UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APPELLEE v. JEFFREY HENRY WILLIAMSON, ALSO KNOWN AS JEFF WILLIAMSON, APPELLANT
No. 15-3018
United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
Argued December 8, 2017 Decided August 10, 2018
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:14-cr-00151-1)
Richard K. Gilbert, appointed by the court, argued the cause and filed briefs for appellant.
Jeffrey H. Williamson, pro se, filed briefs for appellant.
Daniel J. Lenerz, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellee. With him on the brief were Elizabeth Trosman and Frederick W. Yette, Assistant U.S. Attorneys.
Before: GARLAND, Chief Judge, and ROGERS and SRINIVASAN, Circuit Judges.
SRINIVASAN, Circuit Judge: Jeff Henry Williamson was convicted of threatening to murder a federal law enforcement officer. Williamson raises several challenges to his conviction and sentence in this appeal. We reject most of his challenges, except that we remand the case to the district court to give Williamson access to jury-commission records as required by
I.
This case arises out of a 911 phone call Williamson made on June 19, 2014. In the call, Williamson threatened to murder a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation named Brian Schmitt. Soon after, Williamson was charged with making a threat against a federal law enforcement officer “with intent to retaliate against such officer on account of the performance of official duties.”
Williamson chose to represent himself, and the case proceeded to trial. At trial, the government sought to show that the threatening 911 phone call was the culmination of Williamson‘s longstanding obsession with Agent Schmitt, which dated back to a 2005 interaction between Schmitt and Williamson in Denver. In that interaction, Schmitt was involved in issuing Williamson
At trial, the government introduced evidence that, before the June 19, 2014, call at issue in this case, Williamson made a number of phone calls in which he had mentioned Schmitt. For example, on June 2, 2014, Williamson left fourteen messages for an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia. In his messages, Williamson complained about being harassed by FBI agents while he was in Washington, D.C., mentioning Schmitt by name several times. Williamson also referenced the tickets Schmitt had been involved in issuing him in Denver in 2005 and 2006. The series of messages became increasingly angry and threatening. In the last message, Williamson said that he would “smash the f— out of” the FBI agents he believed were harassing him, and “plead not guilty by reason of entrapment.” Suppl. App. 414.
One week later, on June 9, Williamson called the office of FBI Agent Steven Olson, the agent who supervised Schmitt in Denver. Williamson told Olson‘s assistant to “tell Brian Schmitt and Steve Olson that I am going to hunt them down and kill them.” Suppl. App. 86. Williamson then said something to the effect that he was going to “pop them in the heads and blow them away.” Id.
Ten days later, on June 19, Williamson issued the threat giving rise to his charge and conviction in this case. In a call to a 911 line, Williamson left a message in which he repeatedly stated that he would shoot FBI Agent Brian Schmitt “in his f-in head.” United States v. Williamson, 83 F. Supp. 3d 394, 399 (D.D.C. 2015).
At trial, Williamson admitted that he “did make the threat.” App. 318. But he argued that he lacked the requisite intent to commit the crime because he had not issued the threat in retaliation against Schmitt for “the performance of official duties.”
Williamson also sought to argue that he had been entrapped into making the threat. He suggested that Schmitt‘s purpose for harassing him was to induce him to commit a crime. The district court denied discovery on entrapment and declined to issue an entrapment instruction, concluding that Williamson “failed to ‘proffer sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find entrapment.‘” App. 159 (quoting Mathews v. United States, 485 U.S. 58, 62 (1988)).
The jury convicted Williamson of making a threat in violation of
On appeal, Williamson‘s appointed counsel has submitted briefs challenging Williamson‘s conviction and sentence. This court granted Williamson leave to file supplemental pro se briefs, in which he has advanced the same arguments pressed by his appointed counsel and also offered several additional ones.
II.
There are four arguments Williamson advances both through his appointed counsel and in his pro se briefs. First, he contends that the indictment was legally insufficient because it did not fairly inform
We agree that Williamson was entitled to inspect jury-commission records under
A.
To be sufficient under the Constitution, an indictment “need only inform the defendant of the precise offense of which he is accused so that he may prepare his defense and plead double jeopardy in any further prosecution for the same offense.” United States v. Verrusio, 762 F.3d 1, 13 (D.C. Cir. 2014); see United States v. Resendiz-Ponce, 549 U.S. 102, 108 (2007).
The Supreme Court‘s decision in Resendiz-Ponce is illustrative. There, the government indicted the defendant for attempted reentry into the United States in violation of
The indictment in this case is much like the one upheld in Resendiz-Ponce. Here, the statute makes it a crime to “threaten[] to assault ... or murder” a “Federal law enforcement officer ... with intent to retaliate against” the “officer on account of the performance of official duties.”
