United States v. Lamy

521 F.3d 1257, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 6914, 2008 WL 852799
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedApril 1, 2008
Docket07-2048
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 521 F.3d 1257 (United States v. Lamy) 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. Lamy, 521 F.3d 1257, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 6914, 2008 WL 852799 (10th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

Dion Lamy appeals his jury conviction on three counts of aggravated sexual abuse in Indian country in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1153, and 2242(2)(B). Lamy contends that the district court improperly admitted a statement he gave to FBI agents; that the court abused its discretion in denying a motion for new trial based on prejudicial comments by a government witness; and that the United States failed to prove that Lamy’s crime occurred in Indian country, an element of his crimes of conviction. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we AFFIRM.

I

Lamy, a member of the Zuni tribe, was indicted for a sexual assault that occurred in June, 2002 after a high school graduation party in Zuni, New Mexico. Lamy, 18 years old at the time of the assault, left the party with four other men: Aaron Cheama, Donovan Jones Neha, Marcus Tsethlakai, and Daryl Dickson. Accompanying the men were two young women: R.D., a 17-year-old acquaintance, and Kathy, Dickson’s girlfriend. R.D. was drunk and under the influence of both cocaine and marijuana. Lamy, who had not been drinking, drove the group to the home of Sherry Shebola. When they arrived, some members of the group carried R.D. inside, and placed her on a couch where she passed out. At trial, R.D. denied any memory of events at the Shebola house until she awoke the next morning.

Cheama and Tsethlakai were able to testify as to what occurred while R.D. was unconscious. We have carefully reviewed this testimony and see no useful purpose in exploring the sordid details. Briefly, Cheama testified that Lamy penetrated the victim’s vagina with an object; both witnesses testified that Lamy beat the victim while Neha engaged in sexual intercourse with her; and Tsethlakai testified that he saw Lamy engage in sexual intercourse with her the following morning, while she remained unconscious.

When R.D. awoke the following day, each of the five men save Neha were gone. Shebola remained in the house and communicated certain events to R.D. that led R.D. to conclude that she had been raped. A brief conversation between R.D. and Neha followed. After an altercation with Shebola and yet another woman, R.D. ran from the house to a nearby hospital. A hospital aide transported R.D. to her home. R.D. immediately told her family of her suspicions, leading her mother to refer the matter to police and return her daughter to the hospital. At the hospital, a test for sexual trauma was administered.

On July 22, 2002, FBI Agents Marcus McCaskill and Steve Chambers interviewed Lamy twice in connection with these events. McCaskill knew Lamy, having spoken with him on two prior occasions in the process of investigating unrelated crimes. McCaskill and Chambers began the first July 22 interview shortly before 10:00 a.m. in the living room of the house where Lamy lived with his mother. Before questioning Lamy, the agents presented a form that contained a waiver of Miranda rights. McCaskill testified that the agents also orally explained Lamy’s rights to him, although the agents did not read the form verbatim. They told Lamy *1260 that he was not in custody and that they did not intend to arrest him. Lamy signed the form. During the ensuing interview, Lamy admitted that he penetrated the victim with an object, but he denied engaging in sexual intercourse with her. He committed this statement to writing.

After interviewing Neha, Dickson, Cheama, and Tsethlakai, the agents returned to Lamy’s home. Lamy agreed to accompany the agents outdoors, and sat in the front passenger seat of the agents’ parked vehicle as they questioned him. The agents did not further advise Lamy of his rights on this occasion.

Based on what they had learned from the intervening interviews, the agents asked Lamy specific questions about his role in the events. Lamy admitted to beating the victim and having sexual intercourse with her. Lamy then wrote and signed a second statement, stating:

I Dion Lamy is goind to tall you the truth about wunt happed to that girl at frist I did not tall all the truth becouse I was cared to tall but the thing I did was sbaeet her wath by baet and have six wath her brent her har and touch her parvant part that is obout all the thing’s I did to her I am so sorry

On August 25, 2004, Lamy, Neha, and Cheama were indicted for assault and sexual assault. Tsethlakai and Dickson were juveniles at the time of the crime and were indicted separately. In return for a lesser charge, Cheama cooperated with the government, leaving Lamy and Neha as the sole defendants in a seven-count superceding indictment filed on February 25, 2005.

Both were tried in a consolidated trial. Four of seven counts in the indictment were dismissed, and the three remaining counts were sent to the jury. 1 Counts One and Two alleged that both Lamy and Neha committed a sexual act with an unconscious victim, and that each aided and abetted the other, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1153, and 2242(2)(B). Count Three alleged that Lamy penetrated the victim’s vagina with an object and Neha aided and abetted him in doing so, in violation of §§ 2, 1153, and 2242(2)(B). These incidents were alleged to have occurred in Indian country, making them federal crimes under the Indian Major Crimes Act. See § 1153(a).

Before trial, Lamy moved to suppress his oral and written statements on the ground that they were involuntary. During the ensuing suppression hearing, an expert witness who had examined Lamy testified that Lamy was easily confused and inclined to acquiesce to others’ conclusions. According to the expert, Lamy read at a second-grade level, ranked in the lowest percentile of his age group in reading comprehension, and was “functionally illiterate.” The expert concluded that Lamy, an “F” student who dropped out of school after the eighth grade, was not mentally retarded, but that his “ability to integrate information [was] at the retarded level.”

At the hearing, Agent McCaskill testified that Lamy appeared to understand him at all times, and that they had no communication problems. McCaskill was unaware that Lamy was a poor student. Lamy’s mother testified that she was present in the house during the first interview. She heard no inappropriate noise, such as raised voices. She also confirmed that *1261 Lamy did not appear to have been crying after his return from the second interview.

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

Related

Untitled Case
D. New Mexico, 2026
United States v. Hatley
Tenth Circuit, 2025
United States v. Nahkai
139 F.4th 859 (Tenth Circuit, 2025)
United States v. Pena
115 F.4th 1254 (Tenth Circuit, 2024)
United States v. Gaiter
Tenth Circuit, 2024
United States v. Woody
45 F.4th 1166 (Tenth Circuit, 2022)
United States v. Guillen
995 F.3d 1095 (Tenth Circuit, 2021)
United States v. Khan
989 F.3d 806 (Tenth Circuit, 2021)
Acosta v. Peters
D. New Mexico, 2020
United States v. Wagner
951 F.3d 1232 (Tenth Circuit, 2020)
United States v. Ray
Tenth Circuit, 2020
United States v. Hargrove
911 F.3d 1306 (Tenth Circuit, 2019)
Xy, LLC v. Trans Ova Genetics, L.C.
890 F.3d 1282 (Federal Circuit, 2018)
United States v. Rico Williams
836 F.3d 1 (D.C. Circuit, 2016)
Chavez v. Franco
609 F. App'x 527 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Valdez-Perea
597 F. App'x 1000 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Berres
777 F.3d 1083 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
521 F.3d 1257, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 6914, 2008 WL 852799, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lamy-ca10-2008.