United States v. James A. Kimes

246 F.3d 800, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 6214, 2001 WL 363353
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 13, 2001
Docket00-5144
StatusPublished
Cited by89 cases

This text of 246 F.3d 800 (United States v. James A. Kimes) 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. James A. Kimes, 246 F.3d 800, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 6214, 2001 WL 363353 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinions

NELSON, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which BATCHELDER, J., joined. MERÍRITT, J. (pp. 810-11), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

NELSON, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from criminal convictions for an assault on officers of the Department of Veterans Affairs (a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1)) and possession on V.A. property of a knife with a blade length exceeding three inches. (Such possession violates a rule set forth in 38 C.F.R. § 1.218(b)(39), and violation of that rule is a crime under 38 U.S.C. § 901(c).)

The defendant presents four assignments of error: (1) that the district court erred in failing to suppress evidence consisting of two knives found in the defendant’s vehicle; (2) that the district court abused its discretion in excluding proffered expert testimony concerning the defendant’s mental condition; (3) that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain a conviction; and (4) that the district court abused its discretion in denying requests for a special verdict form and a jury instruction on unanimity.

Perhaps the most significant issue is the second, which turns on the question whether assaulting a federal officer is a “general intent crime” or a “specific intent crime.” This has heretofore been an open question in our circuit.

Joining the majority of circuits that have expressed an opinion on the matter, we conclude, as did the district court, that assault on a federal officer is a general intent crime. Diminished mental capacity is not a defense to such a crime, so the district court did not err in declining to receive evidence of the defendant’s allegedly diminished capacity. Accordingly, and because we find none of the defendant’s remaining assignments of error persuasive, we shall affirm the convictions.

I

The defendant, James Kimes, is a veteran of the war in Vietnam. In July of 1998, after experiencing symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, he sought treatment at the V.A. Medical Center at Mountain Home, Tennessee.

A psychology intern at the Medical Center, a woman named Christine Gerety, conducted counseling sessions with Mr. Kimes on a weekly basis. At a session held on March 25, 1999, Mr. Kimes acknowledged thoughts of suicide. Ms. Gerety concluded that he did not pose an immediate danger to himself or others, so rather than having him admitted to the hospital she proposed a “verbal safety contract.” Mr. Kimes accepted, promising that if he were about to hurt himself or others he would immediately call Ms. Gerety or come to the V.A. Medical Center emergency room.

Following the March 25 session Mr. Kimes apparently moved out of his home and began living in his truck. At approximately noon on March 28, 1999, two V.A. police officers, Craig Dougherty and Pamela Ensor, observed the defendant’s truck, with a blanket over the windshield, parked in a back corner of the Medical Center parking lot. Seeing movement inside the truck, Officer Dougherty knocked on the window, asked Mr. Kimes what he was doing, and offered assistance.

Mr. Kimes got out of the truck and slammed the door. He then began yelling at the officers, screaming that he had done nothing wrong and that he wanted to go to the emergency room.

[803]*803Officer Dougherty approached the defendant and placed an open hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. An altercation ensued, and both Mr. Kimes and the two officers fell to the ground. During the struggle Mr. Kimes attempted to remove Officer Dougherty’s gun from its holster. Mr. Kimes was then handcuffed and taken to the V.A. police station.

There Mr. Kimes was questioned by V.A. Officer Ken Warren. In the course of the questioning Mr. Kimes mentioned that he had some tools in his truck and wanted the vehicle to be secured. Officer Warren was given the keys to the truck so that this could be done.

Officer Warren turned the keys over to Officer Ensor and told her to return to the hospital and conduct a search of the truck. She did so. The search disclosed a bayonet on the floorboard and a filet knife on a seat cushion. Both implements had blades over three inches long. Officer Ensor removed the knives from the truck before the vehicle was impounded and towed away.

Mr. Kimes was indicted a month later, and the case ultimately went to trial. As part of his defense Mr. Kimes sought to introduce medical evidence regarding his treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Mr. Kimes’ medical experts were prepared to testify that when Officer Dougherty touched him, Mr. Kimes could have experienced a “hyper-startled reaction” that robbed him of the ability to control his actions. The defendant’s theory was that this prevented him from forming the necessary mens rea to violate 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1).

The district court ruled the proffered testimony inadmissible on two grounds. First, answering a question left open by this court in United States v. Farrow, 198 F.3d 179 (6th Cir.1999), the district court held that an assault on a federal officer in violation of § 111 is a general intent crime as to which diminished capacity is not a defense.1 In the alternative, the district court held the proffered testimony inadmissible under Rule 704(b), Fed.R.Evid., insofar as the witnesses proposed to express an opinion that the defendant lacked the requisite mens rea.

Deprived of his diminished capacity defense, Mr. Kimes fell back on a claim of self-defense; he maintained that he was simply responding to a use of excessive force by Officer Dougherty. The jury rejected this claim and found Mr. Kimes guilty on both counts of the indictment. The district court sentenced him to pay a $600 fine and serve two years of probation on the assault count. The court sentenced Mm to “time served” (the four days he had spent in the local jail) on the weapons count.

II

A. Motion to Suppress the Knives.

Prior to trial the defendant moved for suppression of the knives on the ground that the warrantless search in which they had been discovered violated the Fourth Amendment. A magistrate judge agreed that there had been a violation of the Fourth Amendment, and this would normally have been sufficient to trigger the exclusionary rule adopted in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 655, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). The magistrate further concluded, however, that the knives were admissible under the “inevitable discovery” [804]*804exception to the exclusionary rule. The magistrate’s conclusions were adopted by the district judge.

Neither the magistrate nor the district judge addressed the obvious possibility that the search was consensual. This issue has not been briefed or argued on appeal. For purposes of this opinion, then, we shall assume, without so deciding, that a violation of the Fourth Amendment did occur.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
246 F.3d 800, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 6214, 2001 WL 363353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-james-a-kimes-ca6-2001.