United States v. Kimberly Smith Hastie

854 F.3d 1298, 2017 WL 1455948, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 7237
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 25, 2017
Docket15-14481
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 854 F.3d 1298 (United States v. Kimberly Smith Hastie) 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. Kimberly Smith Hastie, 854 F.3d 1298, 2017 WL 1455948, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 7237 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinions

WILLIAM PRYOR, Circuit Judge:

This appeal requires us to decide two issues: first, whether the term “personal [1300]*1300information” in the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2721(a), 2725(3), includes email addresses; and second, whether the government presented sufficient evidence for the jury to find that the License Commissioner of Mobile County, Alabama, was an “officer, employee, or contractor” of a “State department of motor vehicles,” id. § 2721(a). During her tenure as License Commissioner of Mobile County, Kimberly Hastie obtained the email addresses of residents of Mobile County from a Commission database. Hastie provided these email addresses to the campaign team for her preferred candidate for mayor of Mobile so that the campaign could send a mass email containing Hastie’s endorsement of the candidate. A jury found Hastie guilty of violating the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. Because the statutory definition of “personal information” includes email addresses and because sufficient evidence supported the verdict, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Kimberly Hastie served as the License Commissioner of Mobile County. The License Commission issues driver’s licenses and automobile titles and maintains motor vehicle registrations for residents of Mobile County. The License Commission is “a collection and disbursal agency” for taxes and fees related to motor vehicles. The License Commission maintains a website, which requires users to provide their email addresses for all online transactions. The License Commission also instructs tellers at its offices to obtain email addresses from licensed drivers and motor vehicle owners. Both the website and the policy manual of the License Commission include a statement about the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.

Hastie asked Brad Bray, the manager of information technology, to send emails to addresses in the License Commission’s database communicating Hastie’s endorsement of Sandy Stimpson for mayor. Bray refused because “everybody would know that we just used our E-mail database to send out this list.” Instead, he downloaded a list of email addresses onto a flash drive and delivered it to Hastie’s secretary. Hastie gave the list of email addresses to the Stimpson campaign, and the Stimpson campaign sent out Hastie’s endorsement to those email addresses. When later questioned by the press, Hastie falsely denied that she had released a list of email addresses.

In 2015, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Hastie on 18 counts. Count 17 charged Hastie with violating the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act by disclosing the email addresses collected by the License Commission to a political consulting firm to tout Hastie’s support for a mayoral candidate. At trial, the district court instructed the jury as follows that the government had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the following elements for Count 17, including that Hastie worked for a state department of motor vehicles:

The defendant is an officer, employee, or contractor of a state department of motor vehicles; the defendant knowingly disclosed or otherwise made available to any person or entity personal information about an individual; the personal information was obtained by the Department of Motor Vehicles in connection with a motor vehicle record; and the personal information was disclosed for any reason other than a reason where the release of such information is specifically permitted.

[1301]*1301Trial Tr. Day 7, 1596:15-23, June 3, 2015 (emphasis added). The district court also defined “personal information” as follows to include email addresses:

The term “personal information” means information that identifies an individual, including an individual’s E-mail address, photographs, Social Security number, driver’s license, name, address, telephone number, medical or disability information. Personal information does not include information on vehicular accidents, driving violations, and a driver’s status.

Id. at 1596:24-1597:5 (emphasis added).

Before the jury returned its verdict, Hastie filed an amended motion for judgment of acquittal. She argued that the statutory definition of “personal information” did not include email addresses and that “the Government has failed to present sufficient evidence from which the jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that she is an ‘officer, employee, or contractor of a State department of motor vehicles.’ ” The district court denied the motion.

The jury found Hastie guilty of violating the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act and not guilty on all other counts. Hastie filed a renewed motion for judgment of acquittal or, in the alternative, a new trial. The district court denied the motion and sentenced Hastie to pay a fine of $5,000.

II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

“We review de novo whether there is sufficient evidence in the record to support a jury’s verdict in a criminal trial, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, and drawing all reasonable factual inferences in favor of the jury’s verdict.” United States v. Jimi-nez, 564 F.3d 1280, 1284 (11th Cir. 2009). “Statutory interpretation is a question of law over which we exercise de novo review.” Boca Ciega Hotel, Inc. v. Bouchard Transp. Co., 51 F.3d 235, 237 (11th Cir. 1995). We also “review jury instructions de novo to determine whether they misstate the law or mislead the jury to the prejudice of the objecting party,” United States v. Myers, 972 F.2d 1566, 1572 (11th Cir. 1992), but we give the district court “wide discretion as to the style and wording employed in the-instructions,” Goldsmith v. Bagby Elevator Co., 513 F.3d 1261, 1276 (11th Cir. 2008).

III. DISCUSSION

The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act prohibits the disclosure of personal information obtained by a state department of motor vehicles except for certain permissible uses, none of which are relevant to this appeal:

(a) A State department of motor vehicles, and any officer, employee, or contractor thereof, shall not knowingly disclose or otherwise make available to any person or entity:
(1) personal information, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2725(3), about any individual obtained by the department in connection with a motor vehicle record, except as provided in subsection (b) of this section; ...

18 U.S.C. § 2721(a). The Act defines personal information as “information that identifies an individual.” Id. § 2725(3).

We divide our discussion in two parts. First, we explain that sufficient evidence supported the jury’s factual "determination that Hastie was an officer or employee of a State department of motor vehicles. Second, we explain that the definition of [1302]

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
854 F.3d 1298, 2017 WL 1455948, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 7237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-kimberly-smith-hastie-ca11-2017.