d] his penis already inside” her when she “woke up,” she answered “[y]es.” The victim’s drug use is not inconsistent with and does not discredit her testimony that she was asleep when the sexual intercourse began. See Smith, 606 F.3d at 1281 (noting that the victim “was heavily intoxicated before the assault”); Barrett, 937 F.2d at 1348 (noting that “[t]he victim testified that on the evening before the assault, she had drunk eight beers and smoked a marijuana cigarette,” that “she went to sleep” around midnight, and “was very tired because of the hour and her previous day’s activities”). The jury also heard from corroborating witnesses that the victim gave the same account of events shortly after the *1185 assault. Although Fasthorse testified that the victim “wasn’t asleep” and consented to the sexual act, the jury rejected his version of events.

The verdict was supported by the jury’s “credibility assessments” and “reasonable inference[s]” drawn from the evidence, not “mere speculation.” Nevils, 598 F.3d at 1167, 1170. 1 We reject Fasthorse’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
639 F.3d 1182, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 6743, 2011 WL 1204276, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-fasthorse-ca9-2011.