United States v. Shusta Traverse Gumbs

964 F.3d 1340
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided July 15, 2020·No. 18-13182·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

No. 18-13182

D.C. Docket No. 1:16-cr-00401-MHC-JFK-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

SHUSTA TRAVERSE GUMBS, Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

(July 15, 2020)

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, JILL PRYOR and LUCK, Circuit Judges. LUCK, Circuit Judge:

Shusta Traverse Gumbs was a fugitive with an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Sitting in his car, surrounded by task force officers with the U.S. Marshals Service ready to take him into custody, Gumbs stomped on his gas pedal, struck one officer and just missed three others. But his escape was short lived. The officers caught up with Gumbs days later. He was charged with, tried for, and convicted of two counts of using a deadly weapon to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with a federal officer. Gumbs argues that we should reverse his conviction because the district court refused to give his proposed instructions defining “forcibly” and use of a deadly weapon, failed to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of simple assault, gave the wrong answer to the jury’s question during deliberations, and erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal on count two. We affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Gumbs was a fugitive with an outstanding arrest warrant out of Douglas County, Georgia, for failing to appear in court on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and theft by receiving and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. A seven-member task force working with the United States Marshals Service was assigned to find Gumbs and arrest him. On October 21, 2016, Officer Walker Ralston spotted Gumbs sitting inside his car in a small, fenced-in Atlanta parking lot. The lot had only one opening for entering and exiting from the street.

Officer Ralston radioed the other task-force members that he saw Gumbs in the parking lot.

Officer Bryant Hill got there first. Officer Hill pulled around Gumbs’s car and parked behind it so Gumbs could not back out. Officer Jeffrey Stevens, riding with Officer Ralston and Officer Christopher Baker, arrived next. Officer Stevens parked his van in front of Gumbs to block the exit, and he activated his blue lights. Officer Stevens, Officer Ralston, and Officer Baker then got out of the van and approached Gumbs with their guns drawn; the officers announced themselves as law enforcement and told Gumbs to park his car, show his hands, and surrender. Officer Hill got out of his car and joined the others. All the officers were wearing vests that said they were law enforcement.

Gumbs initially tried to back out but stopped because Officer Hill’s car was in the way. Inspector Frank Lempka then arrived with Deputy David Siler. Inspector Lempka parked his car, with his blue lights activated, perpendicular to Officer Stevens’s van to further block the exit. This trial exhibit shows where the cars were at that point:1

1 The box with a single opening is the parking lot. Gumbs’s car is the one marked “G.”

Officer Hill’s car is marked “H.” Officer Stevens’s van is marked “S.” And Inspector Lempka’s car is marked “L.”

Inspector Lempka and Deputy Siler got out of their car and went toward the driver’s side of Gumbs’s car, stopping a few feet behind the four other officers (Officers Stevens, Ralston, Baker, and Hill). Gumbs’s window was partially down, and the officers were yelling at him that they were police and to park the car and get out. Gumbs was sitting in his car, which was running and, the officers believed, in drive.

Inspector Lempka ran back to his car to get a baton to break open Gumbs’s windows. Meanwhile, Officer Ralston and Officer Stevens reached into Gumbs’s car through his driver’s side window. As the officers were reaching in, Gumbs slammed on the gas and the car accelerated. Right then, Inspector Lempka was running between his car and Officer Stevens’s car toward Gumbs. Gumbs hit both cars as he sped off and struck Inspector Lempka. He did not even slow down as he

pinned Inspector Lempka between the cars. Inspector Eric Heinze was the last to arrive and was pulling into the parking lot as Gumbs was driving away. Gumbs hit Inspector Heinze’s car, and Inspector Heinze chased Gumbs as he fled. Gumbs went on to hit a civilian car before eventually abandoning his car and escaping on foot.

When Gumbs slammed on the gas: Officers Baker, Stevens, and Ralston were within a foot of Gumbs’s driver’s side window, close enough to reach into Gumbs’s car to arrest him; Officer Hill was near them but was standing more toward the back of the car in a less vulnerable position; and Deputy Siler was about five feet from the car, further away than the others. Inspector Heinze was still in his car when Gumbs sped off.

Both of Inspector Lempka’s legs were injured in the incident, and his right ankle and foot were severely sprained. Inspector Lempka also suffered injuries to his head resulting in a black eye and a large bump on his brow.

Gumbs was arrested four days later. Soon after, Gumbs was indicted for two counts of using a deadly weapon to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with a federal officer, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) and (b).2 Count one charged Gumbs with hitting Inspector Lempka. Count two

2 The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 111, reads in full:

(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever—

charged Gumbs with forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, and interfering with the six other officers who were next to the car as Gumbs was speeding away from the parking lot.

The case was tried in front of a jury over six days in December 2017. At the end of the government’s case, Gumbs moved for judgment of acquittal. As to count two, Gumbs argued there was no evidence he acted in a threatening way toward the officers standing next to his car, although he admitted his argument was weaker with respect to the officers “closest” to his car. The district court denied Gumbs’s motion.

In his closing argument, Gumbs admitted he hit Inspector Lempka but claimed it was an accident. Gumbs argued that the evidence suggested he had used the car

(1) forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with any person designated in section 1114 of this title while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties; or

(2) forcibly assaults or intimidates any person who formerly served as a person designated in section 1114 on account of the performance of official duties during such person’s term of service,

shall, where the acts in violation of this section constitute only simple assault, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, and where such acts involve physical contact with the victim of that assault or the intent to commit another felony, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.

(b) ENHANCED PENALTY.—Whoever, in the commission of any acts described in subsection (a), uses a deadly or dangerous weapon (including a weapon intended to cause death or danger but that fails to do so by reason of a defective component) or inflicts bodily injury, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

to flee rather than as a deadly weapon. Gumbs acknowledged he resisted, opposed, and impeded the officers to evade arrest, but he maintained he did not do so forcibly.

At the charge conference, Gumbs requested a special jury instruction for the term “forcibly”:

To act “forcibly” means to use physical force or threats of force.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Shusta Traverse Gumbs, 964 F.3d 1340 (11th Cir. 2020).

964 F.3d 1340 (United States v. Shusta Traverse Gumbs) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related