Suppression of Evidence – Expert Testimony

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Elijah Vines

Case No.: 19-2316

Officials: EASTERBROOK, MANION, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Suppression of Evidence – Expert Testimony

Following a jury trial, Elijah Vines was found guilty of five counts related to sex trafficking of a minor, including: sex trafficking of a child, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591(a)(1), (b)(2), and (c); sex trafficking of a child, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591(a)(2) and (b)(2); conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1594(c) and 1591; transportation of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a); and interstate travel in aid of racketeering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1952(a)(3). He was sentenced to 480 months’ imprisonment for Counts I-IV, and 60 months’ imprisonment for Count V, to be served concurrently, placed under supervised release for life, and ordered to pay $13,500 in restitution to the victim (“GMC”).

The evidence at trial demonstrated that GMC was a fifteen-year-old girl who ran away from her foster home in August 2016, and in September 2016 was arrested for shoplifting in Ohio. She did not provide her real name or age to police in order to avoid being returned to the foster system. She contacted a friend, Shayana, to pick her up from jail, and Shayana arrived accompanied by the defendant Elijah Vines. Vines was involved in criminal activity that included selling cellphones as part of a scam and prostituting females. He transported GMC to his residence and then to a hotel, and subsequently began prostituting GMC. To further those unlawful ends, he posted ads of GMC online, including on the website Backpage, which was a site commonly used to advertise prostitutes to customers. He also arranged for her to meet with those customers to engage in sex acts, and she gave the money paid for those acts to him. Vines was aware that GMC was a minor.

In October 2016, GMC was taken into custody as a runaway by law enforcement and was evaluated at the emergency room at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. She informed them that she had run away from home, and that she had been forced to engage in sex in exchange for drugs and money. An examination by doctors determined that she had injuries “too numerous to count.”

Vines now appeals his convictions, arguing that the trial court erred in allowing the testimony of an expert witness that related to the credibility of GMC; denying his motion to suppress GMC’s identification of Vines through a Facebook photo; and denying the motions to suppress evidence obtained from a search of Vines’s iPhone and from a search of his Facebook and iCloud accounts. We address these challenges in turn.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.