Williamson contends that the indictment was insufficient because it did not identify particular “official duties” performed by Schmitt that motivated Williamson‘s threat. The Court in Resendiz-Ponce rejected a similar argument. The defendant there, observing that the elements of the attempted-reentry offense include the commission of an overt act, contended that the indictment was deficient because it failed to allege any specific overt act he had performed. 549 U.S. at 109. The Court, though, thought it was enough for the indictment to allege the performance of an overt act in general (which the indictment had implicitly done by alleging an attempt to enter the United States), and that there was no need to specify a particular overt act. Id. at 107, 110. Here, it was likewise enough for the indictment to allege—in concert with the statutory language—that a threat was made “on account of the performance of official duties” in general,
It is true that, while parroting the statutory language is “often sufficient,” that is not invariably so. Resendiz-Ponce, 549 U.S. at 109. Williamson relies, for instance, on Russell v. United States, in which the government had indicted the defendants for refusing to answer questions before a congressional subcommittee. 369 U.S. 749, 752 (1962). That statute barred individuals from refusing “to answer any question pertinent to the subject under inquiry” before a congressional committee.
That is untrue of any particular “official duties” performed by a threatened federal officer for purposes of a prosecution under
Here, the indictment, by restating the statutory language, fairly informed Williamson that he was being charged with threatening Schmitt in retaliation for Schmitt‘s “performance of official duties,”
B.
Williamson argues next that the district court erred in declining to instruct the jury on his proposed entrapment defense. Reviewing the matter de novo and assuming that Williamson‘s version of the facts is true, see United States v. Glover, 153 F.3d 749, 752 (D.C. Cir. 1998), we conclude that the district court properly rejected Williamson‘s entrapment defense as a matter of law.
The entrapment defense protects defendants who would have refrained from committing an offense absent government inducement. The central question in an entrapment case is “whether government agents ‘implanted in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to commit the alleged offense and induced its commission in order that they may prosecute.‘” United States v. McKinley, 70 F.3d 1307, 1311-12 (D.C. Cir. 1995) (brackets removed) (quoting Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 442 (1932)). We consider entrapment under a two-step framework.
First, the defendant must introduce evidence that the government induced her to commit the crime. Id. at 1312. “The government‘s behavior amounts to inducement when it was ‘such that a law-abiding citizen‘s will to obey the law could have been overborne.‘” Glover, 153 F.3d at 754 (quoting United States v. Kelly, 748 F.2d 691, 698 (D.C. Cir. 1984)). A range of government conduct could qualify as inducement under that standard, including “persuasion, fraudulent representations, threats, coercive tactics, harassment, promises of reward, or pleas based on need, sympathy or friendship.” United States v. Sanchez, 88 F.3d 1243, 1249 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (quoting United States v. Burkley, 591 F.2d 903, 913 (D.C. Cir. 1978)). But inducement generally “requires a showing that the government agent actually solicited or suggested the criminal conduct.” United States v. Solofa, 745 F.3d 1226, 1229 (D.C. Cir. 2014).
Second, if the defendant introduces sufficient evidence of government inducement, the burden shifts to the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was predisposed to commit the crime. Glover, 153 F.3d at 754. If the government fails to meet its burden of proving predisposition, the defendant will be entitled to acquittal on entrapment grounds. See id.
A defendant is only “entitled to an entrapment instruction when there is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find entrapment.” Mathews, 485 U.S. at 62. Here, the district court determined that Williamson failed at the first step because he did not introduce evidence of government inducement. See United States v. Williamson, 2014 WL 12695537, at *3-4 (D.D.C. Oct. 20, 2014).
Williamson sought to argue that Agent Schmitt and other FBI agents had engaged in a pattern of harassment over several years with the specific aim of causing Williamson to commit a threatening or violent act for which he could be imprisoned. Williamson alleged he had complained about the harassment to various authorities, to no avail. According to Williamson‘s account, the agents’ harassing conduct, coupled with the government‘s failure to respond to his complaints, provoked him to issue the threat because that was his only means of stopping the harassment.
