United States v. Lonedog

67 F. App'x 543
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJune 12, 2003
Docket02-8065
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 67 F. App'x 543 (United States v. Lonedog) 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. Lonedog, 67 F. App'x 543 (10th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT ***

HOLLOWAY, Senior Circuit Judge.

I.

A.

The Procedural Background

Jurisdiction in the district court arose by virtue of 18 U.S.C. § 3231. Jurisdiction in this court arises by virtue of 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

On November 21, 2001, Lonedog was charged in a 21 count indictment on various drug, sexual abuse, assault and firearms charges. I App. 2-10 (Doc 1: Indictment). A jury rendered guilty verdicts as to Count One, distribution of marijuana to a minor in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) and 859; Count Nine, Sexual Abuse in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2242; 1 Count Eleven, attempted distribution of marijuana to a minor in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846, and 859; Counts Twelve and Fifteen, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1153 and Wyo. Stat. § 6 — 2 — 502(a)(iii); Counts Fourteen and Seventeen, use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii); and Count Eighteen, felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). I App. (Doc. 1 at 1-9); I App. (Doc. 91 at 1-6). Counts Nineteen, Twenty, and Twenty-One were voluntarily severed prior to trial, and dismissed without prejudice.

On June 25, 2002, Lonedog was sentenced to imprisonment of 180 months as to Counts One and Eleven, 180 months as to Count Nine, and 120 months as to Counts Twelve, Fifteen and Eighteen, all of which were to run concurrently to each other. Brief of Appellee (attachment: judgment at 3). In addition, he was sentenced to 60 months as to Count Fourteen, and 25 years as to Count Seventeen, both to run consecutively to each other and all other counts. Id. His total sentence was 45 years (540 months). Lonedog was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $800, and sentenced to 6 years’ supervised release following his imprisonment. Id. at 4,8.

B.

The Factual Background

Lonedog’s indictment arose from several incidents that took place over the course of six months beginning in approximately May, 2001, and ending in October, 2001. An investigation of Lonedog began when officers of the Wind River Police Department on the Wind River Indian Reservation responded to a two vehicle crash just south of Riverton, Wyoming. III App. 6-8. 2 Lonedog was the driver of one car. *545 IV App. 68-9. Trapped and injured in Lonedog’s car were two teenage girls, NDJ, 15, and ALJ, 14. IV App. 40, 50, 68-69, 86. The initial investigation was of the car crash, but as the girls were being extricated from the car, various items of drug paraphernalia, some with possible drug residue, were found in the car. Ill App. at 7-11.

At the hospital, all three occupants were given presumptive or screening drug tests of their urine for medical purposes. IV App. 220, 229-31. 3 These tests are screening rather than definitive tests which only provide positive or negative results. IV App. 223. Ms. Childers, the lab manager at Riverton Memorial Hospital, testified that pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drugs, such as “cold medications that contained ephedrine” and diet pills, could produce a positive reaction for the amphetamine/methamphetamine class of drugs. IV App. 224-25. The tests are examined at the hospital’s laboratory. Id. at 220-21. Further testing that is more definitive is available to the hospital but those tests have to be sent to a reference laboratory. Id. at 223.

Lonedog tested positive for THC, NDJ positive for amphetamine and THC, and ALJ negative for any drug. IV App. 230-31. These tests were admitted over objections at a motion hearing before the trial and at trial to “corroborate” the testimony of NDJ and ALJ. IV App. 230-36. NDJ testified that Lonedog had given her marijuana in a pipe, and she identified a pipe found in the car which contained THC residue as one Lonedog had offered her. IV App. 95-96, 106 (Testimony of NDJ), 199 (Testimony of Loring). ALJ testified that prior to the crash, Lonedog had also offered her marijuana and methamphetamine, but she had refused. IV App. 64, 67 (Testimony of ALJ). NDJ testified at trial about other times when Lonedog distributed methamphetamine and marijuana to her. IV App. 97-98, 111-15 (Testimony of NDJ). NDJ stated that at the time of the crash she was not using any prescription or over-the-counter medicines. TV App. 107-08. However, she also said that she did not remember using any methamphetamine that night but admitted that she might have done it and not remembered. Id. at 110-11. NDJ also testified about an incident in May, 2001, when Lonedog took her to a remote area and forcibly had sex with her. IV App. 119-23 (Testimony of NDJ).

A. No.

Another incident occurred on August 4-5, 2001, and involved Lonedog and two different teenage girls, TLG and CMJ, both 16. V App. 328, 380. Earlier in the evening of August 4, 2001, Lonedog had argued with his girlfriend, now his wife, Nancy Spoonhunter, and her cousin Alvinita Lamebull in Riverton, had pointed a handgun at Lamebull, and made threats to kill Lamebull and the families of both *546 Lamebull and Spoonhunter. IV App. 241-42, 244-47. Later that night, Lonedog picked up two of his nieces, who were both juveniles. V App. at 336-87, V App, 383-86. Despite their repeated requests to be taken home, he kept them with him while he drove around the reservation looking for his girlfriend and talking about killing her and others. V App. 347-355, 386-392.

He drove past CMJ’s house, went to his own house, and showed them a gun and ammunition. V App. 347-349. He then showed them a shotgun shell which he had loaded with salt and said “it could [expletive] up our face [sic]” if he shot them with it. V App. 349, 388. After leaving his house, Lonedog had a pistol in his hand and was waving it around in the direction of either one or both of the girls. V App.

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Related

State v. Rynhart
2003 UT App 410 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2003)
Lonedog v. United States
540 U.S. 975 (Supreme Court, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
67 F. App'x 543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lonedog-ca10-2003.