Court Opinion

ID: 9486977
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:05:14.391505+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:02.271840
License: Public Domain

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in Judge Merritt’s opinion except the holding that defendant is entitled to a new trial because of the court’s refusal to give a duress instruction. I should first note that any failure to give the instruction was harmless with respect to the conspiracy count. Defendant testified that he was engaged in the conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution, and did distribute marijuana before any threats were made against him. Indeed, the threats came about because members of a prison gang overheard him discussing his ability to bring in drugs and demanded he bring in drugs for them. However, my disagreement is broader than that. I agree with the District Court that defendant failed to establish his entitlement to the requested instruction.
In United States v. Bailey, 444 U.S. 394, 100 S.Ct. 624, 62 L.Ed.2d 575 (1980), the Supreme Court held that the district court properly rejected evidence of prison conditions, described by the dissenters as harmful to the defendant prisoners’ health and safety. Although the Court did not pass upon whether those conditions were such that defendants could claim an excuse of duress for their escape, it held that the fact they would be subject to the same conditions if they turned themselves in did not excuse their failure to do just that. The Court held that the evidence failed as a matter of law to reach the minimum threshold that would have required an instruction on duress. Id. at 414, 100 S.Ct. at 636-37.
The District Court here made a finding that the evidence of duress was insufficient in two respects. First, defendant’s own prior illegal activity in smuggling marijuana into the prison placed him in the position of having to enlarge his operation to bring in drugs for those who threatened him. Thus, he had “recklessly or negligently placed himself in a situation in which it was probable he would *571be [forced to choose the criminal conduct].” United States v. Newcomb, 6 F.3d 1129, 1134 (6th Cir.1993) (quoting United States v. Singleton, 902 F.2d 471, 472 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 872, 111 S.Ct. 196, 112 L.Ed.2d 158 (1990) (bracketed material in original)). Second, the District Court held that defendant had not established that he had no reasonable, legal alternative to violating the law. As the Supreme Court stated in Bailey, after discussing the defenses of duress and necessity under the common law and under the Model Criminal Code,
[u]nder any definition of these defenses one principle remains constant: if there was a reasonable, legal alternative to violating the law, “a chance both to refuse to do the criminal act and also to avoid the threatened harm,” the defenses will fail. [W.] LaFave & [A.] Scott, [.Handbook on Criminal Law § 28] p. 379 [ (1972) ]. Clearly, in the context of prison escape, the escapee is not entitled to claim a defense of duress or necessity unless and until he demonstrates that, given the imminence of the threat, violation of [18 U.S.C.] § 751(a) was his only reasonable alternative.
Bailey, 444 U.S. at 410-11, 100 S.Ct. at 635 (footnote omitted).
Defendant Riffe testified that in order to be placed in protective custody he would have to identify the persons who threatened him and that the prison authorities could not guarantee his safety. I concede that prison authorities cannot guarantee inmates’ safety. The government cannot guarantee anyone’s safety, but the common law defense of duress requires that a threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury exist. Id. at 409, 100 S.Ct. at 634. Although the government cannot guarantee the safety of those threatened by organized crime figures or those who live in neighborhoods dominated by vicious street gangs, we do not excuse the crimes of either group because they were committed as a result of threats, if those threats were not of an imminent danger. Defendant’s unwillingness to go to the prison authorities or other law enforcement authorities was also due to the fact that for his safety he would have to remain in administrative or protective segregation and could not be released into the general prison population. The unpleasant nature of that alternative does not establish that it is unreasonable to require him to pursue that alternative. Finally, defendant asserts that even if sent to another state institution or to a federal prison, gang members in those other institutions would seek him out. Aside from the question whether he was qualified to give an opinion on this issue, the fact that there is some risk does not remove this as a reasonable alternative. The Supreme Court defined “reasonable alternative” as “a chance both to refuse to do the criminal act and also to avoid the harm-” Id. at 410, 100 S.Ct. at 635 (quoting W. LaFave & A. Scott, Handbook on Criminal Law, p. 379 (1972)) (emphasis supplied). If the majority is correct that the threat of some future undefined gang retaliation makes turning to the prison authority an unreasonable alternative, then it would appear to be unreasonable to incarcerate any prisoner threatened by a prison gang. We do not excuse witnesses from testifying because there is a risk that criminal defendants or their cohorts will retaliate. If we excuse prisoners from crimes they commit by reason of threats from other prisoners where the institution offers a system of protection, we greatly increase the power of the very prison gangs of which defendant complains. What gang would not be delighted to be able to tell their victims to commit the crime we demand and you’ll be excused from punishment; just tell the authorities you were afraid for your personal safety and that the prison can’t guarantee your future safety.
Under the majority’s holding, if someone threatens a life and even though the threat is not immediate, the person threatened will be excused if he or she retaliates because society cannot guarantee that the threat will not be carried out. If we are to live in an ordered society, I believe the threatened person must take that chance and use legal means to stop the criminal from carrying out the threat. Defendant had a chance here to refuse to do the criminal act. and avoid the threatened harm. He chose to commit further crimes over taking that chance. His evidence failed as a matter of law to reach the “minimum threshold” that would have *572required an instruction on duress, Bailey, 444 U.S. at 414, 100 S.Ct. at 636-87.