United States v. Lance House

823 F.3d 482, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 9360, 2016 WL 2956744
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMay 23, 2016
Docket15-1175
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 823 F.3d 482 (United States v. Lance House) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Lance House, 823 F.3d 482, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 9360, 2016 WL 2956744 (8th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge.

Lance House appeals his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He argues that the district court 1 erred in denying his motion to suppress photographic identification evidence, and for the first time on appeal, he contends that a show-up identification tainted subsequent photographic and in-court identifications. We affirm.

I.

On July 26, 2013, Logan Engelbrecht and Taylor Hruska were driving near Lowell Elementary School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when they saw a man pointing a handgun at another man. Engel-brecht, who was driving, called 911 and described the gunman as wearing a red shirt, black pants, and a black hat, and having a “fro” with a ponytail. She indicated that he was holding a small, black handgun. After Engelbrecht stopped the car, Hruska got out of the vehicle and walked toward the area where they had spotted the man with the gun. Hruska observed the gunman walking away from the scene.

At about the same time, construction workers Shawn Jaminet and Jason Diamond were replacing a door at Lowell Elementary School and saw a man with a gun approach a group of people across the street from the school. The man pointed the gun in another man’s face. Jaminet called 911 to report the incident and watched the gunman run away from the group. He described the gunman as having a ponytail and wearing a red shirt and black hat.

Two Sioux Falls Police Department (“SFPD”) officers, Officer Chris Bauman and Reserve Officer Steve Schumacher, responded to the 911 calls. When the officers arrived on the scene, they discovered House walking down the street with another individual. Both officers observed that House was wearing a red shirt, black pants, and a hat. The officers pulled their patrol car over to the curb, exited the vehicle, and drew their firearms. They told House and the other man to freeze and put their hands up, but House ran away from the scene. Officers Bauman and Schumacher ran after House. Hruska continued to observe House as the officers pursued him. Then, after the officers caught House, Hruska approached the police.

By the time Hruska got to the police, the officers had already placed House in the back of their patrol car. Hruska identified House as the man she saw with the gun. Engelbrecht was not asked to identify House.

Emmet Warkenthien, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives, became involved with the investigation of House after House’s arrest. Agent Warkenthien developed a photographic lineup to show Hruska. He met with an SFPD intelligence analyst to use a computer program *485 that compared House’s Minnehaha County jail booking photograph to photographs of other individuals booked into the same jail. They entered House’s physical characteristics into the program to find individuals with similar features, and created a photographic lineup with color booking photographs of six individuals.

On August 20, 2013, Agent Warkenthien met with Hruska and showed her the photographic lineup. He told her that the person she observed on July 26, 2013 may or may not be in the photographic lineup, and if the person she observed was pictured in the lineup, she should identify the person by placing her initials next to the photograph. Agent Warkenthien did not suggest to Hruska which person may have been the person she observed. Hruska immediately identified photograph number two, which was the photograph of House. Hruska had never seen House prior to July 26, 2013 and did not know his name at the time of the photographic lineup.

On January 7, 2014, a grand jury indicted House, charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). House pled not guilty. Before trial, House moved to suppress Hruska’s identification of him in the photographic lineup on the basis that it was impermissibly suggestive. United States Magistrate Judge John E. Simko held a suppression hearing on March 5, 2014 in which Agent Warkenthien served as the government’s sole witness. Agent Wark-enthien testified that when he showed Hruska the six-person photographic lineup, Hruska immediately identified House as the individual who had the gun on July 26, 2013. Judge Simko filed a report and recommendation suggesting that the district court deny House’s motion to suppress. The district court adopted Judge Simko’s report and recommendation and denied the motion to suppress.

The case was tried before a jury on July 1 and 2, 2014. At trial, Hruska, Engel-brecht, and Diamond made in-court identifications of House as the person whom they observed holding a firearm on July 26, 2013. Officers Bauman and Schumacher also made in-court identifications of House as the individual who ran from them.

The jury returned a guilty verdict against House. On January 9, 2015, House was sentenced to 78 months imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. House filed a timely notice of appeal.

II.

House first argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress Hruska’s identification of House in a photographic lineup. “When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we review the district court’s legal conclusions de novo but its factual findings for clear error.” United States v. Burston, 806 F.3d 1123, 1126 (8th Cir.2015). “We will affirm the district court unless the denial of the motion is unsupported by substantial evidence, based on an erroneous interpretation of the law, or, based on the entire record, it is clear that a mistake was made.” United States v. Zamora-Lopez, 685 F.3d 787, 789 (8th Cir.2012) (internal quotations omitted).

The Supreme Court has established a two-step inquiry into photographic lineups. Schawitsch v. Burt, 491 F.3d 798, 802 (8th Cir.2007) (citing Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 116, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977)); see also Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 197, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972); Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 384, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968). First, we must determine whether the lineup was impermissibly sug *486 gestive. Schawitsch, 491 F.3d at 802. If we find that the lineup is impermissibly suggestive, then we must examine whether under the totality of the circumstances the lineup created a substantial likelihood of misidentification at trial. Id.

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

Related

United States v. Raphael Nunn
Eighth Circuit, 2025
CAMACHO (OCEAN) v. STATE
141 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 52 (Nevada Supreme Court, 2025)
United States v. Hakeem Flax
988 F.3d 1068 (Eighth Circuit, 2021)
United States v. David Heard
951 F.3d 920 (Eighth Circuit, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
823 F.3d 482, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 9360, 2016 WL 2956744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lance-house-ca8-2016.