United States v. Angelo StackhouseUnited States v. Angelo Stackhouse
FOR PUBLICATION
OPINION
Susan P. Watters, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted December 4, 2023 Portland, Oregon
Filed June 27, 2024
SUMMARY*
Criminal Law
The panel affirmed Angelo Corey Stackhouse‘s convictions for kidnapping a minor using a means or instrumentality of intrastate commerce, in violation of
Rejecting Stackhouse‘s argument that his kidnapping conviction violates the Commerce Clause, the panel held that the application of the federal kidnapping statute,
The panel further held that the government presented sufficient evidence of Stackhouse‘s intent to commit sexual assault when he transported the victim of his assault across state lines in violation of
In a concurrently filed memorandum disposition, the panel resolved Stackhouse‘s conviction for kidnapping an Indian person within the boundaries of a reservation, in violation of
* This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.
COUNSEL
Zeno B. Baucus (argued), Bryan T. Dake, and Tim Tatarka, Assistant United States Attorneys; Jesse A. Laslovich, United States Attorney; Office of the United States Attorney, District of Montana, Billings, Montana; for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Constance Van Kley (argued), Upper Seven Law, Helena, Montana, for Defendant-Appellant.
OPINION
BERZON, Circuit Judge:
Angelo Corey Stackhouse was convicted after a bench trial on several counts related to the sexual abuse and mistreatment of minor and adult women, including kidnapping a minor and transporting a person across state lines with the intent to engage in illegal sexual activity. The kidnapping charge involved driving a ten-year-old girl to a hotel to photograph and sexually assault her, using a cellphone during the commission of the offense. The interstate transportation charge stemmed from travel with a nineteen-year-old woman from Mоntana to Denver, where Stackhouse sexually assaulted her. This opinion covers the kidnapping and transporting convictions, specifically: (1) whether Stackhouse‘s kidnapping conviction violates the Commerce Clause; and (2) whether there is sufficient
evidence that Stackhouse intended to commit sexual assault when he travelled across state lines.1
We conclude that the application of the federal kidnapping statute to an intrastate kidnapping is constitutional where the defendant uses a cellphone—an instrumentality of interstate commerce—in furtherance of the offense. We further determine that Stackhouse‘s actions leading up to and during the trip to Denver established that he had the intent to commit illegal sexual activity when he transported the victim interstate, even if the intent was purportedly conditioned upon the victim‘s non-compliance with his demands.
We affirm the convictions.
I. Background
A. Factual Background
Stackhouse‘s convictions stem from the kidnapping and sexual assault of multiple women and young children between 2019 and 2020.
1. V.G.
In September 2020, Stackhouse picked up V.G., his girlfriend‘s 10-year-old sister, from her home in Billings, Montana, under the pretense of taking her to get her computer repaired. Rather than drive to the repair shop, he drove V.G. to a Dollar Store, where he purchased massage oil, and then to a local motel. After arriving at
Stackhouse called someone and said, “I got her in the room.” Stackhouse then proсeeded to set up a camera on the bedside table. He instructed V.G. to get undressed and rubbed oil over her, and then took photographs of her body. Stackhouse had a knife and Taser with him and told V.G., “If you scream no one‘s gonna hear you.” He made V.G. perform oral sex, and then made her lie on top of him. As they were leaving the motel room, Stackhouse once again spoke with someone over the phone, telling them: “Okay. I‘m finished. I got the footage.” Cellphone data corroborated V.G.‘s testimony about the timing and location of the incident.
2. Hannah
In May 2020, Stackhouse drove from Billings, Montana to Denver, Colorado with two women, Hannah and Breezy. Breezy asked Hannah, who was nineteen, to accоmpany her on the trip, and Hannah reluctantly agreed. The three consumed cocaine, supplied by Stackhouse, as they drove.