Williamson notes the language in our decision in Sanchez indicating that “harassment” could also amount to inducement. See 88 F.3d at 1249. Insofar as government agents’ harassment could constitute inducement, it could qualify as inducement under our decisions only if it amounted to a solicitation or suggestion that he threaten a law enforcement officer, Solofa, 745 F.3d at 1229, and if it sufficed to overcome “a law-abiding citizen‘s will to obey the law,” Glover, 153 F.3d at 754. As to
the former, Williamson offered no evidence that the harassment was so aimed. As to the latter, as the district court explained, the government harassment, though significant assuming the truth of the allegations, would not lead a law-abiding citizen to threaten to murder a federal law enforcement officer. See Williamson, 2014 WL 12695537, at *4.
A contrary conclusion, moreover, would risk giving the entrapment defense an unduly broad sweep. If the alleged harassment in this case could be seen as adequate inducement to cause an individual to threaten to assault or murder a federal law enforcement officer as a means of stopping the harassment, it might also be seen as adequate inducement to cause him to commit the assault or murder for the same reason. Beyond the anomalous results of such an understanding, recognizing entrapment under such circumstances would take the defense well beyond its purpose: to prevent law enforcement officers from “implant[ing] in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to commit the alleged offense” so that they “may prosecute” her. Sorrells, 287 U.S. at 442.
For the reasons stated, Williamson failed to introduce evidence that the government induced him into threatening to murder Agent Schmitt. The district court thus did not err in declining to instruct the jury on Williamson‘s proposed entrapment defense.
C.
Williamson argues next that the district court incorrectly denied him access to jury-commission records he was entitled to inspect under
D.
We now take up Williamson‘s arguments challenging his sentence.
1.
After the jury found Williamson guilty of threatening to murder Agent Schmitt, the district court held a hearing to determine the sentence. Before the hearing, the court notified Williamson that it was considering an upward departure from the sentencing guidelines range in light of a guidelines
comment providing that an upward departure might be warranted if a defendant engages in “a prolonged period of making harassing communications to the same victim.” Williamson, 83 F. Supp. 3d at 400 (quoting U.S.S.G. § 2A6.1 cmt. 4(B)).
At the sentencing hearing, the court first determined that Williamson‘s criminal history and offense level yielded a sentencing guidelines range of 15 to 21 months of imprisonment. The court then concluded, as it had suggested in its pre-hearing notice, that it would depart upwards and issue an above-guidelines sentence based “in part, not entirely, but in part” on Comment 4(B) of Guidelines Section 2A6.1. Suppl. App. 348. The court explained that Williamson had engaged in a series of threatening communications over a period of years related to Schmitt and the FBI.
The court then went on to consider the factors set out in
2.
We review sentencing challenges using a two-step analysis. First, we consider whether the district court
committed a “significant procedural error” in arriving at the sentence. United States v. Lawrence, 662 F.3d 551, 556 (D.C. Cir. 2011); see Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). Second, if the district court‘s sentencing decision was procedurally sound, we consider whether the sentence is “substantively reasonable.” Lawrence, 662 F.3d at 556. In that regard, we examine “the totality of the circumstances, including the extent of any variance from the guidelines range.” Gall, 552 U.S. at 51. Our review of both the procedural soundness and substantive reasonableness of a sentence is for abuse of discretion. Id.
Williamson challenges his sentence on three grounds. First, he argues that the district court erred in relying on Comment 4(B) as a basis for departing from the guidelines range. Second, he contends that the district court unlawfully increased his sentence based on conduct protected by the First Amendment. Third, he submits that the length of his term of imprisonment is substantively unreasonable. Each of those arguments lacks merit.
a.
Williamson first argues that the district court erred in departing upwards
months of imprisonment based in part on Comment 4(B) and the concerns underlying it.
The district court‘s decision to sentence Williamson above the guidelines range did not stand or fall on a determination that the precise terms of Comment 4(B) squarely apply to the circumstances of this case. To be sure, the court believed that the comment applies to the facts of the case and relied on the comment in explaining its decision to sentence Williamson above the guidelines. But the court made apparent that, regardless of whether Comment 4(B) directly applies by its terms, the court‘s above-guidelines sentence was warranted in any event based on the factors set out in section 3553(a) and on the general concerns animating the comment.
For instance, in considering the need for the sentence “to reflect the seriousness of the offense,”
Additionally, the court explained that other factors in
The court‘s analysis makes evident that its decision to impose that sentence would have been the same regardless of whether the terms of Comment 4(B) directly apply to the circumstances of the case. And we cannot say that the district court, relying in part on the section 3553(a) factors and on the “spirit” animating Comment 4(B), abused its discretion in concluding that an
b.
Williamson next contends that the district court unlawfully enhanced his sentence based on First Amendment-protected activity: namely, his various phone calls and letters petitioning the government for relief from alleged government harassment. We conclude that the district court properly considered the
history of Williamson‘s communications with government officials in crafting an appropriate sentence.
