United States v. Laquita Stephens

519 F. App'x 94
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 29, 2013
Docket12-3032
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 519 F. App'x 94 (United States v. Laquita Stephens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Laquita Stephens, 519 F. App'x 94 (3d Cir. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

VANASKIE, Circuit Judge.

Laquita Stephens appeals an order of the District Court revoking her probation and sentencing her to five months’ imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release. Stephens argues that the District Court violated her Fifth Amendment right to due process by admitting hearsay evidence at the revocation hearing. We reject this argument and will affirm the District Court’s judgment.

I.

We write primarily for the parties, who are familiar with the facts and procedural history of this case. Accordingly, we set forth only those facts necessary to our analysis.

After entering a guilty plea to one count of providing contraband to a prison inmate, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1791(a)(1) and 1791(b)(3), Stephens was sentenced to three years’ probation by the *96 United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. General conditions of Stephens’ release included that she not commit another crime; that she not associate with persons with felony convictions; and that she follow her probation officer’s instructions. Stephens was also subject to several special conditions, including that she perform 100 hours of community service.

On March 6, 2012, the United States Probation Office for the Western District of New York, the district in which Stephens was living, filed a petition charging Stephens with three probation violations. The first violation was based upon Stephens’ arrest for third degree assault, in violation of New York State Penal Law, following her involvement in an altercation with a waitress, Antonia Lee, at a Denny’s restaurant in Cheektowaga, New York, on February 16, 2012. 1 Also involved in the altercation was Stephens’ friend Jessica Barager, a convicted felon, whose presence during the incident formed the basis for the second violation. The third violation was predicated upon Stephens’ failure to perform community service and follow her probation officer’s instructions regarding, inter alia, completing weekly community service.

The District Court held a revocation hearing on May 4, 2012, and rejected the parties’ proposed resolution that Stephens receive a sentence of four months’ imprisonment, with no term of post-release supervision. When Stephens indicated that she would not admit to having assaulted Lee, the Government requested a continuance “so that [it] could have a witness [present] with regard to the underlying assault allegation that forms really the primary basis for the revocation^]” (A. 32.) The District Court granted the request.

A second hearing was held on July 12, 2012. The District Court heard testimony from Detective Robert Laskowski, the Cheektowaga Police Department detective assigned to investigate the alleged assault. When Laskowski began to testify to statements Lee made to him concerning the altercation, defense counsel objected, arguing that admission of Lee’s statements violated Stephens’ right to confront adverse witnesses pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.1(b)(2)(C). 2 The Government responded by explaining that it sent Lee a subpoena via certified mail with a return receipt requested; a signed receipt was never returned; and Lee did not appear for the hearing. The District Court declined to rule on the objection at that time, explaining that it would hear the evidence and counsels’ arguments before determining whether Lee’s statements were admissible.

The District Court proceeded to hear testimony from Laskowski about his conversations with Lee, and the signed written statement he took from Lee at police headquarters on February 21, 2012, wherein Lee explained the circumstances of the altercation and her subsequent inju *97 ries and medical treatment. Laskowski testified that he observed Lee’s injuries— facial scratches and a reddened eye — during a face-to-face meeting. Additionally, Laskowski explained that after receiving a phone call from the Denny’s manager informing him that one of the assailants left behind a cell phone containing the name “Laquita Stephens,” he found a picture of Stephens in the police department’s archives and later met with Lee to conduct a photo array identification procedure, during which Lee identified Stephens as one of her assailants. According to Laskowski, he also examined Stephens’ Facebook profile page, and discovered a photograph of a woman who matched Lee’s description of the second assailant, later identified as Barager. Finally, Laskowski testified that during a February 23, 2012 phone call with Stephens, she admitted she was “involved in a fight with a waitress” at Denny’s, and identified Barager as the other woman present on the night of the incident. (A. 63 (internal quotation marks omitted).)

The District Court also heard testimony from Barager, who described in some detail the altercation with Lee. Barager admitted pulling off Lee’s wig, punching her in the face, and then brawling with Lee. Barager also acknowledged that Stephens became involved in the fray, grabbing Lee by the shoulder and pulling Lee off Barager, who then proceeded to tackle Lee and continue the fight. According to Barager, Stephens did not hit Lee.

After reviewing the evidence presented, 3 the District Court determined that Lee’s hearsay statements were admissible and concluded that the Government proved each of the charged violations. 4 Each of the violations constituted Grade C violations, including the assault. • Combined with Stephens’ category II criminal history, an advisory guideline imprisonment range of four to ten months was applicable. 5

II.

Stephens challenges the District Court’s determination that Lee’s hearsay statements were admissible pursuant to Rule 32.1(b)(2)(C), arguing that admission of the statements violated her Fifth Amendment right to confront adverse witnesses. 6 We generally review “[t]he admissibility of hearsay evidence under Rule 32.1(b)(2)(C)” for abuse of discretion. United States v. Lloyd, 566 F.3d 341, 344 (3d Cir.2009).

As we explained in Lloyd, the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of “[d]ue process requires that supervised releasees retain at least a limited right to confront adverse witnesses in a revocation hearing.” Id. at 343. This requirement has “been incorporated into Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.1(b),” id., which provides that the subject of a revocation hearing is entitled to “an opportunity to ... question any adverse witness unless the court determines that the interest of justice does not require the witness to appear.” Fed. R.Crim.P.

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519 F. App'x 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-laquita-stephens-ca3-2013.