Opinion ID: 2795144
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Officer William Poe’s Testimony

Text: Sandidge’s sentencing hearing was held on February 26, 2014. First at issue was the imposition of the 4-level firearm enhancement. In order for the enhancement to apply, the government was required to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Sandidge had pointed the loaded firearm at another person. That fact would establish that the firearm was used “in connection with another felony” under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B). Sandidge denied having done so. The government offered the testimony of two witnesses, as well as documentary evidence, to prove the conduct underlying the enhancement. The district court first heard testimony from Officer William Poe of the Lake County Sheriff’s Department. Through direct and cross-examination, as well as through questioning by the district judge, Officer Poe 4 No. 14-1492 testified to the following account of the events of April 22, 2012. At 3:26 a.m., Officer Poe was dispatched to 4454 Grant Street in Gary, Indiana. The dispatch was based on an emergency call reporting that a female subject was running and screaming down Grant Street. She was knocking on doors, begging for help and for someone to call the police. Officer Poe made contact with the subject—Barbara Harris—as soon as he arrived. Consistent with the initial report, Officer Poe found Harris crying, distraught, and frightened. Harris told Officer Poe that a black male had chased her with a gun and had attempted to kill her. She recounted that she had been drinking with that man, whom she knew as “Kenny Mo,” and that she had fled from his residence. While she did not know the precise address of the house, she was able to provide Officer Poe with its general location and description. Officer Poe placed Harris in the back of his police vehicle, and they began to drive up Grant Street toward the residence. As Officer Poe and Harris drove, another sheriff’s deputy, Officer Solomon, stopped a black male who was riding a bicycle along Grant Street. Officer Solomon identified the subject as Kenneth Sandidge. The officer ran a warrant check on Sandidge and released him when no warrants were discovered. Officer Poe and Harris witnessed that stop from inside Officer Poe’s police vehicle. 2 From her vantage point in the vehicle, Harris indicated that she could not get a good look 2 The details regarding the timing of Harris and Officer Poe’s arrival on the scene and their proximity to the stop are not clear from the record. No. 14-1492 5 at the subject who was stopped, so she could not say whether Sandidge was the man she knew as Kenny Mo. Officer Poe and Harris then continued to drive along Grant Street and ultimately arrived at the residence identified by Harris as Kenny Mo’s. After running the license plate of a vehicle parked in front, Officer Poe discovered it was registered to Kenneth Sandidge. He pulled up a photo of Sandidge on his in-vehicle computer system, and Harris identified him as Kenny Mo. Officer Poe called for backup officers, and as he waited for them to arrive, Harris provided the following additional details of the evening’s events. According to Harris, earlier that evening, Sandidge had picked her up from her home and brought her to his Grant Street residence. While seated on a leather couch in Sandidge’s living room, the two had a few drinks. Sandidge drank wine, and Harris drank two shots of vodka. Harris described the layout of Sandidge’s home and stated that a black dog was chained in the kitchen area. She also stated that Sandidge told her he had recently been released from jail. At some point in the evening, Sandidge went into his bedroom to change clothes and emerged wearing a robe. He then told Harris to take off her clothes and make herself comfortable. After advising Sandidge that she “wasn’t there for that,” Harris tried to leave. A struggle ensued, with Sandidge pulling Harris’s jacket and pushing her down on the couch. He went back into his bedroom and returned holding a silver revolver, which he pointed at Harris’s head. He told her she was not leaving, and that “[people] are dropping like flies around here. I’m not playing with you.” 6 No. 14-1492 Sandidge then sat down next to Harris on the couch and advised her to “give him head.” Harris refused, and another struggle ensued. She was able to escape from the residence through the front door as Sandidge threatened to release his dog on her. She ran down Grant Street, and was able to gain the assistance of another resident, who called the police. Harris told Officer Poe that she did not engage in any sexual activity with Sandidge, despite his attempts to force such contact. When Officer Solomon arrived as backup, he and Officer Poe made contact with Sandidge at his residence. Sandidge first denied any involvement with Harris. After continued discussion, Sandidge changed his story, saying that Harris had been there to clean his house. He stated that she left because she became ill. After being questioned as to why Harris would be cleaning Sandidge’s home at 3:00 in the morning, Sandidge stated that he would “come out and tell the truth.” He said that he and Harris had first been drinking at the home of another individual, and had then relocated to Sandidge’s house. He acknowledged that he