United States v. Sammy David Fontanez-Mercado

368 F. App'x 69
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 1, 2010
Docket09-14112
StatusUnpublished

This text of 368 F. App'x 69 (United States v. Sammy David Fontanez-Mercado) 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. Sammy David Fontanez-Mercado, 368 F. App'x 69 (11th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Appellant Sammy David Fontanez-Mer-cado appeals his conviction for interference with the performance of a flight attendant’s duties, in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 46504. Fontanez-Mereado was on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Orlando, Florida, and as the plane landed, he stood and opened an overhead compartment. A flight attendant told him to return to his seat, and, although he used profanity, he complied. Almost immediately, however, he rose from his seat, standing within inches of the flight attendant’s face. The flight attendant reacted by pushing him into his seat, and a fight ensued.

Fontanez-Mereado raises the following three arguments on appeal: (1) the district court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on self-defense; (2) there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction; and (3) the government committed a discovery violation by failing to disclose a bracelet that belonged to another flight attendant who was involved in the altercation.

I.

On appeal, Fontanez-Mereado argues that a flight attendant initiated physical contact with him, even though his use of foul language did not justify the use of force. He contends that multiple JetBlue employees testified that flight attendants are trained not to initiate the use of force to obtain compliance from difficult passengers. Fontanez-Mereado maintains that he fought with the flight attendant to defend himself, and his constitutional right to self-defense entitled him to a jury instruction on that defense. Additionally, Fonta-nez-Mercado argues that the district court *71 abused its discretion in denying his motion for a new trial, related to this jury instruction, by relying on Florida law on self-defense, not federal law.

We review de novo the issue of whether the defense produced sufficient evidence to sustain a requested jury instruction. United States v. Calderon, 127 F.3d 1314, 1329 (11th Cir.1997). We review the district court’s denial of a motion for a new trial for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Lee, 586 F.3d 859, 865 (11th Cir.2009). A district court’s refusal to give a requested instruction is reversible error if the requested instruction was a correct statement of the law, its subject matter was not substantially covered by other instructions, and its subject matter dealt with an issue in the trial court that was so important “that failure to give [it] seriously impaired the [defendant’s] ability to present an effective case.” United States v. Svete, 556 F.3d 1157, 1161 (11th Cir.2009) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Nov. 16, 2009) (09-7576). We may affirm the district court on any basis that finds support in the record. United States v. Mejia, 82 F.3d 1032, 1035 (11th Cir.1996).

“A criminal defendant has the right to have the jury instructed on [his] theory of defense, separate and apart from instructions given on the elements of the charged offense.” United States v. Ruiz, 59 F.3d 1151, 1154 (11th Cir.1995). The defendant’s burden of presenting evidence to obtain the instruction is “extremely low,” and the district court must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the defendant. Id. However, the requested instruction must have “some basis in the evidence.” United States v. Hedges, 912 F.2d 1397, 1405 (11th Cir.1990) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Self-defense is an affirmative defense, and “the burden is on the defendant to prove justification by a preponderance of the evidence.” See United States v. Flores, 572 F.3d 1254, 1266 (11th Cir.2009), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 568, 175 L.Ed.2d 389 (2009). “Generally, self-defense is a defense which justifies the use of a reasonable amount of force against an adversary when a person reasonably believes that he is in immediate danger of unlawful bodily harm from his adversary and that the use of such force is necessary to avoid this danger.” United States v. Middleton, 690 F.2d 820, 826 (11th Cir.1982).

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Fontanez-Mercado, he was not defending himself when he quickly rose from his seat after the flight attendant told him to sit down. By defying the flight attendant in an intimidating fashion, Fontanez-Mercado had completed the crime of interfering with a flight attendant, and his disobedience by quickly standing up was not justified by any immediate danger of unlawful bodily harm. Accordingly, Fontanez-Mercado was not entitled to a self-defense jury instruction, and the district court did not err by failing to give such an instruction.

II.

Fontanez-Mercado next argues that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of the charged conduct because although he used foul language, he never threatened anyone, and he told the flight attendant not to touch him. FontanezMercado asserts that multiple airline employees testified that they are trained to defuse a situation, not use force, and the flight attendant who pushed him acknowledged that he could have backed away from Fontanez-Mercado.

We review de novo challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence in criminal tri *72 ais, “viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government.” United States v. Futrell, 209 F.3d 1286, 1288 (11th Cir.2000). We assume that the jury made all credibility choices in the way that supports the verdict. United States v. Thompson, 473 F.3d 1137, 1142 (11th Cir.2006).

It is illegal for passengers on an airplane to interfere with the duties of the flight crew. 49 U.S.C. § 46504. Section 46504 provides in part:

An individual on an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States who, by assaulting or intimidating a flight crew member or flight attendant of the aircraft, interferes with the performance of the duties of the member or attendant or lessens the ability of the member or attendant to perform those duties, or attempts or conspires to do such an act, shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 20 years, or both.

Id.

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Related

United States v. Grossman
131 F.3d 1449 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Chastain
198 F.3d 1338 (Eleventh Circuit, 1999)
United States v. Futrell
209 F.3d 1286 (Eleventh Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Corry Thompson
473 F.3d 1137 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Williams
526 F.3d 1312 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Svete
556 F.3d 1157 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Flores
572 F.3d 1254 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Lee
586 F.3d 859 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Clifton Ray Middleton
690 F.2d 820 (Eleventh Circuit, 1982)
United States v. Robert Lewis Hedges
912 F.2d 1397 (Eleventh Circuit, 1990)
United States v. Alberto Calderon
127 F.3d 1314 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Sarras
575 F.3d 1191 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)

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368 F. App'x 69, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sammy-david-fontanez-mercado-ca11-2010.