Sufficiency of Evidence

Listen to this article

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Lenard Dixon & William Bell

Case No.: 14-3462; 14-3470

Officials: KANNE and ROVNER, Circuit Judges and BRUCE, District Judge.

Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence

Appellants contend insufficiency of evidence to established premeditated murder and accessory after the fact. Convictions affirmed.

“Having reviewed the trial record, we are satisfied that the jury could reasonably find that Bell both had time to contemplate killing Pendelton and did, in fact, deliberate on the murder before he actually killed Pendelton. The circumstances suggest that Bell left his cell with a plan already in place to kill his fellow prisoner. First, Bell walked out of his cell with something in his hand, and when he arrived at Pendelton’s cell, he used his other hand to open the cell door. One could reasonably surmise from what occurred next, and from the sharpened rod that Dixon subsequently left in the trash can, that Bell had a weapon in his hand, and so was walking to Pendelton’s cell prepared to engage in violence. See Begay, 673 F.3d at 1044 (“Carrying the murder weapon to the scene is strong evidence of premeditation.”) (collecting cases). Second, Bell was in Pendelton’s cell for only a relatively brief period, and there were no real signs of a struggle left either in the cell or on Bell’s person. Although there was blood everywhere in the cell, which is not surprising given the nature of Pendelton’s injuries, nothing in his cell was knocked over or obviously out of place. This suggests that Bell did not stab Pendelton in the heat of an argument, for example, but rather that he entered the cell with a plan to kill Pendelton and executed his design quickly and efficiently. Cf. United States v. Esquer, 459 F.2d 431, 432‐33 (7th Cir. 1972) (testimony that defendant prisoner left his position behind steam table in dining room serving line, walked to center of room where victim was sitting, and attacked him from behind, seizing him around the neck and stabbing him in the back, was sufficient to support finding of premeditation). Third, the actions of both Bell and Dixon appear to have been coordinated, as evidenced by the way in which Dixon left their cell shortly after Bell did, took up post in a chair outside the cell while Bell was inside of Pendelton’s cell, preceded Bell back into their cell as Bell returned, left the cell again a short time later with the bundle of clothes, and ultimately disposed of the clothing and weapon in the day room trash can. Fourth, both Bell and Dixon appeared to take these actions in a calm, unhurried, and deliberate manner, which is somewhat inconsistent with the possibility that Pendelton’s murder was an unexpected or unplanned crime.”

Affirmed

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.