United States v. James Semme Frazier

469 F.3d 85, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 28953, 2006 WL 3375328
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedNovember 22, 2006
Docket05-4428
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 469 F.3d 85 (United States v. James Semme Frazier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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 Semme Frazier, 469 F.3d 85, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 28953, 2006 WL 3375328 (3d Cir. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

James Frazier appeals his conviction on one count of possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 841(a) and 841(b)(l)(B)(iii). The sole issue raised by Frazier on appeal is whether the District Court erred when it admitted, pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(B), a prior consistent statement by a police officer witness based on a determination that the defense had raised an implied charge of recent fabrication or improper motive or influence against that witness. Because we agree with the District Court that Frazier’s counsel triggered Rule 801(d)(1)(B) by impliedly charging recent fabrication, we will affirm the Judgment of the District Court. 1

I.

On June 8, 2002, Officers Phillip Mercu-rio and Robert Kavals were working plainclothes patrol in a high drug-traffic neighborhood in Pittsburgh. The officers observed two men engage in a discussion and hand-to-hand exchange that the officers believed to be a drug transaction. After the men completed the transaction, the officers drove their car toward the seller in the transaction (later identified as James Frazier), and stepped out of the car. Mer-curio asked if he could speak with Frazier, at which point Frazier ran from the officers. Mercurio pursued Frazier on foot while Kavals followed in the officers’ unmarked car.

After Frazier had run approximately twenty feet, Mercurio saw him reach into his right pocket, at which time Frazier pulled out a bag of crack cocaine and dropped it on the ground. As Frazier pulled out the bag, his cell phone also came out of his pocket and dropped onto the ground, though Mercurio could not tell whether or not Frazier intended to discard the cell phone. With respect to what happened next, Mercurio later testified at Frazier’s trial that during his pursuit, he slowed down and picked up the bag of crack and then continued chasing Frazier. *87 At a May 9, 2003 pre-trial suppression hearing, however, Mercurio testified that he continued chasing Frazier without stopping to pick up the crack, and that he retrieved it when he returned to the drop point after Frazier had been apprehended.

Mercurio chased Frazier on foot into an overgrown, abandoned lot, while Kavals blocked the other side of the lot, preventing Frazier’s escape. The officers called for back-up and a canine unit to flush Frazier out of the lot so that he could be arrested. Mercurio and Kavals then secured the perimeter and waited for backup to arrive. According to Kavals’ testimony at trial, he asked Mercurio as they were waiting for back-up, “did you get it?,” meaning the bag of crack, and also “do we have enough for the intent?” Mercurio responded affirmatively to both questions. The officers eventually arrested Frazier.

On September 10, 2002, a grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging Frazier with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) and possession with the intent to distribute five or more grams of crack cocaine, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(l)(B)(iii). The District Court granted Frazier’s motion to sever the two counts, and on October 2, 2003, a jury convicted Frazier of the gun charge. Frazier’s appeal before us raises no issues relating to this firearms conviction.

Frazier also proceeded to trial on the drug charge set forth in Count Two of the Indictment. On November 19, 2004, a jury trial on this charge ended in a hung jury. On March 18, 2005, at the conclusion of a second jury trial, a jury returned a verdict of guilty on the drug charge. The District Court sentenced Frazier to 360 months in prison followed by an eight-year term of supervised release.

Frazier’s defense at the second trial on the drug charge focused, inter alia, on the differences between Mercurio’s testimony at a pre-trial suppression hearing and at the trials regarding when he recovered the bag of drugs dropped by Frazier. The defense claimed that Mercurio’s testimony at trial could not be trusted owing to the conflicting versions of the retrieval of the crack presented by Mercurio at the suppression hearing and the trial. Based on Frazier’s attack on Mercurio’s credibility, the District Court, over Frazier’s objection, allowed Officer Kavals to testify to the questions he had asked Mercurio while the two were waiting for back-up. The Court ruled that the testimony was admissible as a non-hearsay prior consistent statement pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(B).

Frazier timely appealed his conviction, raising the single issue of whether Kavals’ testimony as to Mereurio’s prior consistent statement was properly admitted by the District Court.

II.

The District Court had original jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We exercise jurisdiction over the appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. A district court’s evidentiary rulings are generally reviewed for abuse of discretion. See Ansell v. Green Acres Contracting Co., Inc., 347 F.3d 515, 519 (3d Cir.2003). We exercise plenary review over a district court’s interpretation of the rules of evidence. Id. The evidentiary ruling here turned on whether Officer Mercurio’s statement to Officer Kavals was offered to rebut a charge of recent fabrication or improper motive. This inherently factual inquiry does not have a sufficient legal component to warrant plenary review by this Court.

“Admission of evidence is an abuse of discretion if the district court’s action *88 was arbitrary, fanciful or clearly unreasonable. We will not disturb a trial court’s exercise of discretion unless no reasonable person would adopt the district court’s view.” Id. (internal citations and quotations omitted).

III.

Federal Rule of Evidence

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People of Guam v. Paris Christian Reyes Sharpe
2024 Guam 12 (Supreme Court of Guam, 2024)
United States v. Alice Chu
Third Circuit, 2024
Antoine Walker v. Studlack
Third Circuit, 2024
United States v. Adam Lacerda
958 F.3d 196 (Third Circuit, 2020)
United States v. Frost
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 2019
State v. Azure
2017 ND 195 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 2017)
Stevenson v. State
149 A.3d 505 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 2016)
United States v. Curtis Brown
658 F. App'x 100 (Third Circuit, 2016)
United States v. William Johnson
628 F. App'x 124 (Third Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Rutherford
Third Circuit, 2014
United States v. Terrell Davis
726 F.3d 434 (Third Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Stephen Favato
533 F. App'x 127 (Third Circuit, 2013)
Timothy Garrett Linney v. State
401 S.W.3d 764 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013)
United States v. Abdullah Muhammad
512 F. App'x 154 (Third Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Steven Baker
496 F. App'x 201 (Third Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Angel Pena
407 F. App'x 589 (Third Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Starnes
583 F.3d 196 (Third Circuit, 2009)
Government of the Virgin Islands v. Muiruri
340 F. App'x 794 (Third Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Tomko
562 F.3d 558 (Third Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Hardwick
Third Circuit, 2008

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
469 F.3d 85, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 28953, 2006 WL 3375328, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-james-semme-frazier-ca3-2006.