United States v. James Mathurin

868 F.3d 921
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 18, 2017
Docket14-12239
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 868 F.3d 921 (United States v. James Mathurin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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 Mathurin, 868 F.3d 921 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinions

JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judge:

Defendant James Mathurin appeals his conviction and 685-month sentence for multiple armed robbery and carjacking crimes committed while he was a juvenile. After careful review of the record, and having heard oral argument, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

On December 12, 2007, just four months shy of his eighteenth birthday, Defendant was arrested for a robbery and carjacking he had committed that day. Defendant later confessed to the carjacking and, over the course of the next several months, he provided additional information about a string of other violent crimes he recently had committed.

[925]*925Because both sides hoped to negotiate a plea agreement, federal prosecutors did not immediately indict Defendant. When the negotiations eventually fell apart, the Government indicted Defendant and the parties proceeded to trial. The jury convicted Defendant on a number of armed robbery and weapons charges, and the district court imposed a 492-month term of imprisonment.

Defendant appealed his conviction to this Court, successfully arguing that the Government did not indict him within the time required by the Speedy Trial Act. We vacated Defendant’s conviction and remanded the case back to the district court with instructions to determine whether the indictment should be dismissed with or without prejudice. See United States v. Mathurin, 690 F.3d 1236, 1243 (11th Cir. 2012). The district judge concluded that the indictment should be dismissed without prejudice, and the Government re-indicted Defendant on charges of conspiracy, two counts of carjacking, twelve Hobbs Act robberies, one attempted Hobbs Act robbery, and twelve counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The district judge then recused herself, and the case proceeded to a second trial before a new judge.

At trial, the Government introduced evidence that Defendant had committed a spree of violent crimes beginning on July 26, 2007. The evidence showed that on that date, Defendant and five other men broke into a home and awakened a t'eenaged girl who was napping in an adjoining bedroom. One of the men fired a gunshot at the girl, missing her by only four inches.

A little over a week later, on August 7, 2007, Defendant entered a Cellular Hut store, pointed a gun at the clerk, and demanded money while his accomplices posed as customers and urged the clerk to comply. Immediately after this robbery, Defendant went to another Cellular Hut store and demanded money from the store clerk. When the clerk laughed at him, Defendant fired a round from his gun to show he was serious. ■

On August 16, Defendant and an accomplice, armed with a gun, entered a Subway restaurant and demanded money from the cashier. Two days later, on August 18, Defendant entered a Max Communications store with a gun and demanded money from the clerk. Less than a month after that, on September 10, Defendant fired gunshots at the back wall of another Cellular Hut as he entered the store. He then demanded money from the clerk and a patron of the store.

During the above robberies, Defendant was aided by a group of young men who performed various roles, such as transporting Defendant to the store or pretending to be customers. After the September 10 robbery, Defendant had a falling out with these individuals and recruited a different set of accomplices. On September 21, Defendant, accompanied by a friend who was armed with a gun, robbed an Electronics Direct Telephone store. On that same day, Defendant and his friends also robbed a Hello Cellular store, this time with Defendant carrying a gun.

On October 2, Defendant shot his gun into the air as he entered a Boston Market with an accomplice. His accomplice ordered everyone to get on the floor as Defendant demanded money from an employee. On October 6, Defendant and an accomplice walked into the LaPavillion Restaurant where Defendant shot a round into the ceiling, shattering the glass in the ceiling. Defendant then opened the cash register and took money, in addition to robbing a patron of his cell phone. On October 13, Defendant fired a gunshot as he and an accomplice entered a 7-Eleven and took money from the cash register.

[926]*926Defendant subsequently committed a robbery and two carjackings without any assistance. On December 11, while armed with a gun, Defendant-, approached the driver of a vehicle and demanded the keys to the ear and the driver’s money. The victim acquiesced and Defendant took his car. The next day, December 12, Defendant robbed a 7-Eleven at gunpoint and fired his gun at the wall directly behind the clerk, On that same day, Defendant carjacked a second victim outside a check-cashing store and fled in the victim’s car. After the second carjacking, Defendant finally was apprehended by the police.

The jury in Defendant’s second trial convicted him of all but one count in the indictment.1 At sentencing, the district judge acknowledged that the first judge had imposed a 492-month sentence. Nevertheless, having heard the evidence against Defendant in,the second trial, this second,judge thought that a higher sentence was necessary to safeguard the public, The judge explained his thinking in so.me detail:

I have to tell you, Mr. Mathurin, when I was assigned this case, my first reaction was, wow, the last thing I want to do is sentence somebody or think about sentencing somebody to 40-something years when they were a juvenile at the time, and I take sentencing defendants very seriously.
I know every human being is entitled to individual consideration and probably much to the chagrin of the prosecutors here, I’m one of the most lenient sen-tencers here and vary below the guidelines probably more than I should because I really do, on every single case, it is my goal to give the defendant the least possible sentence that I can, also understanding that I have an obligation . to follow the law and to protect our •community. . ■
I was a prosecutor, a criminal defense attorney, a judge in state court for a long time, and I have been here not too long, and I always try and see the best in péople. I-think the vast majority of people who stand before me to get sentenced are good people who just did a bad thing, and I really seriously tried to look at you to flnd that in you.
I also know that my colleague, whom I greatly respect and whom I know gave very serious consideration to the case, thought a sentence of 40-something years was appropriate after her consideration of the case.
I really tried as best I can to convince myself to_ go along with that and I just can’t do it. You know, I’ve sentenced people to death, I’ve sentenced people to life, and there’s not many people that scare me, okay, and you scare me, Mr. Mathurin..
You know, you’re a very bright person, okay, but you get things 95 percent correct, and it’s always that extra five percent that sopiething in your brain twists it around to change everything around and manipulate facts to make, yourself always the victim, to blame everybody else other than yourself and that goes way beyond just saying, “I’m exercising my, constitutional rights to make the , Government prove the case.”

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Bluebook (online)
868 F.3d 921, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-james-mathurin-ca11-2017.