In Dawson v. Delaware, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not prevent a sentencing court from considering an individual‘s First Amendment-protected “beliefs and associations” in fixing a sentence, when those beliefs and associations are relevant to determining an appropriate sentence. 503 U.S. 159, 165 (1992). Here, all of the ostensibly First Amendment-protected activity considered by the district court was relevant to the sentencing decision. Under Dawson, the court therefore could take into account that activity in determining a suitable sentence. The court found that Williamson‘s communications established a pattern of disturbing conduct that worsened over time, bearing on both the seriousness of his offense and on the need to protect the public generally (and Agent Schmitt specifically) from harm. The court did not violate the First Amendment in doing so.
c.
Williamson last argues that his sentence is substantively unreasonable. We again disagree.
In considering a defendant‘s challenge to the substantive reasonableness of a sentence, we ask the following question: “In light of the facts and circumstances of the offense and offender, is the sentence so unreasonably high or unreasonably low as to constitute an abuse of discretion by the district court?” United States v. Gardellini, 545 F.3d 1089, 1093 (D.C. Cir. 2008). “It will be the unusual case when an appeals court can plausibly say that a sentence” is substantively unreasonable in light of all the circumstances. In re Sealed Case, 809 F.3d 672, 676 (D.C. Cir. 2016) (citation omitted).
Williamson was sentenced to 96 months of imprisonment based on a guidelines range of 15-21 months. Williamson, 83 F. Supp. 3d at 401, 404. According to Williamson, no other person convicted under
As explained, the district court offered a thorough explanation for its above-guidelines sentence, based on its experience with—and assessment of the facts and circumstances of the case. The court concluded that Williamson‘s offense was significantly more serious than the statute captured, that a guidelines sentence would not adequately deter Williamson in light of his repeated history of similar misconduct and the failure of a previous above-guidelines sentence to cause him to correct his ways, and that he presented a substantial danger to the public and to Agent Schmitt. The district court thus made “the kind of defendant-specific determinations that are within the special competence of sentencing courts.” Gardellini, 545 F.3d at 1095. We cannot conclude that the district court‘s sentence was substantively unreasonable.
III.
Williamson makes a number of additional arguments in his pro se briefing. We have given those arguments thorough consideration and have concluded that they lack merit. We specifically address two of them here: first, Williamson argues that the district judge should have recused herself; and second, Williamson argues that his Sixth Amendment right to self-representation was violated during pre-trial proceedings.
A.
Recusal is required under
The majority of Williamson‘s arguments in favor of recusal are rooted in legal disagreements with the district judge‘s rulings against him, which do not afford grounds for a recusal. See id. at 493. Williamson also contends that the district judge dealt with him unduly harshly during pretrial and trial proceedings. Our review of the proceedings confirms, however, that the district judge treated Williamson even-handedly and afforded him significant latitude to make extended arguments on the issues he wanted to discuss. See App. 1-41 (documenting numerous motions that Williamson filed); Suppl. App. 130-208 (defendant‘s questioning of Agent Schmitt at trial); Suppl. App. 311-47 (defendant‘s sentencing arguments). The district court therefore did not err in declining to grant Williamson‘s motion for recusal.
B.
Williamson argues that the district court allowed standby counsel to take over his defense, infringing his Sixth
Amendment right to represent himself at trial. See Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975). The Supreme Court has generally upheld the appointment of standby counsel when a defendant exercises the right of self-representation, subject to two conditions. “First, the pro se defendant is entitled to preserve actual control over the case he chooses to present to the jury.” McKaskle v. Wiggins, 465 U.S. 168, 178 (1984). “Second, participation by standby counsel without the defendant‘s consent should not be allowed to destroy the jury‘s perception that the defendant is representing himself.” Id.
Here, Williamson‘s argument is grounded in a complaint that standby counsel did not give him sufficient notice of a pre-trial hearing at which he was asked to justify his request for access to certain government officials whom he hoped to call as defense witnesses. The result, Williamson submits, is that standby counsel effectively blocked him from calling certain witnesses. Williamson‘s contention lacks merit. Williamson had sufficient time to explain why the witnesses were necessary to his case and failed to do so. Any actions by standby counsel in asking for the hearing did not vitiate Williamson‘s control over the case he wanted to present to the jury, and could not have affected the jury‘s perception of Williamson‘s control over the case because
* * * * *
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Williamson‘s conviction and sentence except that we remand the case to the district court so that it can give Williamson access to jury-commission records consistent with
So ordered.
