Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-05-04457/USCOURTS-ca8-05-04457-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Shondo Billie
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

1

The Honorable Daniel Hovland, Chief Judge, United States District Court for

the District of North Dakota.

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 05-4457

___________

United States of America, *

*

Appellee, *

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

* District of North Dakota.

Shondo Billie, *

* [UNPUBLISHED]

Appellant. *

___________

Submitted: April 5, 2007

Filed: April 10, 2007

___________

Before COLLOTON, HANSEN, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

___________

PER CURIAM.

A jury found Shondo Billie guilty of one count of sexual abuse of a minor, in

violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2243(a), and four counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a

minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2241(c). The district court1

 sentenced him to 230

months in prison and 5 years of supervised release. On appeal, counsel has filed a

brief under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967), containing a request to

withdraw. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

Appellate Case: 05-4457 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/10/2007 Entry ID: 3297111
-2-

Counsel argues that the district court erred by denying the defense’s motion in

limine to exclude any evidence of additional, similar abuses by Billie against the same

victim during the same approximate period of time. We conclude that the district

court did not abuse its discretion by admitting this evidence under Federal Rules of

Evidence 413 and 414 because, in the circumstances of this case, the probative value

of the evidence was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.

See United States v. Benais, 460 F.3d 1059, 1063 (8th Cir. 2006) (upholding

admission of evidence of other sexual assaults under Fed. R. Evid. 413 and 414 when

applying Fed. R. Evid. 403’s balancing test).

Having reviewed the record independently under Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75

(1988), and having found no non-frivolous issues for appeal, we affirm the judgment

of the district court and grant counsel’s request to withdraw. We deny Billie’s

pending motion for substitute counsel.

______________________________

Appellate Case: 05-4457 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/10/2007 Entry ID: 3297111