United States v. Jereb

882 F.3d 1325
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 27, 2018
Docket16-4127
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 882 F.3d 1325 (United States v. Jereb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Jereb, 882 F.3d 1325 (10th Cir. 2018).

Opinions

McHUGH, Circuit Judge.

Following a jury trial, Aaron Bradley Jereb was convicted of forcibly opposing a federal officer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(b), along with three lesser crimes. The trial judge sentenced Mr. Jereb to *1328prison for seventy-two months, to be followed by thirty-six months of supervised release. As a special condition of that release, Mr. Jereb will be required to participate in a mental health treatment program.

Mr. Jereb asks this court to vacate his § 111(b) conviction and remand for a new trial. In the alternative, he asks us to reverse the imposition of mental health treatment and remand for resentencing. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm both the conviction and sentence.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual History

This case arises out of a roadside brawl between Mr. Jereb and Darren Schiedel,1 a law enforcement officer of the United States Forest Service. Officer Schiedel and his K-9 partner, a German Shepherd called Livo, were driving home on October 15, 2015, when they happened upon a red Chevrolet Blazer parked on the side of a remote, narrow road in Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest ("Uinta"). Thinking that unusual given the late hour and lack of nearby recreation opportunities, Officer Schiedel decided to stop, pulling up behind the Blazer. He engaged his truck's side spotlight, exited, and approached, for the moment leaving Livo behind.

Mr. Jereb was seated in the Blazer's front passenger seat. His girlfriend at the time, Amber Haanpaa, was in the driver's seat. That morning, Mr. Jereb and Ms. Haanpaa each took three to five hits of methamphetamine and then drove from their home in Rock Springs, Wyoming, to Salt Lake City, Utah, apparently for the purpose of retrieving Mr. Jereb's motorcycle from impoundment.2 Those plans soon changed. Upon arriving in Salt Lake City, Ms. Haanpaa purchased $900 worth of heroin, some of which she and Mr. Jereb intermittently smoked in a downtown parking lot for the next 90 minutes or so.3 Eventually, Mr. Jereb and Ms. Haanpaa got something to eat and then spent an hour or two at a music store before setting off for the three-hour trek back to Rock Springs. On the way out of town, they stopped at Uinta's Lambs Canyon to again use drugs, as was Ms. Haanpaa's custom on her return trips from Salt Lake. Ms. Haanpaa pulled out a sheet of heroin and started smoking it; she believes Mr. Jereb *1329partook. Next, she crushed some methamphetamine on a mirror and snorted it with a "tooter," or a rolled-up receipt. She handed the tooter to Mr. Jereb, who was about to snort the next line when Officer Schiedel pulled up behind them.

Ms. Haanpaa attempted to hide the drug paraphernalia, but her efforts were to no avail. About two hours later, after investigation and questioning not relevant on appeal, Officer Schiedel wrote drug possession citations for both Mr. Jereb and Ms. Haanpaa. Believing Mr. Jereb was sober enough to drive back to Wyoming, Officer Schiedel told them they were free to go. At trial, Officer Schiedel testified that he "wanted out of there at that point." App. App'x, Vol. III, at 355. Mr. Jereb's erratic behavior worried him. He was "wild eyed," with "a real direct gaze about him," and "it was getting to the point where I was starting to get a little bit concerned about his demeanor towards me." Id. at 317. When Officer Schiedel attempted to hand him his citation, for instance, Mr. Jereb just stared into Officer Schiedel's eyes. But the Blazer's engine would not start, so Ms. Haanpaa asked Officer Schiedel if he would be willing to use his patrol truck to jumpstart it. Not wanting to leave them stranded, Officer Schiedel agreed.

Mr. Jereb exited from the driver's seat, put on a black leather jacket, and retrieved jumper cables from the back of the Blazer. That concerned Officer Schiedel because the jumper cables "seemed like a pretty good weapon." Id. at 356. He was also concerned that Mr. Jereb may have put on the leather jacket for the purpose of protecting himself in the event of a fight. Nevertheless, they succeeded in jumpstarting the Blazer without incident. Officer Schiedel detached the jumper cables from the battery and started to return to his patrol truck. At trial, he described what happened next:

... Mr. Jereb was standing by the front right quarter panel on the passenger side. He looked [at] me, I would say close to my eyes but not really. It appeared to me that he was looking at my face or slightly above my eyes, not like making eye contact at this point.
....
When I started to retreat back to my vehicle, he stated, you don't look so good, officer, something to that effect. And I said, I feel great. I feel fine. He moved around the vehicle to where we were both in front of the red Chevy Blazer and said, again, stated, you don't look so good. And I again replied, you know, I feel fine. Confusing words to me at that time.
[Prosecutor:] What did you do after the second time the defendant told you you didn't look so good?
[Officer Schiedel:] The way my radio is positioned on my body, I would have reached up with my left hand and engaged the radio and stated my name or my call sign and asked for a backup unit at that point.
....
[Prosecutor:] When you called for backup, was Mr. Jereb within a distance where he would have heard what you said?
[Officer Schiedel:] Within slightly over probably an arm's reach, probably within four feet of me.
[Prosecutor:] And would you have said it loud enough so he could have heard?
[Officer Schiedel:] I would have to.
[Prosecutor:] When you called for backup, what happened?
[Officer Schiedel:] I don't remember anything happening on the radio. Our radio, there's a beep prior to the transmission or after, and I can't recall at this time, to allow you to know that that *1330transmission has gone out. I don't remember hearing anything on the radio at that point.
[Prosecutor:] And did the defendant say something at that point?

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

Related

United States v. Kearney
Tenth Circuit, 2025
United States v. Butler (G'Ante)
141 F.4th 1136 (Tenth Circuit, 2025)
United States v. Teerlink
141 F.4th 1126 (Tenth Circuit, 2025)
United States v. Walker
130 F.4th 802 (Tenth Circuit, 2025)
United States v. McBride
94 F.4th 1036 (Tenth Circuit, 2024)
United States v. Simpkins
90 F.4th 1312 (Tenth Circuit, 2024)
United States v. Wells
38 F.4th 1246 (Tenth Circuit, 2022)
United States v. Maxton
Tenth Circuit, 2022
United States v. Englehart
22 F. 4th 1197 (Tenth Circuit, 2022)
United States v. Perrault
995 F.3d 748 (Tenth Circuit, 2021)
Clark v. Passa
D. Utah, 2020
United States v. Boddy
Tenth Circuit, 2020
United States v. Shannon
Tenth Circuit, 2020
United States v. Faulkner
950 F.3d 670 (Tenth Circuit, 2019)
Jackson v. State
445 P.3d 983 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2019)
United States v. Campbell
Tenth Circuit, 2019
United States v. Martinez
Tenth Circuit, 2018

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
882 F.3d 1325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jereb-ca10-2018.