Once in Denver, the three met William O‘Neill, Stackhouse‘s cocaine dealer, at a hotel. Stackhouse and O‘Neill provided alcohol and more cocaine, which Stackhouse encouraged Hannah to consume even when she expressed a desire to stop. After Breezy and O‘Neill left the room, Stackhouse suggested to Hannah that he expected her to have sex with him as payment for the trip and the drugs. Hannah reluctantly agreed because she was “scared” and “just wanted to go home,” and because she felt that if she “didn‘t do what he wanted,” she “didn‘t know . . . what wаs going to happen.” Stackhouse refused to use a condom when asked. Stackhouse took a picture of Hannah‘s ID during the trip, which she suspected was “for leverage.”
Several days after they returned to Billings, Stackhouse asked Hannah to meet him at a hotel, where they consumed
cocaine and had sex. Hannah agreed to go “[b]ecause he had a picture of [her] ID.” Stackhouse then invited Hannah to go with him on a second trip to Denver. She again agreed because he “had a picture of [her] ID, and he knew where [her] parents lived and that [she] lived with [her] parents . . . [and she] was scared.”
Stackhouse again provided Hannah with cocaine on the drive to Denver. This time, they drove direсtly to O‘Neill‘s house. There, Stackhouse instructed Hannah to have sex with O‘Neill while Stackhouse watched. Hannah testified that “I obviously didn‘t want to, but what was I going to say?” A while later, after Hannah consumed more cocaine, Stackhouse instructed Hannah to “please [O‘Neill] and his wife.” Hannah had the “[s]ame reaction [she] had the last time,” implying that she reluctantly complied. Afterwards, Hannah informed Stackhouse that she had allowed O‘Neill to penetrate her against Stackhouse‘s instructions. Over her objections, Stackhouse anally penetrated her with an object, telling her “this is what happens when [she doesn‘t] listen to him.” Stackhouse also took pictures, and possibly a video, of Hannah‘s naked body, “in case [she] was tо turn on him, for his attorney.”
The day after she returned from Denver, Hannah met Stackhouse at a hotel in Billings, because she “was still scared.” They had sex and consumed more cocaine, and Stackhouse instructed her to stay the night at the hotel alone. Hannah complied, because she “didn‘t know if he was going to check on me and drive by.”
Hannah testified that she was afraid of Stackhouse, that he forced her to go to Denver the second time, and that they had nonconsensual sex in Denver. She also testified that
Stackhouse told her he always carried a gun with him, although she never saw him with it.
The government introduced evidence that Stackhouse sexually assaulted or threatened three other women. One woman testified that in September 2019, Stackhouse approached her at a bar and brought her to a hotel room while she was high on methamphetamine. Stackhouse punched her in the head, threatened to further harm her if she did not take off her clothes, sexually assaulted her, and told her that he was going to take her to North Dakota to sell her services as a prostitute. A second woman testified that she met Stackhouse at a hotel where he was distributing drugs. While she was high on methamphetamine and semi-conscious, Stackhouse raped her. A third woman testified that she received methamphetamine from Stackhouse at a hotel in the summer of 2020, after which Stackhouse told her that she “need[ed] to pay for the[] drugs somehow.” After Stackhouse threatened her at gunpoint, she took off her clothes and got into the bed. Stackhouse then informed her that he was not going to rape her, but that he needed to “make sure [she wasn‘t] a snitch.”
B. Procedural Background
Stackhouse was indicted on seven charges, including as relevant here the kidnapping of a person under the age of 18 (V.G.) using a means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, in violation of
Stackhouse waived his right to a jury trial. After a bench trial, the district court convicted Stackhouse on all seven charges. He now appeals his convictions on Counts I and VII.
II. Discussion
Staсkhouse brings an as-applied challenge to his conviction under the federal kidnapping statute, arguing that the application of the statute to an intrastate kidnapping violates the Commerce Clause. With respect to his conviction for transportation across state lines with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity, he argues that there is insufficient evidence of the intent element of the crime.
