United States v. Michael J. Newman

982 F.2d 665, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 946, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 33890, 1992 WL 386553
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedDecember 31, 1992
Docket91-2303
StatusPublished
Cited by85 cases

This text of 982 F.2d 665 (United States v. Michael J. Newman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First 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. Michael J. Newman, 982 F.2d 665, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 946, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 33890, 1992 WL 386553 (1st Cir. 1992).

Opinion

CYR, Circuit Judge.

Michael J. Newman appeals his conviction and sentence on one count of depriving a pretrial detainee of his civil rights under color of law in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242. We affirm.

I

BACKGROUND

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, see United States v. Batista-Polanco, 927 F.2d 14, 17 (1st Cir.1991), the evidence presented at trial warranted the following jury findings. On October 6, 1990, Daniel Peterson was arrested in Providence, Rhode Island, for drinking in public. A record check revealed outstanding warrants against Peterson. Appellant Michael J. Newman was the officer in charge of the cell block where Peterson was detained.

After being placed in a cell, Peterson began to yell and scream, then picked up the porcelain toilet in the cell and hurled it through the bars. Appellant Newman and another officer removed Peterson to a nearby cell. Peterson put up mild resistance and his wrists were handcuffed to the cell bars. Shortly after the officers left, Peterson resumed his yelling and screaming, which prompted appellant Newman to return to the cell. While still handcuffed to the cell bars, Peterson was beaten and kicked in the stomach and head by appellant. Peterson sustained injuries to his face, nose, eyes, and inner ear, and experienced difficulty in breathing. He remained in a local hospital for a week, where he experienced dizziness, severe headaches, and other physical pain. Extensive medical tests proved negative.

Newman was indicted, tried, and convicted for interfering with Peterson’s civil rights under color of law, and sentenced to sixty months in prison and a two-year term of supervised release.

II

DISCUSSION

Appellant presents four claims. First, he claims that the court committed error by excluding certain “habit” evidence proffered under Federal Rule of Evidence 406. Second, he contends that he was entitled to a new trial due to juror inattentiveness. Third, he disputes the finding that the alleged assault involved “serious bodily injury.” Finally, Newman attempts for the first time to assert that the sentence imposed pursuant to U.S.S.G. §§ 2A2.2(b)(3)(B) and 2H1.4(a)(2) had the impermissible effect of “double counting” any “serious bodily injury” inflicted on Peterson.

A. Evidence Rule 406

At trial, the defense attempted to introduce Providence Police Sergeant MacDonald’s testimony that he had seen be *668 tween 75 and 100 prisoners handcuffed to the cell bars, but never to the first bar. MacDonald’s testimony was offered to support Newman’s testimony that he had handcuffed Peterson to the third bar of the cell and not to the first bar as Peterson testified. The issue became material in light of the trial testimony of Daniel Greene, a detainee in the same cell block, who claimed to have seen Peterson’s cuffed hands protruding through the bars during the assault. The evidence demonstrated that Greene could have seen Peterson’s hands only if they were cuffed to the first bar. The district court sustained the government’s objection to the proffered testimony.

Under Rule 406, competent evidence of a person’s “habit” may be admissible to prove conduct in conformity with the habit on a particular occasion. Reyes v. Missouri P.R. Co., 589 F.2d 791, 794 (5th Cir.1979); see also John H. Strong, McCormick on Evidence § 195 (4th ed. 1992); 1A John A. Wigmore, Evidence § 95 (Tillers rev. 1983). 1 The party offering the evidence must establish the habitual nature of the alleged practice. Weil v. Seltzer, 873 F.2d 1453, 1461 (D.C.Cir.1989). As with other exclusionary rulings, the party challenging an exclusion of habit evidence under Rule 406 bears the heavy burden of demonstrating on appeal that the trial court abused its discretion. McWhorter v. Birmingham, 906 F.2d 674, 675 (11th Cir.1990); Rosenburg v. Lincoln American Life Ins. Co., 883 F.2d 1328, 1337 (7th Cir.1989); Weil, 873 F.2d at 1460; United States v. Troutman, 814 F.2d 1428, 1454 (10th Cir.1987); see also United States v. McCarthy, 961 F.2d 972, 977 (1st Cir.1992) (we review rulings on the admissibility of evidence for “abuse of discretion”).

Habit evidence under Rule 406 may be probative of “ ‘the regular practice of meeting a particular kind of situation with a specific type of conduct, such as the habit of going down a particular stairway two stairs at a time, or of giving the hand-signal for a left turn____’” Fed.R.Evid. 406, advisory committee’s note (quoting McCormick, Evidence § 195 at 826); Loughan v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 749 F.2d 1519, 1524 (11th Cir.1985). Although there are no “precise standards” for determining whether a behavior pattern has matured into a habit, two factors are considered controlling as a rule: “adequacy of sampling and uniformity of response.” Fed.R.Evid. 406, advisory committee’s notes; McWhorter, 906 F.2d at 679; G.M. Brod & Co. v. U.S. Home Corp., 759 F.2d 1526, 1533 (11th Cir.1985); Loughan, 749 F.2d at 1529; Weil, 873 F.2d at 1460; Reyes, 589 F.2d at 795. These factors focus on whether the behavior at issue “occurred with sufficient regularity making it more probable than not that it would be carried out in every instance or in most instances.” Weil, 873 F.2d at 1460. The requisite regularity is tested by the “ ‘ratio of reaction to situations.’ ” Wilson v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 561 F.2d 494, 512 (4th Cir.1977) (quoting Lewan, Rationale of Habit Evidence, 16 Syracuse L.Rev. 39, 51 (1964)), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1020, 98 S.Ct. 744, 54 L.Ed.2d 768 (1978); Weil, 873 F.2d at 1461; Simplex, Inc. v. Diversified Energy Systems, Inc., 847 F.2d 1290, 1294 (7th Cir.1988).

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982 F.2d 665, 37 Fed. R. Serv. 946, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 33890, 1992 WL 386553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-michael-j-newman-ca1-1992.