United States v. Matilda Jean Renfro

702 F. App'x 799
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 6, 2017
Docket16-14838 Non-Argument Calendar
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 702 F. App'x 799 (United States v. Matilda Jean Renfro) 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. Matilda Jean Renfro, 702 F. App'x 799 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

■ Matilda Jean Renfro appeals her petty offense conviction for disorderly conduct at a Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) hospital in violation of 38 C.F.R. § 1.218. After a magistrate judge found Renfro guilty at a bench trial, the district court upheld her conviction on appeal. Now, appealing the district court’s decision, Renfro argues that her conviction must be reversed because the regulation she was charged with violating is unconstitutionally vague and there was insufficient evidence to support her conviction: After careful review, and for the reasons set forth below, we affirm the district court’s decision.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Renfro’s Arrest

The incident leading to Renfro’s arrest occurred when she visited a VA hospital for medical treatment. When Renfro arrived at the hospital, she was required to check in with the dispatcher at the hospital’s police services so that she could be escorted to her appointment. The dispatcher’s station was behind a bulletproof glass window in the emergency room waiting area.

When Renfro arrived, the waiting area was full of people. Renfro approached the dispatcher’s desk where William Goff, a volunteer, was working. Because Goff was sitting behind the glass window, he asked *802 Renfro through an intercom for her identification and to state where she was going in the hospital. 1 Although Renfro gave Goff her identification, she refused to tell him where she was headed. Renfro told Goff that she did not feel like she needed to give that information and would not provide it over an intercom in the waiting area where others could hear about the nature of her appointment. But Goff insisted that under the VA’s procedures, he needed this information. During this conversation, Renfo became agitated and began yelling. Goff described Renfro’s conduct as loud and boisterous. Goff then requested help from the hospital’s police services in dealing with Renfro.

Sergeant Ronald Brown and Officer Rodney Fausnaugh then went into the emergency room waiting area to meet with Renfro. Fausnaugh, who observed that Renfro was shouting and agitated, took her identification from Goff. He explained that he was holding her identification while he investigated the incident. Renfro then yelled at Fausnaugh that he was holding her identification hostage. Fausnaugh asked Renfro where her appointment was, but she refused to tell him. When Brown asked Renfro to lower her voice and calm down, she became louder. Renfro then demanded to see the patient advocate, and the officers agreed. During this interaction in the waiting area, a triage nurse who had been working with a patient came out to see what was going on because of the noise Renfro was making.

The officers escorted Renfro to the patient advocate’s office. To avoid taking Renfro through multiple areas in the hospital where other patients were present, they walked her outside and around the building. While they were walking outside, Renfro told the officers that she could not believe the way they were treating her and that she was a “n* * * * * of the VA.” Trial Tr. at 39 (Mag. Doc. No. 76). 2 Renfro told the officers that she was not using the term as a racial slur but instead to express that she felt she was being “disenfranchised.” Id. When Fausnaugh told her that her language was inappropriate, Renfro repeated the phrase several times and told Fausnaugh she could say what she wanted.

After walking to another entrance, Ren-fro and the officers reentered the VA building. To reach the patient advocate’s office, they had to walk through the day surgery area where approximately 20 to 30 people were sitting, including patients waiting for surgery and families waiting for patients to come out of surgery. When they walked through this area, Renfro yelled about how she was being treated as a Muslim women and stated that she was being treated “as an**** *.” Id. at 41. According to the officers, Renfro was creating a scene and causing everyone to look at her. Once again, because of the noise Renfro was making, an employee left her office to see what was happening.

When they reached the patient advocate’s office, the officers directed Renfro to stay in the patient advocate’s waiting room. Renfro continued to shout, and Brown directed her to lower her voice because others were waiting. Renfro responded that she did not have to be quiet. Brown then went to get Michelle Howard, a patient advocate, and let her know that Renfro was waiting. Howard agreed to talk with Renfro. Because Renfro was so loud, Howard shut the doors to other em *803 ployees’ offices so that they would not be disturbed. In addition, other staff working nearby came out of their offices to see what was going on. Howard reassured these employees that everything was fine and that police officers were present.

When Howard came out to talk to Ren-fro, Renfro told her that Fausnaugh was holding her driver’s license hostage and again stated that she was being treated “as an**** *.” Id. at 42. When Howard told Renfro “[t]hat’s enough,” the officers directed Renfro to leave. Id. Fausnaugh placed a hand on Renfro’s elbow to escort her out of the patient advocate’s office. Renfro told Fausnaugh not to touch her because she was a Muslim woman. As the officers escorted Renfro back through the day surgery area, she accused the officers of mistreating her because she was a Muslim woman. When the officers told her to lower her voice, she refused and asserted that she was exercising her First Amendment rights.

When Fausnaugh and Renfro reached the exit, Renfro again stated that the officers were treating her like a “n* * * * *.” Id. at 43. At that point, Fausnaugh arrested Renfro for disorderly conduct. At the time of the arrest, Fausnaugh prepared a notice charging Renfro with disorderly conduct in violation of 38 C.F.R. § 1.218(b)(ll), a petty offense.

B. Procedural History

1. Proceedings Before the Magistrate Judge

Renfro was tried for the offense in' a bench trial before a magistrate judge. At the trial, Goff, Fausnaugh, Brown, and Howard testified for the government. At the close of the government’s case, Renfro moved for a judgment of acquittal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29. She argued that because 38 C.F.R. § 1.218(b)(ll) was a penalty provision that set out no substantive charge, the government had to prove that she committed the substantive offense found in 38 C.F.R. § 1.218(a)(5), meaning the government had to show that she made a loud, boisterous, or unusual noise that interfered with the operation of the facility.

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Bluebook (online)
702 F. App'x 799, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-matilda-jean-renfro-ca11-2017.