An as-applied constitutional challenge to a statute is reviewed de novo. United States v. Mahon, 804 F.3d 946, 950 (9th Cir. 2015). Although Stackhouse did not raise his constitutional challenge below, the government recognizes that he may raise the issue for the first time on appeal. See United States v. Parker, 761 F.3d 986, 991 (9th Cir. 2014).2 We review the sufficiency of the evidence suppоrting a conviction de novo. United States v. Johnson, 874 F.3d 1078, 1080 (9th Cir. 2017). “For a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence following a bench trial, we review ‘whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.‘” United States v. Laney, 881 F.3d 1100,
1106 (9th Cir. 2018) (quoting United States v. Atkinson, 990 F.2d 501, 502–03 (9th Cir. 1993) (en banc)).3
1. As-Applied Challenge
Stackhouse challenges his conviction for the kidnapping of V.G. on the ground that Congress lacks the power to criminalize a kidnapping occurring entirely intrastate, where the statute of conviction proscribes the use of an instrumentality of commerce in carrying out the kidnapping, but the kidnapping is not economic in nature and no effect upon interstate commerсe is shown. The government maintains Stackhouse‘s conviction was a valid exercise of Congress‘s power to regulate the instrumentalities of interstate commerce.
Stackhouse was convicted under the federal kidnapping statute, which imposes criminal penalties upon:
Whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carriеs away any person, . . . when—the person is willfully transported in interstate or foreign commerce, . . . or the offender travels in interstate or foreign commerce or uses the mail or any means, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in committing or in furtherance of the commission of the offense.
The parties agree Stackhouse did not transport V.G. across state lines, nor did he otherwise travel in interstate commerce during the commission of the offense. The government contends that Stackhouse‘s conviction falls within the second Lopez category: use of instrumentalities of commerce—asserted to be the cellphone, car, and hotel—in furtherance of the kidnapping. We conclude that the application of
Stackhouse agrees that a cellphone is an instrumentality of interstate commerce, with good reason. “Telephones are instrumentalities of interstate commerce that fall within the second Lopez category.” United States v. Nader, 542 F.3d
713, 717 (9th Cir. 2008). We have applied this principle equally to landlinеs and cellphones. See United States v. Clayton, 108 F.3d 1114, 1117 (9th Cir. 1997).4
As to whether the use of a cellphone in furtherance of an intrastate crime is a sufficient basis under the Commerce Clause for a federal offense, Lopez emphasized that “Congress is empowered to regulate and protect the instrumentalities of interstate commerce . . . even though the threat may come only from intrastate activities.” 514 U.S. at 559. Congress‘s power extends to instrumentalities of commerce because they “are the ingredients of interstate commerce itself.” Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1, 34 (2005) (Scalia, J., concurring in the judgment). Forbidding the use of instrumentalities of commerce, including cellphones, to further intrastate crime, including kidnapping, is “regulat[ing]” one aspect of the device—its use in certain circumstances.
Plainly, congressional power to regulate the channels and instrumentalities of commerce includes the power to prohibit their use for harmful purposes, even if the targeted harm itself occurs outside the flow of commerce and is purely local in nature. Congress has repeatedly used this power to reach criminal conduct in which the illegal acts ultimately occur intrastate, when the perpetrator uses the channels or instrumentalities of interstate commerce to facilitate their commission.
United States v. Ballinger, 395 F.3d 1218, 1226 (11th Cir. 2005) (citations omitted).
Our caselaw confirms that the second Lopez category is not limited to statutes directly regulating instrumentalities of commerce. In United States v. Dela Cruz, we upheld
United States v. Nader is in accord. 542 F.3d at 717. Nader upheld convictions under the Travel Act, which prohibits the “use[ of] the mail or any facility in interstate commerce, with intent to—(1) distribute
category.” Id. at 717 (emphasis omitted). Both Dela Cruz and Nader, then, recognize that proscribing the use of telephones and other instrumentalities of commerce to commit or further intrastate crime is regulation of instrumentalities of commerce valid under Lopez‘s second category.
