Opinion ID: 709030
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Accountability of Seals for the Murder of Ronald Anderson

Text: 139 In the course of sentencing Carla Seals, the District Court found that she was accountable for the murder of Ronald Anderson. Seals was not charged with this murder in the indictment, but the court considered her involvement in the murder to be relevant to her RICO convictions. Pursuant to Sec. 2A1.1 of the guidelines, the finding that Seals was accountable for murder resulted in a base offense level of forty-three. Forty-three is the maximum offense level under the guidelines and carries a mandatory life sentence, which the court imposed on Seals. Seals contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the court's finding that she was accountable for this murder. 140 The guidelines provide that a defendant is accountable for relevant conduct including all acts and omissions committed, aided, abetted, counseled, ... or willfully caused by the defendant ... that occurred during the commission of the offense of conviction. U.S.S.G. Sec. 1B1.3(a)(1)(A). When sentencing a defendant, a district court may consider uncharged, relevant conduct that has been established by a preponderance of the evidence. Ballew, 40 F.3d at 943. Seals does not challenge the District Court's finding that this murder was relevant conduct. She argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove her involvement in the crime because the evidence relied upon by the District Court was not credible. 141 Seals concedes that some evidence implicates her in the murder of Ronald Anderson. 14 Ronnie Thomas testified that on December 12, 1988, Seals was present at a JLO meeting in her house at which the semiautomatic weapon used to murder Anderson was loaded, and that she then delivered it to another residence so that Thomas could pick it up to use in the murder. Later that night Thomas murdered Anderson with the weapon in retaliation for Anderson's supposed participation in a plot to kill Jerry Lewis. Seals contends that this testimony is insufficient to support the finding that she was accountable for the murder because (1) it is arguably contradicted by other evidence, and (2) Ronnie Thomas is a serial killer and admitted perjurer who cannot be believed. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, however, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous. Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 574, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985). Moreover, a district court's findings based on credibility can virtually never be clear error. United States v. Cabbell, 35 F.3d 1255, 1260 (8th Cir.1994) (quoting United States v. Coppock, 919 F.2d 77, 79 (8th Cir.1990)). 142 Seals's argument on this issue boils down to an attack on the credibility of a government witness and on the court's choice between two permissible views of the evidence. The District Court chose to credit the testimony of Ronnie Thomas rather than the allegedly contradictory evidence noted by Seals. The question of which of two contradictory stories to believe is largely a question of credibility, and, as noted above, findings based on credibility virtually never constitute clear error. The District Court was in the best position to evaluate the testimony of various witnesses, and the record supports its finding that Seals was accountable for the murder of Ronald Anderson. The court's finding was thus a permissible view of the evidence that cannot be clearly erroneous. A preponderance of the evidence establishes that Seals aided and abetted the individuals who actually killed Anderson, and the court properly held her accountable for the murder. 143 Because Seals was properly held accountable for Anderson's murder, we need not address her arguments concerning her drug offenses or the attempted murder of Lorenzo Petty. Even if these arguments were successful, Seals's offense level would remain at 43 because of her accountability for Anderson's murder. This offense level results in a mandatory sentence of life in prison. We therefore affirm Seals's life sentence.