United States v. Henry Arellano, Also Known as Henry Gonzalez

137 F.3d 982, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 3637, 1998 WL 86483
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 3, 1998
Docket97-1500
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 137 F.3d 982 (United States v. Henry Arellano, Also Known as Henry Gonzalez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Henry Arellano, Also Known as Henry Gonzalez, 137 F.3d 982, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 3637, 1998 WL 86483 (7th Cir. 1998).

Opinion

CUMMINGS, Circuit Judge.

In June 1995 an indictment was returned charging defendant Henry Arellano as a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He was given notice that he qualified for treatment as an armed career criminal under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) and *984 that conviction would result in imprisonment of a 15-year minimum.

Defendant was subsequently convicted after a jury trial. His trial counsel was permitted to withdraw in March 1996, with substitute counsel thereafter appointed. In February 1997 he was sentenced.-to -235 months in prison plus a three-year term of supervised release and a $5,000 fine.

Around 9:40 P.M. on March 11, 1995, James Perry left his apartment on the corner of Kedzie and Fullerton Avenues in Chicago. He was planning to use his car to visit a friend. En route to his car he proceeded toward Fullerton and passed an occupied Chicago Transit Authority bus bench. He then realized that he had gone in the wrong direction and proceeded to Kedzie. At the comer of Kedzie and Fullerton he realized that the person he’d seen seated on the bench was following him. When he reached his ear that person pointed a loaded .380 caliber pistol a foot from his head and said, “if I [Perry] ever came up behind him again he would blow my fucking head off.” Perry persuaded the man to allow him to drive away in his car.

Perry then called an emergency operator after proceeding two blocks to a pay phone. He told the operator that a Hispanic male at the bus stop was wearing a green army jacket and had just pulled a gun on him. The operator told Perry to return to the bus stop to see whether that person had boarded a bus. Therefore Perry drove back to the original area and parked. When a westbound CTA bus arrived, he saw defendant board the bus. He described him as five-foot-five or five-foot-four and wearing a green fatigue jacket and said he was the only passenger picked up at the Kedzie and Fullerton stop.

The ensuing radio broadcast was heard by a squad ear which Perry flagged down. He told the two officers that he had been threatened with a gun by a male Hispanic wearing a green army jacket and a cap and that the suspect had just boarded a westbound CTA bus. The officers caught up with the bus at Fullerton and Central Park Avenue and stopped it. One of the officers entered the bus through the rear door and spotted the defendant who fit the description provided by Perry. The other officer entered the front door of the bus and his radio went off accidentally, thus startling the defendant who then put his right hand into his field jacket pocket and started to retrieve his .380 caliber pistol. One of the officers saw defendant’s shoulder coming up and the other officer grabbed his hand and told him not to move. The gun, containing six live rounds of ammunition, fell into defendant’s jacket.

Defendant was then removed from the bus and taken into custody. He was brought to the Fourteenth District Police Station in Chicago. In the meantime, Perry had been brought to the station by other officers and waited in a nearby room to complete paperwork on the case. Perry spotted the defendant through ah open'door and told Officer Corona “That’s him.” Defendant was ultimately charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) 1 and was detained pending trial. New counsel, John T. Theis, was appointed counsel for defendant and filed motions to dismiss the indictment for lack of jurisdiction under United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 115 S.Ct. 1624, 131 L.Ed.2d 626 (1995), and to suppress the evidence.

Judge Leinenweber denied the motion to dismiss the indictment but scheduled an evi-dentiary hearing on the motion to suppress for January 22, 1996, to be immediately followed by trial if the motion were denied.

On January 22 defendant arrived dressed in an unmarked orange prison jumpsuit. Mr. Theis said he was reluctant to have defendant appear in such an outfit before prospective jurors, and defendant’s sister agreed to secure substitute clothes in time for trial.

Defendant told the court that he objected to going forward with the trial because he expected only an evidentiary hearing to suppress to be held on January 22. He also said that he might want different counsel. Thereupon Mr. Theis told the court that he had notified defendant that the case was set for trial on January 22 but defendant said that if he really expected triál to be held on that *985 date, he would have had his own clothes brought to the courtroom.

Judge Leinenweber then said that he would proceed with the suppression hearing that morning, and the court stated that Mr. Theis was “a very good experienced veteran criminal defense lawyer” whom he would not replace, adding that defendant himself had sought Mr. Theis’s appointment because he had previously represented defendant. The judge also added that he was ready to proceed with the suppression hearing. The defendant did not object to going forward in prison attire, and the court ultimately denied the motion to suppress, with the trial scheduled to begin an hour later.

When defendant reappeared for jury selection, he still wore the jumpsuit and Mr. Theis explained that the clothes defendant’s sister had brought him were now too small. Defendant then pulled his sweatshirt over the jumpsuit, and he and Mr. Theis concluded that his present attire was “fine.” Defendant. did not object nor ask for other clothes, and Judge Leinenweber remarked that the sweatshirt would suffice to avoid any prejudice if defendant did not stand up.

On the first day of the trial several witnesses identified defendant as the individual in the “white T-shirt” or “white pull-over,” and the orange jumpsuit was not mentioned. However, the next morning defendant appeared in court without a sweatshirt, but Mr. Theis said that defendant was willing to go ahead anyway without any comment by the court to the jury. The judge then said that the jumpsuit looked like an orange sport shirt if defendant just stayed seated. On the second day of the trial defendant was identified once as the individual “in the orange jumpsuit” and once as the individual “in the orange shirt.” The jail character of his clothing was not mentioned.

When the government’s case was completed, the court asked defendant whether he wished to testify and he said no because he had not been ready for trial. Defendant did not ask for a continuance, object to completing his trial in his present attire or renew his request for a different counsel, and he rested his case without presenting any witnesses.

The jury returned a guilty verdict. Before there was a ruling on Mr. Theis’s motions for judgment of acquittal and new trial, Mr. Theis withdrew and substitute counsel was permitted to supplement the post-trial motions, including a challenge to the conviction because Arellano was wearing prison garb at trial.

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Bluebook (online)
137 F.3d 982, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 3637, 1998 WL 86483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-henry-arellano-also-known-as-henry-gonzalez-ca7-1998.