was “trying to hook up with” Harris, hoping to engage in sexual intercourse or oral sex. She had become ill, however, and left. When asked why he had been riding his bike down the block at 3:00 in the morning, Sandidge told Officer Poe that he “does that sometimes.” In Sandidge’s living room, the officers discovered in plain view a silver .32 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver wedged between the cushions of a leather couch. It was fully loaded. The officers seized the weapon, and Harris identified that firearm as being the one Sandidge pointed at her during their encounter. No. 14-1492 7 B. Other Evidence Offered at the Sentencing Hearing Following Officer Poe’s testimony, the court then heard testimony from Special Agent Jason Gore of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”). Agent Gore conducted a recorded interview of Harris in October 2012. He testified to the following account of that interview. 3 On April 22, Harris was at the home of a man named Don, along with several other individuals, when Sandidge arrived. Sandidge came with the apparent purpose of selling crack cocaine. Sandidge collected money from those present who wished to buy crack. He indicated that he would leave to make the buy and would return with the drugs. Harris accompanied Sandidge in order to ensure he did not abscond with the money or the drugs. After completing the drug buy, Harris and Sandidge drove to Sandidge’s house. Sandidge indicated that he needed to feed his dog and complete a few other short errands. Sandidge and Harris had a few drinks. At some point, Sandidge entered his bedroom and emerged wearing a robe. He then attempted to force Harris to perform oral sex on him. When she refused, he retrieved a silver revolver from his bedroom and pointed it at her head. Sandidge then sexually assaulted her at gunpoint, first on the couch, and then in his bedroom. Following the assault, a woman knocked on Sandidge’s door. As Sandidge spoke to the woman, Harris put on her 3 As Sandidge’s arguments on appeal concern the ways in which Harris’s accounts to Officer Poe and Agent Gore differed, we largely confine our discussion to those relevant facts. 8 No. 14-1492 clothes. When Sandidge unlocked the front door in order to speak to the newly arrived woman, Harris pushed past him and ran outside. After hearing the testimony from Officer Poe and Agent Gore, the judge took a recess in order to listen to the record- ed interview between Agent Gore and Harris. He also reviewed the other materials submitted by the parties, including the investigative reports written by Agent Gore and Officer Poe. C. Imposition of Sentence After returning from recess, the district court heard Sandidge’s objections to the imposition of the 4-level firearm enhancement. Sandidge argued that he never pointed the loaded firearm at Harris and that the government had not met its burden to prove that the felonious conduct had occurred. Sandidge’s arguments focused on the differences between Harris’s two accounts of the April 22 events, as related to Officer Poe and Agent Gore. Because those accounts differed, Sandidge argued, Harris must be a liar. As such, the argument goes, the information provided by her was neither reliable nor credible. Sandidge emphasized his opinion that the government chose not to call Harris as a sentencing witness in an attempt to shield her from an adverse credibility determination by the district court. After hearing Sandidge’s objections and the government’s response, the court found by a preponderance of the evidence that Sandidge had pointed a loaded firearm at Harris during the April 22 incident. Consequently, the court found that the firearm was used in connection with another felony. No. 14-1492 9 Because that act constituted a felony violation of Indiana law, the court applied the 4-level enhancement. The court then heard related argument as to whether Sandidge should receive a 3-level reduction under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 for acceptance of responsibility. The government argued that Sandidge was no longer eligible for the acceptance-of-responsibility reduction because he had falsely denied “relevant conduct”—that he had pointed the loaded weapon at Harris. Sandidge asked the court to exercise its discretion to grant him the 3-level reduction, arguing that he had accepted responsibility for possessing the firearm. The court found that Sandidge had falsely denied the relevant conduct, and it denied Sandidge the 3-level reduction. The court then calculated Sandidge’s Guidelines range. With the base offense level of 20, 4-level enhancement, and denial of the 3-level reduction, the court determined Sandidge’s offense level to be 24. That, combined with his criminal history category V, resulted in a recommended range of 92 to 115 months’ imprisonment. Sandidge requested a below-Guidelines sentence of 46 months, arguing that a within-Guidelines sentence would be excessive. He also requested that his federal sentence be imposed to run concurrently with an unrelated state sentence that he was serving at that time. The court sentenced Sandidge to a period of 92 months’ incarceration, to be served consecutively with his undischarged state sentence. It also imposed a period of 2 years’ supervised release, subject to a number of supervised release conditions. 10 No. 14-1492