United States v. Hudson

102 F. App'x 127
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit·Decided June 24, 2004·No. 03-6282·Unpublished·Cited by 1 cases

Opinions

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

PER CURIAM:

Michael Hudson appeals his conviction following a jury trial on one count of harboring a fugitive, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1071. We affirm.

Background

Pursuant to a felony arrest warrant1 which was issued for Charlotte Popejoy in December 2002, but was sealed until April 8, 2003, Deputy United States Marshal Charles McNeil and other law enforcement authorities began searching for Popejoy in the Oklahoma City area. On that day, April 8, McNeil went to Popejoy’s father’s house and told her father, Bill Meredith, and brother, Bobby Meredith, that there was a warrant for her arrest. Bill Meredith said he would tell Popejoy about the warrant, and McNeil gave Bill Meredith his (McNeil’s) pager and cell phone numbers.

On April 9, McNeil visited a friend of Popejoy’s, who told McNeil she had just left with Ronnie Ek and Popejoy’s son, Justin. The friend gave McNeil Popejoy’s cell phone number. Shortly thereafter, Popejoy called McNeil and said her father had told her about the warrant. McNeil confirmed there was a warrant for her arrest, and Popejoy agreed to surrender at the Oklahoma County Jail at 3 p.m. that day. Popejoy failed to do so and did not answer her cell phone when McNeil attempted to contact her. Popejoy and her boyfriend, Glen Holder, testified that, instead of surrendering, Popejoy was picked up by Holder and they spent the night at a friend’s house in Choctaw. Holder was aware of Popejoy’s warrant both because she told him and because United States Marshals had visited Holder’s grandmother the day before in an effort to locate Popejoy.

The following morning, April 10, Pope-joy again called McNeil and promised to surrender. McNeil reiterated to her the existence of the warrant. Popejoy again failed to appear and surrender. That same day, shortly after the conversation between Popejoy and McNeil, McNeil learned through an informant that Popejoy was at an address in Oklahoma City and she was driving a black Ford Escort. Occupants at that address told McNeil that Popejoy had just left to find Dino Dibbler. Law enforcement personnel searched for Dibbler, who was subsequently arrested when they found a firearm and a methamphetamine lab in his car. He told authorities that he had spent the day with Pope-joy, but that he did not know where she went after she left. As it turned out, she and Holder went that evening to Del City. McNeil and others went to an address in Moore, Oklahoma, based on information that Ek might be there. They found Ek at the residence, as well as a methamphet[130] amine lab, but were unable to locate Pope-joy. Meanwhile, Holder had decided to cooperate with authorities.

On April 11, authorities spent the day searching for Popejoy at motels around the Oklahoma City area. That evening, Popejoy was with Holder when Holder was arrested by the Choctaw police for driving with a suspended license. Holder testified that he was trying to take Popejoy to a location where he could call the authorities and have her arrested. When the arresting officer ran a warrant check on Popejoy through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), no warrants appeared and she was not arrested.2 Popejoy testified that she spent that night, following Holder’s arrest, with her niece in Norman, Oklahoma. Popejoy also testified that she called Hudson, whom she had known for six or seven years and with whom she had a sexual relationship for part of that time, late that night and told him that Holder had been arrested but she had not been, even though she had been told previously that there was a warrant out for her arrest. Sandra Goad, who lived in the same house as Hudson, testified that Hudson had not come home the night of April 11, and when he returned to the house the next morning, he told Goad that he had spent the night with Popejoy at a motel because she was a fugitive and federal authorities were looking for her.

Popejoy testified that she had not gotten together with Hudson until Saturday night, April 12, although she testified that she began borrowing his car, a black Ford' Escort, perhaps as early as Friday, the 11th. Holder testified he saw her driving Hudson’s car before he was arrested on the night of April 11. Popejoy testified that she spent Saturday night and/or Sunday night in Hudson’s room in the house he shared with Goad and one other person. She drove Hudson to work on Saturday and Monday.

On Monday, April 14, authorities checked hotels during the day and Popejoy spoke again with Deputy McNeil, asking him why no warrant had appeared when her name was run through the NCIC database on Friday night. McNeil explained the clerical error, and he verified that there was, in fact, a warrant out for her arrest. That same day, after Holder had been released on bond, he rejoined Pope-joy and they went to a motel, where they were joined in the evening by Hudson and Meredith. At one point, Popejoy and Meredith left the motel briefly and, while driving in Hudson’s Ford Escort, Popejoy fell out of the car and injured herself. Hudson and Meredith helped bandage her injuries once she returned to the motel. Hudson and Meredith then had an altercation with Holder, accusing him of trying to help the authorities find Popejoy and threatening him if he did so.3

The next day, April 15, Holder and Popejoy had a fight, so Holder dropped Pope-joy at her mother’s house. Popejoy testified that Hudson picked her up from her mother’s house and took her to his house. In the evening of that day (April 15), Holder told McNeil that Popejoy was staying at Hudson’s house. McNeil, accompanied by Holder and one of Holder’s friends, drove to Hudson’s house in McNeil’s Jeep Cherokee, and began to conduct surveillance from a church parking lot approximately [131] one block away. They saw two individuals, who turned out to be Meredith and Hudson, leave Hudson’s house together in Hudson’s black Ford Escort. McNeil testified that Popejoy told him that, before Meredith and Hudson left the house, she had told them “that she felt like the marshals were closing in on her and that they needed to get out of the residence so that they weren’t there when she was arrested.” ROA, Vol. 2 at 101. She then “stated that [Meredith and Hudson] left the bedroom and padlocked the door.” Id. Popejoy’s testimony at trial basically corroborated this.

Hudson and Meredith spotted the Jeep Cherokee parked in the church parking lot, which Hudson testified seemed suspicious. They therefore drove up close to the Jeep to let the occupants know they had been seen. McNeil testified that the encounter between the Jeep and the Escort seemed threatening, stating “I had my hand on my gun. I mean, I thought we were fixing to have a shoot-out and I’m sure it seemed a lot longer than it ... actually was.” Id. at 205. McNeil also testified that Meredith had encountered McNeil once before when McNeil was driving the Jeep. McNeil stated that he could clearly see Meredith in the passenger seat. On the stand, he identified the driver as Hudson, whom he had not previously met.

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United States v. Hudson, 102 F. App'x 127 (10th Cir. 2004).

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