United States v. Kerry L. Nacotee

159 F.3d 1073, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 27730, 1998 WL 756523
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 30, 1998
Docket98-2108
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 159 F.3d 1073 (United States v. Kerry L. Nacotee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Kerry L. Nacotee, 159 F.3d 1073, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 27730, 1998 WL 756523 (7th Cir. 1998).

Opinion

CUMMINGS, Circuit Judge.

Kerry Nacotee was convicted of serious bodily assault in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 113(a)(6) and 1153 and sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release. At the close of evidence, the district court introduced an aiding and abetting instruction, allowing the jury to find Nacotee guilty either if she had formulated the general intent to commit the assault or if she had the specific intent to aid and abet her friend, Leroy Sanapaw, in his commission of an assault. Nacotee requested that the jury be specifically instructed that voluntary intoxication is a defense to aiding and abetting liability. The district court refused and the jury found Nacotee guilty in a general verdict. On appeal, Nacotee challenges the district court’s failure to provide a voluntary intoxication instruction. Since we agree with the district court that on the facts of this case no such instruction was required, we affirm.

Background

On the evening of June 27, 1997, Ella Bruette, Kristen LaTender and Kathy La-Tender went to a party at Jerome Sanapaw’s trailer on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. At the party, Kathy LaTender got into an argument with Shawn Sanapaw which escalated into a fight. LaTender and *1075 Bruette went to the tribal police early in the morning on June 28 to file charges against Shawn Sanapaw for simple assault. The tribal police promptly arrested Shawn that morning in the presence of one of his brothers, Leroy Sanapaw.

Despite the previous evening’s events, the LaTenders and Bruette returned to Jerome Sanapaw’s trailer early the next morning to continue drinking. Bruette shortly went to sleep on Jerome’s couch, apparently passed out from the effects of alcohol. T.J. Sanapaw (a third brother of Shawn and Leroy), seeing that the LaTenders and Bruette had returned, went looking for Leroy Sanapaw. T.J. knew Leroy was upset because somebody had reported their brother Shawn to the tribal police.

T.J. found Leroy along with his friend, Kerry Nacotee, the defendant-appellant in this case, drinking beer at a picnic table. T.J. told them he had seen the LaTenders and Bruette at Jerome Sanapaw’s trailer. T.J., Leroy, and Nacotee immediately ran towards Jerome’s trailer. Nacotee was the first to enter the trailer. She went to where Bruette was sleeping and began punching her in the face. Gaynelle Peters, a bystander, tried to pull Nacotee away, but Nacotee resisted her entreaties. Nacotee then turned on Peters. Nacotee pinned Peters down and began pulling her hair and punching her. In the meantime, Leroy had entered the trailer. Bruette was still passed out, lying where Nacotee had left her when Nacotee began to attack Peters. Finding Bruette defenseless and Peters occupied with Nacotee, Leroy went over to Bruette and kicked her repeatedly in the face and body.

Bruette suffered severe injuries as a result of the assault. She sustained a concussion, multiple bruises, and a fractured left cheek bone. Her eyes remained swollen for several weeks after the assault and to this day she continues to experience blurred vision in her left eye. Peters suffered less severe injuries.

The tribal police arrested Nacotee later the same day and Leroy Sanapaw two days later. They were subsequently indicted under 18 U.S.C. §§ 113(a)(6) and 1153 for the assault against Bruette. In this appeal, we are concerned only with Nacotee’s trial and conviction.

Analysis

At the close of evidence in Nacotee’s trial, the district court introduced an aiding and abetting instruction, allowing the jury either to find Nacotee guilty if they found she had directly assaulted Bruette or if her conduct in holding down and hitting Peters aided and abetted Leroy Sanapaw’s assault against Bruette. The effect of the aiding and abetting instruction was to introduce the element of specific intent into the jury’s inquiry.

18 U.S.C. § 113 (“Assaults within Maritime and Territorial Jurisdiction”) carefully distinguishes between those assaults which carry an intent element and those which do not. See United States v. Perez, 43 F.3d 1131, 1137 (7th Cir.1994). Subsections (a), (b), and (c), respectively, prohibit “[ajssault with intent to commit murder,” “[ajssault with intent to commit any felony, except murder or a felony under chapter 109A,” and “[ajssault with a dangerous weapon, with intent to do bodily harm, and without just cause or excuse.” By the terms of the statute, each of these crimes contains an intent element. By contrast, subsections (d), (e), and (f), prohibiting “[ajssault by striking, beating, or wounding,” “[sjimple assault,” and “[ajssault resulting in serious bodily injury,” contain no such intent requirement. Ordinarily then, to prove liability for an assault resulting in serious bodily injury under 18 U.S.C. § 113(f), the prosecution need not show that a defendant intended to assault the victim. It must show only that a defendant did in fact commit the assault.

The introduction of the aiding and abetting instruction by the district court injected an element of specific intent into the general intent crime of assault. Although the jury could still find Nacotee guilty under the theory that she directly assaulted Bruette, a theory under which her specific intent would be irrelevant, with the introduction of the aiding and abetting instruction, the jury could also find Nacotee guilty under the theory that her holding down and hitting Peters helped Leroy Sanapaw in his assault on Bruette. Under the latter theory, the jury would find Nacotee had aided and abet *1076 ted Leroy Sanapaw in his assault against Bruette. To be liable under an aiding and abetting theory for the crime itself, however, a defendant must have had the specific intent to aid in the commission of the crime in doing whatever she did to facilitate its commission. United States v. Boyles, 57 F.3d 535, 541 (7th Cir.1995); United States v. Barclay, 560 F.2d 812, 816 (7th Cir.1977).

Nacotee argued she was too drunk at the time of the assault to form the intent necessary to sustain an aiding and abetting theory. This voluntary intoxication, Nacotee contended, rendered her incapable of intending to help Leroy Sanapaw assault Bruette. Nacotee asked that the jury receive a specific instruction that her voluntary intoxication, if proven, could negate her capacity to form the specific intent to aid and abet Leroy Sana-paw.

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Bluebook (online)
159 F.3d 1073, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 27730, 1998 WL 756523, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-kerry-l-nacotee-ca7-1998.