United States v. Harrison Norris, Jr.

188 F. App'x 822
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided June 27, 2006·No. 05-16662·Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Defendant-appellant, Harrison Norris, Jr., who is awaiting trial on charges of falsely imprisoning young women, prostituting the alleged victims, and physically and sexually assaulting them, appeals an order of the district court granting the government’s motion to revoke his release and impose pre-trial detention. Because the government showed by clear and convincing evidence that Norris was a danger to the community, we AFFIRM.

I. BACKGROUND

A grand jury indicted Norris, along with two codefendants, Cedric Jackson and Aimee Allen, on nine counts. Count One charged Norris with conspiracy to hold young women to a condition of peonage, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1581(a), to obtain forced labor and services of young women, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589(1) and (2), to traffic young women for purposes of peonage and forced labor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1590, and to traffic young women for commercial sex acts, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a), all in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 871. Counts Two and Three charged Norris with holding K.R. 1 and N.H. to a condition of peonage, including aggravated sexual abuse and attempted sexual abuse, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1581(a) and 2. Counts Four and Five charged Norris with obtaining labor and services from the same two victims “by means of threats of serious harm to and physical restraints against” them, and by means of a plan to cause them to believe that if they did not perform the labor and service they and other persons “would suffer serious harm,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1589(1) and 2. Rl-1 at 14. The indictment recited that this offense involved aggravated sexual abuse and attempted aggravated sexual abuse. Counts Six and Seven charged Norris with recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, and obtaining by any means, the same two victims, for labor and services, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1590. According to the indictment, this offense also involved aggravated sexual abuse and attempted aggravated sexual abuse. Counts Eight and Nine charged Norris with recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, and obtaining by any means the same two victims to participate in a venture which engaged in commercial sex acts, and benefiting financially from participating in that venture, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591 and 2.

The government submitted an initial motion for pre-trial detention and submitted a brief reporting that the charges had arisen out of a chance encounter between a law enforcement agent and one of Norris’s alleged victims in August 2004. Two of the defendants and seven of the victims had been at a local store. Some of the women approached the police officer and “pleaded with the police to arrest them so that they could escape Norris’s abuse.” R1-14 at 2. Norris was arrested and later released on bond.

The government further summarized that, a year later, law enforcement agents learned that two women had fled from Norris’s home. Upon investigation at his home, they found a third woman who claimed to be falsely imprisoned. These three women provided statements of false imprisonment and prostitution by Norris *825 similar to those given by the first three women. The women explained that Norris, a former professional wrestler, had “lured them to his house by claiming that he would train them to be professional wrestlers.” Id. at 3. A federal investigation revealed additional victims whose interviews collectively indicated that Norris and his codefendants “systematically preyed upon poor, vulnerable women ... [some] suffering] from drug addiction or homelessness ... by paying [their] legal fines or bail, or by using false pretenses.” Id. at 3-4. Norris reportedly then introduced the women to prostitution. If a victim refused to cooperate, Norris would physically abuse and violently rape her, threaten her with abuse, and force her to witness the abuse of other women. Norris maintained control over the victims with the assistance of “seasoned prostitutes,” who worked for him voluntarily, monitoring the women both inside and outside of the house, and imposing fines and various charges to keep them indebted to him. Rl-14 at 4.

In its motion, the government argued that Norris should be detained before trial because “no condition[] or combination of condition[s] ... [would] reasonably assure the safety of the community if he [were] released.” R1-14 at 6. The government asserted that the August 2004 charges of false imprisonment which were outstanding at the time he lured two further women into his wrestling training program in August 2005, created a rebuttable presumption that he should be detained. Additionally, the government contended that the factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3142 weighed in favor of detaining Norris—specifically, (1) the charges against Norris included eight crimes of violence, each with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, (2) the evidence against him was powerful, and (3) Norris’s lack of legitimate employment, filing for bankruptcy, and failure to file federal income tax returns all weighed in favor of detention. Finally, the government contended that Norris posed a significant danger to the community because he physically abused the victims, actively kept the victims imprisoned, continued to prostitute the victims, and searched for new women to become victims for his operation even after his August 2004 arrest.

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United States v. Harrison Norris, Jr., 188 F. App'x 822 (11th Cir. 2006).

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