United States v. Jackson

627 F. App'x 460
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 28, 2015
DocketNo. 14-2208
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 627 F. App'x 460 (United States v. Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Jackson, 627 F. App'x 460 (6th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

COOK, Circuit Judge.

Following a two-day trial, a jury found Eddie Allen Jackson guilty of three counts of child sex trafficking. He appeals, arguing that the district court improperly excluded evidence of the minor victims’ prostitution histories and that his 360-month sentence is procedurally and substantively unreasonable. Finding no error, we AFFIRM.

I.

In 2012, Jackson repeatedly drove sixteen-year-old Adrianna, fourteen-year-old Alissa, and fifteen-year-old Alexandra, from Muskegon to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jackson plied them with flavored vodka, cigarettes, and marijuana. For the victims, this eased what came next: walking up and down Division Street, a known prostitution area, to solicit men for sex.

Jackson controlled all facets of the prostitution trips. He provided transportation and condoms. He determined where the teenagers would have sex for money — on Division Street, at a nearby America’s Best Inn, or at the so-called “Mexican house.” And he set the transaction terms, demanding that the victims collect extra money from customers who took longer than fifteen minutes. In return, the victims received 50% of the prostitution money, as well as gifts of clothes and tattoos. [462]*462But they feared Jackson, who hit Alissa and threatened to shoot Adrianna.

In December 2013, a grand jury indicted Jackson on three counts of child sex trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591(a)(1), (b)(2). Before trial, Jackson noticed his intent to present evidence that the minor victims prostituted for other pimps. After a hearing, the court excluded the evidence under • Federal Rule of Evidence 412, finding that the rule’s exceptions did not apply and that the evidence would “likely introduce prejudice and confusion into the trial.”

At trial the victims testified about their prostitution, their relationships with Jackson, and their initial reluctance to cooperate with prosecutors. Also testifying was FBI Special Agent James Hardie, who described typical relationships between pimps and vulnerable victims like Adrianna, Alissa, and Alexandra. In particular, Agent Hardie noted that minor victims often refuse at first to cooperate in sex-trafficking prosecutions out of loyalty to their pimps

The jury convicted Jackson on all three counts. In the ensuing weeks, Jackson twice contacted Adrianna and her family. The government moved for an emergency protective order, which was granted. The court enjoined Jackson from harassing or otherwise contacting Adrianna, Alissa, or Alexandra for three years. The court then sentenced Jackson to 360 months of imprisonment on each count of sex trafficking, to run concurrently. Jackson timely appealed his conviction and sentence.

II.

First, Jackson contends that the district court erred in excluding evidence that the victims prostituted themselves for other pimps. We review for abuse of discretion. United States v. Willoughby, 742 F.3d 229, 234 (6th Cir.2014).

Although Federal Rule of Evidence 412 prohibits “evidence offered to prove that a victim engaged in other sexual behavior,” Jackson maintains that the victims’ prostitution histories fall within one of the rule’s exceptions — “evidence whose exclusion would violate [his] constitutional rights.” Fed.R.Evid. 412(a)(1), (b)(1)(C). Banning evidence of the victims’ other pimps, Jackson argues, denied him his Sixth Amendment right to confront the prosecution’s witnesses through cross-examination, as well as his right to present a complete defense. See Jordan v. Warden, Lebanon Corr. Inst., 675 F.3d 586, 593 (6th Cir.2012).

The Sixth Amendment does not safeguard all avenues of cross-examination. Boggs v. Collins, 226 F.3d 728, 736 (6th Cir.2000); see also United States v. Anderson, 139 F.3d 291, 303 (1st Cir.1998) (using prior commercial sex acts to impeach the victim’s credibility “embodies] a particularly offensive form of stereotyping” and is not permissible). But it does protect Jackson’s right to expose through cross-examination a witness’s “motivation in testifying” or, more specifically, a “prototypical form of bias.” Boggs, 226 F.3d at 737. Jackson insists that each victim’s prostitution history reveals her motive to tag Jackson as her pimp to avoid prosecution herself or to shield the true pimp from prosecution.

If the court curtails cross-examination of a witness on motivation or bias, we ask whether the jury could assess those through other evidence. Boggs, 226 F.3d at 739, And if not, we balance thé Sixth Amendment violation against the government’s interest in excluding the testimony. Id.

Here, the jury heard testimony about the victims’ motives to name Jackson as their pimp. Adrianna admitted that [463]*463the government agreed not to prosecute her for prostitution if she testified against Jackson. So too Alissa, for whom the government dropped prostitution charges. And here, the government’s interest in exclusion outweighed any Sixth Amendment violation. Jackson’s proposed line of cross-examination strayed from any usual form of bias. His planned cross-examination required the jury to infer or speculate that the girls initially denied but later admitted to prostituting for Jackson in a calculated scheme to protect other pimps. As the district court recognized, this “is not a natural inference and appears to be based on little more than speculation.” Instead, the prototypical loyalty that prostitutes show to their pimps explains each victim’s about-face on prostituting for Jackson. Given the tenuous inferences needed to connect the prostitution evidence to bias against Jackson, any Sixth Amendment interest was negligible. In contrast, the government’s interest in excluding the evidence under the rape-shield law abounded, particularly because the victims were minors. See United States v. Ogden, 685 F.3d 600, 606 (6th Cir.2012) (finding Rule 412’s protections “especially important” for underage victims).

Nor did the court deny Jackson the opportunity to present a complete defense. The excluded evidence addressed no element of the offense and had little bearing on Jackson’s guilt, while the government had a strong interest in excluding it. See Ogden, 685 F.3d at 605-06 (finding that Ogden presented a complete defense to child pornography charges without introducing the minor victim’s sexually explicit chat logs).

The district court acted within its discretion in excluding evidence of the victims’ prostitution histories.

III.

Second, Jackson challenges the procedural and substantive reasonableness of his 360-month sentence.

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Bluebook (online)
627 F. App'x 460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jackson-ca6-2015.