United States v. Nichols

100 F. App'x 524
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJune 11, 2004
DocketNos. 02-6312, 02-6313
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 100 F. App'x 524 (United States v. Nichols) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Nichols, 100 F. App'x 524 (6th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

HOOD, District Judge.

Defendants-Appellants Thomas Albert Nichols and Carlton V. Smith were found guilty by a jury of Bank Extortion with use of a dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(d) and 2 (Count 1) and Bank Extortion by forced accompaniment and aid[526]*526ing and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(e) and 2 (Count 2). Nichols was sentenced to serve 300 months of imprisonment on Count 1 and 405 months of imprisonment on Count 2. Smith was also sentenced to 300 months of imprisonment on Count 1 and 405 months of imprisonment on Count 2. On appeal, both Nichols and Smith challenge the district court’s jury instruction for a hung jury pursuant to Allen v. United States, 164 U.S. 492, 17 S.Ct. 154, 41 L.Ed. 528. 164 U.S. 492, 17 S.Ct. 154, 41 L.Ed. 528 (1896). Smith also alleges that his constitutional right to be free from double jeopardy was violated when he was charged and convicted of the instant offense after he was previously prosecuted and convicted of a conspiracy charge involving the same robbery and in the sentencing phase where the same facts were used in the prior sentencing to enhance the second sentence. Smith further challenges the district court’s denial of his motion for downward departure under U.S.S.G. § 5K2.0. For reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgments entered by the district court.

I.

This case involves a home invasion and bank robbery in Clarksville, Tennessee. Carolyn Pierce is an area manager for First American Bank. (J.A. 317) On December 12, 1996. Douglas Daigle and Smith went to the Pierce household and took Mark Pierce, a seven-year old, and his grandparents, Leonard and Nancy Beaudoin, hostages. (J.A. 326) Daigle and Smith also took Don Pierce hostage when he came home from work. (J.A. 292) At approximately 7:30 p.m., Ms. Pierce called home and spoke to her son. She later arrived home and was taken hostage. (J.A. 324) During the night, Ms. Pierce and her family were threatened with harm unless she delivered money to the men holding her and her family captive. (J.A. 326) Ms. Pierce was told that a bomb would be strapped to her husband and that if she successfully delivered the money from the bank, she would be able to defuse the bomb and save her husband. (J.A. 330-31)

The next morning, December 13, 1996, around 4:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m., Mr. Pierce was bound and gagged and tied to his Jeep Grand Cherokee and was left outside a Waffle House on Riverside Drive in Clarksville. (J.A. 302-03) Ms. Pierce went to the bank and emptied out the vault in the amount of $851,000. (J.A. 359) Two bags she had filled with the money were placed in the back of Ms. Pierce’s truck. Daigle told her that there would be an envelope in the glove box which contained the directions of where to park the truck. Ms. Pierce parked the truck a short distance from the bank. As she was walking back to the bank, she observed a black convertible Mustang drive past her which eventually parked next to her pick-up truck. (J.A. 349-55) Ms. Pierce returned to the bank, waiting for a call which never came. At 9:30 a.m., bank security was contacted. (J.A. 355-57) Mr. Pierce was located, unharmed, by some private citizens, freed by officers of the Clarksville Police Department and reunited with his wife. (J.A. 304-05)

The widow of Daigle, Capri Seiber, testified at trial that Mr. Nichols was driving the Mustang. (J.A. 464-65) Ms. Seiber testified that she heard her husband and Smith over two-way radios talking about the money they obtained from Ms. Pierce’s delivery. (J.A. 464) Ms. Seiber stated that she and Daigle in one car, and Smith and Nichols in a black Mustang, drove to Goodlettsville where they divided up the money in a hotel room at approximately 9:30 a.m. that morning. (J.A. 465-67)

On April 27, 2000, Nichols and Smith were indicted in the Middle District of [527]*527Tennessee on three counts: 1) Bank Extortion with use of a dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(d) and 2 (Count 1); 2) Bank Extortion by forced accompaniment and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2113(e) and 2 (Count 2); and 3) Use and Carrying of Firearms during and in relation to a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) (Count 3). Count 3 was subsequently dismissed by the Government. Trial on the remaining two counts against Nichols and Smith began on May 13, 2002. The jury returned a verdict of guilty against both Nichols and Smith on both counts on May 23, 2002.

II.

A. Allen Charge

A decision to give an Allen charge is reviewed using an abuse of discretion standard. United States v. Sawyers, 902 F.2d 1217, 1220 (6th Cir.1990). In Allen, the Supreme Court approved the use of a supplemental instruction designed to encourage the jury to reach a verdict by requesting each juror to reconsider his or her respective position during continued deliberations. This court has found the Allen charge “approaches the limits beyond which a trial court should not venture in urging the jury to reach a verdict.” United States v. Harris, 391 F.2d 348, 354 (6th Cir.1968). The Sixth Circuit Pattern Criminal Jury Instruction 9.04 tracks but does not duplicate the Allen instruction. United States v. Frost, 125 F.3d 346, 374 (1997).

This Circuit has identified language which is critical to any Allen charge. Id. at 375. The first is that the charge be directed to both majority and minority jurors to reconsider their positions. See Williams v. Parke, 741 F.2d 847, 850 (6th Cir.1984). The second is that it cautions all jurors not to surrender their personal convictions merely in order to achieve consensus by acquiescing in the majority opinion. See United States v. Aloi, 9 F.3d 438, 443 (6th Cir.1993). The length of jury service may also render a juror in the minority particularly susceptible to coercion. Frost, 125 F.3d at 376. The length of time in which a jury may reach a verdict following the giving of the charge cannot be considered in determining whether the charge was coercive. United States v. Giacalone,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
100 F. App'x 524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-nichols-ca6-2004.