United States v. Zuni

273 F. App'x 733
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedApril 10, 2008
Docket07-2023
StatusUnpublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 273 F. App'x 733 (United States v. Zuni) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Zuni, 273 F. App'x 733 (10th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

STEPHEN H. ANDERSON, Circuit Judge.

On October 26, 2005, defendant and appellant Daniel Zuni was indicted by a fed *735 eral grand jury on two counts: one count of kidnapping Denise Billy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 7(3) and 1201(a)(2), and one count of aggravated sexual abuse, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 7(3), 2241(a) and 2246(2)(A). 1 A jury found Zuni guilty of kidnapping but not guilty of aggravated sexual abuse. He was sentenced to 121 months’ imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, which included as a special condition that Zuni submit to sex offender treatment. Zuni appeals his conviction and sentence, both of which we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Because Zuni challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction for kidnapping, we recite in some detail the facts surrounding the offense. Ms. Billy and Zuni met in 1997. She then began working as a police officer for the Navajo Nation. Zuni was, at the time, a sergeant in the Navajo Nation police department.

Zuni and Ms. Billy began dating and then began living together in 1998. They also had a daughter in 1998. Zuni left the Navajo police department in 2000 to stay home and care for their daughter, while Ms. Billy remained employed at the police department. Zuni and Ms. Billy had a second child, a son, ha 2000. Zuni and Ms. Billy never mariied. Ms. Billy referred to Zuni as her “boyfriend” and Zuni referred to Ms. Billy as his common law wife.

The relationship between Zuni and Ms. Billy was volatile. Ms. Billy admitted that, in the summer of 2002, she entered into a relationship, which included sexual relations, with a fellow officer, Elroy Naswood. Tr. of Trial Proe. at 702. Ms. Billy’s relationship with Naswood was a source of conflict between Zuni and Ms. Billy. On one occasion, Zuni became very angry with Ms. Billy because she had gone to Mesa, Arizona, with Naswood. On the other hand, Zuni himself testified that he had an affair with another woman while his relationship with Ms. Billy was ongoing.

In 2003, Zuni and Ms. Billy moved out of the house they shared, and Ms. Billy, along with the two children, moved into her sister’s house some thirty miles south of Gallup, New Mexico. Zuni moved to Pinedale, some twenty-five miles northeast of Gallup. Ms. Billy told Zuni that she did not want to be in a relationship with him anymore, and Zuni accused her of seeing other men in the police department. Ms. Billy continued to stay with Zuni, however, several nights a week. Both parties indicated an interest in reuniting for the sake of their children, and Zuni promised Ms. Billy he would work on controlling his temper. They shared custody of the two children.

In late 2003 or early 2004, Ms. Billy moved back in with Zuni, at his mother’s house in Pinedale. In May 2005, Ms. Billy moved out again, apparently after a fight in which Ms. Billy claimed Zuni reinjured her knee, which had previously been injured in a work-related incident. Zuni denied ever injuring Ms. Billy’s knee. When Ms. Billy went to the hospital, howevei’, she told hospital personnel that she had hurt her knee in a fall. The fight resulting in the renewed knee injury was precipitated by Zuni’s discovery of pictures of Ms. Billy dancing in a sexually suggestive way with men at a conference she had attended. After their argument concern *736 ing the photographs, Ms. Billy apparently attempted suicide.

At the end of May 2005, Ms. Billy obtained a temporary restraining order against Zuni, prohibiting him from contacting her or the two children. Ms. Billy moved back into her sister’s house.

On June 16, 2005, there was a hearing on the restraining order, during which Ms. Billy indicated her desire to end her relationship with Zuni. Zuni frequently called Ms. Billy after the hearing, and Ms. Billy allowed him to visit their children. In July 2005, Zuni called Ms. Billy and told her he was going to file a complaint against her, including allegations related to her prior suicide attempt, if she did not “make this relationship work.” Id. at 453. Ms. Billy’s sergeant subsequently told her that Zuni had filed a complaint against her, in which he stated he wanted her fired.

Zuni continued to call Ms. Billy and to visit their children. Zuni indicated a desire to reconcile, but Ms. Billy did not wish to. Zuni told her he was receiving counseling for anger management. In early September 2005, while Ms. Billy was staying at a motel in connection with her work, Zuni went to the motel and, according to Ms. Billy, attempted to force her to have intercourse with him. Zuni claims it was a consensual encounter. Ms. Billy asserts that she never reported this forcible sexual encounter because she was ashamed.

Shortly thereafter, there was a second hearing on the restraining order against Zuni, and the order was modified to permit Zuni to have contact with his two children. Both parties agreed the relationship was irreconcilable and they agreed upon a custody and visitation schedule. The next day, they had an argument at their daughter’s soccer game. The soccer coach testified that Zuni was belligerent and shouting profanities; Zuni denied that he did so.

With that background of the indisputably tumultuous relationship between Zuni and Ms. Billy, we turn to the events of September 21, 2005, when the particular activities relevant to this appeal occurred. It began when Zuni called Ms. Billy in the early morning to report that their son, who had spent the night with Zuni and who was already at school, was upset. Zuni accordingly asked Ms. Billy to check on their son when she took their daughter to school. When Ms. Billy got to the school, she decided to withdraw both children from that school and enroll them in a school closer to where she was living. She did so without informing Zuni of the change in school.

After enrolling the children in the new school, Ms. Billy proceeded to the Gallup Indian Medical Center to arrange counseling appointments for the children. While Zuni and Ms. Billy dispute who initiated the call, they communicated with each other about the change in school and the counseling appointments. Zuni testified that he was “a little upset” by Ms. Billy’s decision to withdraw the children from the school they were in without consulting him. Id. at 952. Zuni went immediately to the Medical Center. Zuni then suggested they take a drive and discuss their children. While Ms. Billy testified that she did not want to take a drive with Zuni, she never communicated that to him. Zuni testified that the drive was mutually agreeable. Ms. Billy, who was supposed to work that day, called her supervisor to tell her that she (Ms. Billy) would not be in to work that day. The supervisor testified that Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
273 F. App'x 733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-zuni-ca10-2008.