The kidnapping statute provides that “[w]hoever . . . uses the mail or any means, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in cоmmitting or in furtherance of the commission of the offense” is subject to criminal penalties,
Other circuits have similarly recognized that “as long as the instrumentality itself is an integral part of an interstate system, Congress has power, when necessary for the protection of interstate commerce, to include intrastate activities within its regulatory control.” Kerbs v. Fall River Indus., Inc., 502 F.2d 731, 738 (10th Cir. 1974), abrogated on other grounds by Cent. Bank of Denver, N.A. v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, N.A., 511 U.S. 164 (1994). The Fifth Circuit in United States v. Marek, for example,
reasoned that “[w]hen Congress regulates and protects under the second Lopez category, . . . federal jurisdiction is supplied by the nature of the instrumentality or facility used, not by separate proof of interstate movement.” 238 F.3d at 317. And in reviewing a conviction under
Our conclusion that the Commerce Clause permits Congress to regulate intrastate kidnappings in particular where an instrumentality of commerce is
We conclude that the application of the kidnapping statute here falls within the second Lopez category. We therefore need not address Stackhouse‘s argument that the government was required to show that the kidnapping was economic in nature or had a substantial effect on interstate commerce. Whether an activity is “economic in nature” is relevant to determining whether an activity has a substantial
effect on interstate commerce under Lopez‘s third category, see Taylor v. United States, 579 U.S. 301, 306 (2016); United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 610–13 (2000); Lopez, 514 U.S. at 559–60, not to the “instrumentality of commerce” category. Where Congress regulates an instrumentality of commerce under the second Lopez category, “no further inquiry is necessary to determine that their regulation . . . is within the Commerce Clause authority.” Clayton, 108 F.3d at 1117. More specifically, “[b]ecause a telephone is an instrumentality of interstate commerce, no substantial effects inquiry is needed.” Dela Cruz, 358 F.3d at 625; see also Corum, 362 F.3d at 494.
2. Sufficiency of the Evidence
Stackhouse contends that there is insufficient evidence that the kidnapping was economic in nature or had a substantial relation to interstate commerce. As we concluded above, because Stackhouse‘s conviction falls within the second Lopez category as a regulation of the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, the government was not required to prove that the kidnapping was economic in nature or had a substantial relation to interstate commerce.
Stackhouse does not argue that the government presented insufficient evidence that he used a cellphone, or any other instrumentality of commerce, “in committing or in furtherance of the kidnapping.”
B. Transportation Across State Lines
Stackhouse next challenges his conviction under
1. Intent Element
F.3d 852, 864 (9th Cir. 2019) (analyzing
Contrary to the parties’ assertions, a conviction under
In any event, Stackhouse agrees that the government offered evidence that would support a conviction for illegal sexual activity under Colorado law with respect to the nonconsensual anal penetration he committed against Hannah.8 His argument is that he did not form the intent to commit the assault, or any other illegal sexual act, before the interstate travel.9 Instead, he asserts that he formed the intent
to commit the assault immediately before it occurred—and after the interstate transportation was complete—when Hannah informed him that she had had penetrative sex with O‘Neill against Stackhouse‘s instructions.
In appropriate circumstances, the fact that an assault later occurred could perhaps be sufficient by itself to permit an infеrence that a defendant intended to commit the offense before crossing a state line. We need not consider whether such a
For one thing, caselaw establishes that a pattern of sexually assaultive conduct can support an inference of intent to commit sexual assault while travelling interstate before the assault. In analyzing a convictiоn for transportation for the purpose of prostitution under
States v. Wesson, we similarly concluded that the purpose element under
Evidence of Stackhouse‘s interactions with other women similarly supports inferring his intent before arriving in Colorado to sexually assault Hannah. The government introduced testimony by three women whom Stackhouse sexually assaulted or threatened to assault in 2019 and 2020, under circumstances similar to those surrounding his interaction with Hannah.10 All three encounters took place in hotel rooms and involved women under the influence of
drugs, some provided by Stackhouse. Stackhouse suggested to one of the victims that she owed him sexual favors as repayment for the drugs. He threatened one woman at gunpoint, and indicated to another that he had a gun. Stackhouse raped one of the victims while she was unconscious, and another after threatening to beat her and to sell her into prostitution. The testimony provides ample evidence that Stackhouse repeatedly forced women into sexual encounters using violence and coercion. A factfinder could rely in part on such evidence to infer that Stackhouse had the intent of similarly engaging in nonconsensual sex with Hannah when he brought her to Denver.
