United States v. Xavier Lightfoot

483 F.3d 876, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 9456, 2007 WL 1217211
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedApril 26, 2007
Docket05-3864
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 483 F.3d 876 (United States v. Xavier Lightfoot) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Xavier Lightfoot, 483 F.3d 876, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 9456, 2007 WL 1217211 (8th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

This case is once again before us. In 1999, Xavier Lightfoot and Cornelius Peoples were convicted of aiding and abetting the murder of a federal witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(a)(1)(A), 1512(a)(1)(C), 1512(a)(2), and 1111. We reversed their convictions and remanded the case for a new trial. United States v. Peoples, 250 F.3d 630, 642 (8th Cir.2001). Peoples eventually pled guilty to aiding and abetting the murder of a federal witness. Lightfoot proceeded to trial and was convicted of conspiracy to commit a bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, conspiracy to murder a federal witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 1111, and the murder of a federal witness, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(a)(1), 1111, and 2. Lightfoot was convicted on all counts and the district court 1 sentenced him to a term of life in prison. Lightfoot appeals from his convictions, claiming numerous evidentiary errors, error in the jury selection process, a violation of the Speedy Trial Act, and improper questioning by the prosecutor. We affirm.

I.

Lightfoot and Peoples perpetrated several robberies in the fall of 1997. In December 1997, Lightfoot was arrested and charged with one of these robberies (a federally insured credit union in Omaha, Nebraska). While he was being held in a pretrial detention facility, Lightfoot learned that his lover and housemate, Jo-van Ross, 2 had supplied information to law enforcement about the robbery. Lightfoot subsequently informed Peoples (who had not yet been charged with participation in the robberies) that he wanted a witness against him murdered. 3 Lightfoot suggested that if this witness was not killed, Lightfoot might try to arrange some sort of deal with law enforcement, which Peoples believed would entail Lightfoot’s “snitching” on Peoples. Lightfoot provided Peoples with identifying information about Ross, including her address and the kind of car she drove. Peoples contacted Anthony Hunter about murdering Ross. Hunter declined to commit the murder himself. Instead, he spoke with Curtis Barfield and Carl Haskell about killing Ross. It was eventually agreed that Has-kell would kill Ross. Hunter and Barfield provided Haskell with a car and Hunter gave him a firearm. Peoples testified that Lightfoot was responsible for paying these individuals.

On June 8, 1998, Haskell shot Ross to death. Lightfoot, still incarcerated pending trial for robbery, was anxious for veri *879 fication that the murder had in fact occurred. When Peoples confirmed that Ross had been murdered, Lightfoot reacted by saying “beautiful” five times and expressed his gratitude to Peoples, saying, “[tjhat’s perfect, that’s perfect, I can’t ask for no more.”

As noted above, Lightfoot and Peoples were convicted of aiding and abetting Ross’s murder. After we reversed the convictions, Barfield and Haskell (who had been previously indicted for their involvement in the murder), were joined with Peoples and Lightfoot under a single superseding indictment. Barfield and Has-kell were later severed from the case and Peoples pled guilty. At the second trial, Peoples was the government’s principal witness. Among other things, Peoples deciphered recordings of telephone conversations between Lightfoot and Peoples in which the two men, aware that their conversations were being recorded, spoke in an indirect, veiled manner. Other witnesses at trial included Hunter and an individual named Larry Platt, who had participated in a robbery with Lightfoot and Peoples. Lightfoot testified on his own behalf and denied that he had wanted Peoples to kill Ross. He stated that Ross’s murder was all Peoples’s doing and that Lightfoot had wanted Ross to be bribed so that she would leave town.

II.

Lightfoot argues first that the district court improperly restricted his cross-examination of government witnesses and erroneously precluded him from introducing important evidence. We disagree.

The Confrontation Clause guarantees defendants the opportunity to effectively cross-examine adverse witnesses. United States v. Triplett, 104 F.3d 1074, 1079 (8th Cir.1997) (citing United States v. Willis, 997 F.2d 407, 415 (8th Cir.1993)). The “exposure of a witness’ motivation in testifying is a proper and important function of the constitutionally protected right of cross-examination.” Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 316-17, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). A defendant’s Confrontation Clause rights are not boundless, however, and “trial judges retain wide latitude ... to impose reasonable limits on such cross-examination based on concerns about, among other things, harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, the witness’ safety, or interrogation that is repetitive or only marginally relevant.” Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986). 4 “We will not reverse a trial court’s decision to limit cross-examination absent a ‘clear abuse of discretion and a showing of prejudice to [the] defendant.’ ” United States v. Purkey, 428 F.3d 738, 753 (8th Cir.2005) (alteration in original) (quoting United States v. Love, 329 F.3d 981, 984 (8th Cir.2003)), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 127 S.Ct. 433, 166 L.Ed.2d 307 (2006). “A key factor in determining whether a defendant’s right of confrontation has been violated is whether the defendant had other means at his disposal to obtain the effect *880 that the excluded examination would have allegedly established.” United States v. Warfield, 97 F.3d 1014, 1024 (8th Cir.1996).

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Bluebook (online)
483 F.3d 876, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 9456, 2007 WL 1217211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-xavier-lightfoot-ca8-2007.