United States v. Stoddard

234 F. App'x 241
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJuly 9, 2007
Docket06-41179
StatusUnpublished

This text of 234 F. App'x 241 (United States v. Stoddard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Stoddard, 234 F. App'x 241 (5th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge: *

Greg Stoddard was convicted by a jury of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. He appeals his conviction, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the verdict and that the identification procedures used by the police were unduly suggestive. 1 Finding no error, we affirm.

I.

About 9:30 in the evening, a truck left the side of the road and careened into a tree. Two witnesses approached the truck and observed its sole occupant emerge in a daze. Both witnesses inquired as to the driver’s health, and one dialed 911. By the time the police arrived, the driver had wandered away.

Inside the truck, police found a loaded .38 caliber pistol in the glove box, a TEC-9 semi-automatic pistol in the floorboard, a large number of plastic bags, a scale, a grinding machine, and, in the center eon-sole, a large amount of crystal methamphetamine, and $1,580 in currency divided up into one-hundred-dollar increments. Police also found a shirt and a pill bottle with Stoddard’s name on them and two notebooks bearing his name and address.

Both witnesses gave an identification of the driver as a white male in his mid-forties with shoulder-length salt and pepper hair, wearing a green tee shirt and blue jeans. Stoddard was arrested shortly thereafter at a nearby convenience store wearing a green tee shirt and jeans. The sum of $4,856 was found on his person, packaged in similar hundred-dollar increments. He was brought to the scene of the accident but disclaimed knowledge of the truck or the items inscribed with his name.

One of the witnesses encountered Stod-dard at the convenience store before the arrest and returned to identify him at the scene. Another witness encountered Stod-dard and an officer later that night at the hospital and positively identified Stoddard a week later from a single-photo display.

Stoddard pleaded not guilty to a three-count indictment and was convicted of one count of firearm possession and one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, a third count having been dismissed per government motion. Stoddard appeals, claiming that the evidence was insufficient, as a matter of law on both counts and that the witness identifications should have been suppressed be *243 cause the police procedures were unduly suggestive.

II.

We first consider Stoddard’s evidentiary objection, because the witness identifications were a key part of the government’s case in chief. The district court conducted an identification hearing outside the presence of the jury and ruled that the witnesses could identify Stoddard in their testimony. “When reviewing a ruling from a pretrial suppression hearing, this Court must give credence to the credibility choices and findings of fact of the district court unless clearly erroneous.” United States v. Shaw, 894 F.2d 689, 691 (5th Cir.1990) (citations omitted). Admission of evidence is generally reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Rogers, 126 F.3d 655, 657 (5th Cir.1997).

The Due Process Clause forbids the admission of unreliable identification testimony. Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 99, 114, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977). The admissibility of identification evidence is determined by (1) whether the identification procedure was “unduly suggestive” and (2) whether the procedure posed “a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification.” Rogers, 126 F.3d at 658. Only if both questions are answered affirmatively do we require suppression. Id. We agree with the district court that even if the show-up and the single-photo display were unduly suggestive, the procedures did not pose a “very substantial likelihood of irreparable mis-identification.”

Courts consider five factors to determine the likelihood of irreparable misiden-tification: (1) the witness’s opportunity to view the suspect at the time of the offense, (2) the witness’s degree of attention, (3) the accuracy of the witness’s prior description of the actor, (4) the witness’s level of certainty at the confrontation, and (5) the length of time between the crime and the confrontation. Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 199, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972). In this case, all five factors favor the identification’s reliability.

Although the accident happened at night, there was no testimony that it was too dark to see and the light was sufficient for both witnesses to provide descriptions of the suspect. Both witnesses spoke with the suspect directly, immediately after witnessing a significant crash. Their prior descriptions proved accurate. Neither witness suggested that they were uncertain of the identification. One witness identified Stoddard the night of the accident, after seeing him twice; the other identified him only a week later, again having seen him twice. The district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the identifications.

III.

Where, as here, the defendant moved for judgment of acquittal at the close of the evidence, we decide whether the evidence is sufficient by “viewing the evidence and the inferences that may be drawn from it in the light most favorable to the verdict” and determining whether “a rational jury could have found the essential elements of the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Pruneda-Gonzalez, 953 F.2d 190, 193 (5th Cir.1992). The jury has the sole responsibility for weighing the evidence and making credibility determinations. United States v. Jaramillo, 42 F.3d 920, 923 (5th Cir.1995). “It is not necessary that the evidence exclude every rational hypothesis of innocence or be wholly inconsistent with every conclusion except guilt, provided a reasonable trier of fact could find the evidence establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Pruneda-Gonzalez, 953 F.2d at *244 193. “However, we must reverse a conviction if the evidence construed in favor of the verdict gives equal or nearly equal circumstantial support to a theory of guilt and a theory of innocence of the crime charged.” 2

Stoddard argues that the evidence is insufficient to demonstrate that he possessed the methamphetamine. The prosecution relied on a constructive possession theory, arguing that Stoddard maintained dominion or control over the vehicle in which the contraband was concealed. See United States v. Wright, 24 F.3d 732

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Related

United States v. Wright
24 F.3d 732 (Fifth Circuit, 1994)
United States v. Jaramillo
42 F.3d 920 (Fifth Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Rogers
126 F.3d 655 (Fifth Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Gonzales
436 F.3d 560 (Fifth Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Charles
469 F.3d 402 (Fifth Circuit, 2006)
Neil v. Biggers
409 U.S. 188 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Manson v. Brathwaite
432 U.S. 98 (Supreme Court, 1977)
United States v. Hollis Wesley Shaw
894 F.2d 689 (Fifth Circuit, 1990)

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234 F. App'x 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-stoddard-ca5-2007.