Considered in the light most favorable to the prosecution, Stackhouse‘s actions
States v. Bonty, 383 F.3d 575, 578 (7th Cir. 2004) (upholding a conviction under
2. Contingent Intent
Even if Stackhouse intended when crossing into Colorado to sexually assault Hannah under some circumstances, Hannah‘s account of what happened—including that Stackhouse told her “this is what happens when [she doesn‘t] listen to him” before anally penetrating her—suggests that Stackhouse may have intended to sexually assault her only if she did not comply with his directions and demands. So the question arises whether to be convicted under
In Holloway v. United States, the Supreme Court recognized contingent intent as sufficient for a criminal conviction under the federal carjacking statute,
The Court based its conclusion on the reasoning that “intent” is most naturally read to encompass conditional as well as unconditional intent, as well as on the overall
purpose of the statute to deter criminal activity and the assumption that Congress would be familiar with the established principle that intent may be conditional. Id. at 7–9. Those justifications apply equally to the federal kidnapping statute.
The Holloway Court noted, in particular, that state courts have long upheld convictions based upon contingent intent. Id. at 10 & n.9. In People v. Vandelinder, a Michigan appellate court, for instance, upheld a conviction for solicitation to murder where the defendant instructed a hired kidnapper to kill his wife if she declined the terms of his demands. 192 Mich. App. 447, 450-51 (1992). In Commonwealth v. Richards, thе Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court similarly determined that an intent to murder “should it become necessary to effectuate the robbery or make good an escape” was sufficient for assault with intent to murder. 363 Mass. 299, 308 (1973) (emphasis added). In People v. Miley, a California appellate court upheld a conviction for solicitation to murder where the defendant gave an instruction to kill the witnesses if they were home, 158 Cal. App. 3d 25, 33-34 (1984); and in People v. Connors, the Illinois Supreme Court approved of a conviction for assault with intent to murder of a union organizer who threatened to kill a worker if he did not walk off the job, 253 Ill. 266, 273, 280 (1912). The same principle has been adopted by the Model Penal Code (MPC), which specifies “[w]hen a particular purpose is an element of an offense, the elеment is established although such purpose is conditional, unless the condition negatives the harm or evil sought to be prevented by the law defining the offense.” General Requirements of Culpability, Model Penal Code § 2.02(6). See also
similar language to the MPC);
That principle applies here. On the evidence before us, Stackhouse‘s intent can arguably be characterized as an intent to have sex with Hannah without her consent if she did not comply with his demands and directions. The condition imposed was not one that “negatives the harm or evil sought to be prevented,” Model Penal Code § 2.02, as the condition that the victim have sex with Stackhouse regardless of her consent is the kind of harm sought to be prevented by the Mann Act. The intent element is not nеgated “by requiring the victim to comply with a condition the defendant has no right to impose,” Holloway, 526 U.S. at 11, here, the condition that she have sex with another man (and his wife) in the way Stackhouse directed. So the fact Stackhouse may not have had an unconditional intent to commit sexual assault when he drove Hannah to Colorado does not undermine a finding of intent under
The Seventh Circuit specifically so held in a closely parallel case. In Bonty, the defendant argued that he “only intended to have consensual sex with [the victim]” when crossing state lines, and that “it wasn‘t until after the [victim] unexpectedly declined his sexual advances” after he had arrived at his destination “that it occurred to him to use force.” Id. Based on the circumstances of the encounter, the court, as noted earlier, concluded that the defendant had “contemplated that the sex might not be consensual and that force would be necessary.” Id. Thus, the intent element of
In sum, that Stackhouse may have intended to assault Hannah contingently—if the victim did not fully comply with his demands—is sufficient to meet the intent element of
III. Conclusion
We hold that the application of
AFFIRMED.