United States v. Knox

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
PUBLISH
SEP 17 1997
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
TENTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v. No. 95-5274

MICHAEL DEMETRIUS KNOX, also
known as Michael Asberry,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Oklahoma
(D.C. No. 95-CR-41-K)

Art Fleak, Tulsa, Oklahoma for Defendant - Appellant.

John D. Russell, Assistant United States Attorney (Stephen C. Lewis, United
States Attorney with him on the brief), Tulsa, Oklahoma for Plaintiff - Appellee.

Before PORFILIO, LUCERO and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

In this direct criminal appeal, we consider the admissibility of alleged

hearsay evidence. We hold that the evidence in dispute was properly admissible
as non-hearsay pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(1)(A). See Keyes v. School Dist.

No. 1, 521 F.2d 465, 472-73 (10th Cir. 1975) (“An appellate court will affirm the

rulings of the lower court on any ground that finds support in the record, even

where the lower court reached its conclusions from a different or even erroneous

course of reasoning.”); see also United States v. Ross, 321 F.2d 61, 69 (2d Cir.

1963) (“[W]e should hardly be warranted in reversing for the admission of

evidence simply because the judge did not place his ruling on the ground that

would most readily have supported it.”).

I

Michael Knox was convicted in federal district court of mail fraud and

conspiracy to commit mail fraud. The United States alleged Knox organized two

fake automobile crashes in order to secure insurance payments, which were made

via federal mail. The alleged conspiracy was something of a family affair. The

first fake crash reportedly occurred on October 17, 1991. According to the

extensive property and medical claims filed by the conspirators with a number of

insurance companies, a 1979 Mercury Cougar driven by Knox’s sister, Kathleen

Brown, had collided with a 1986 Buick Skylark that had in turn collided with a

1990 Geo Storm containing Knox; his ex-wife, Robyn Cartwright; Robyn’s

mother, Barnella Cartwright; and Robyn’s sister Kimberly. Several months later,

Knox’s remarkably accident-prone sister claimed to have driven the same 1979

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Mercury into a Mercedes containing, among others, Knox’s mother, Kathryn Ford;

his stepfather, Ralph Bennett; another of his ex-wives, Stephanie Craven; and his

uncle, Ferrell Dixon. Again, substantial claims for property and medical expenses

were filed with a number of insurance companies.

At Knox’s trial, several of these individuals declined the prosecutor’s

invitation to implicate Knox. His sister, Kathleen Brown, who had already

pleaded guilty to her involvement in the scheme, testified that she could not recall

that Knox had been involved. Robyn Cartwright, Knox’s second wife, who had

also pleaded guilty to her involvement in the scheme, testified that her memory

was affected by medication and that she could not recall the defendant’s

involvement. Kathryn Ford, Knox’s mother, admitted that she had been a part of

the scheme, but stated that Knox was uninvolved. Ford’s husband, Ralph

Bennett, and Knox’s ex-mother-in-law, Barnella Cartwright, both denied Knox’s

involvement.

However, three witnesses for the prosecution implicated Knox. First,

Stephanie Craven, Knox’s first wife, who had earlier been convicted of mail fraud

and conspiracy in connection with the same insurance scheme, testified that Knox

had suggested she file a false claim. The defense introduced evidence that

sometime before her testimony Craven apparently shot at Knox.

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 Second, Kimberly Cartwright, the sister of Knox’s second wife Robyn

Cartwright, testified that Knox had invited her into the insurance scheme. Both

Cartwright sisters had earlier been convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy. The

Cartwright sisters’ mother, Barnella Cartwright, testified that Knox and the

sisters’ father had been involved in an altercation, which had resulted in Knox

shooting their father.

The final witness to indict Knox was FBI Agent Brenda Pruden, who

testified that both Kathleen Brown and Robyn Cartwright had earlier implicated

Knox in the scheme. Pruden testified that at an interview in 1993, some 20

months after the second of the two “crashes,” Kathleen Brown indicated that

Knox had asked her to procure insurance for a car she had never seen, using a

vehicle identification number that he had provided. According to Pruden, Brown

said Knox had given her the money to purchase two insurance policies, then

recounted to her the details of an automobile accident in which she had

supposedly been involved so that she might relay this information to the insurance

adjusters processing her case. Citing both Fed. R. Evid. 804(b)(1) and 803(24),

the district court allowed this testimony as an exception to the prohibition on

admission of hearsay evidence.

Agent Pruden further testified that Brown had implicated Knox under oath

at her own change of plea hearings, some eight months prior to Knox’s trial.

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Again, the district court admitted this evidence pursuant to Fed. R. Evid.

804(b)(1) and 803(24). At the close of Pruden’s testimony about Brown’s earlier

statements, the prosecution offered Brown for cross-examination, but the defense

declined to question her.

Pruden also testified that she interviewed Robyn Cartwright following her

change of plea hearing in November, 1994. In her testimony, which the district

court apparently admitted pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 804(b)(1) and 803(24),

Pruden stated Robyn Cartwright had implicated Knox at that interview. The

district court also permitted the prosecution to read to the jury transcript extracts

from Robyn Cartwright’s change of plea hearing—again apparently pursuant to

Fed. R. of Evid. 804(b)(1) and 803(24). In these extracts, Robyn Cartwright

explained that Knox explicitly directed her actions in the scheme. At the close of

Pruden’s testimony, Robyn Cartwright retook the stand and was cross-examined

by the defense.

Following his conviction, Knox was sentenced to 42 months. His sentence

was calculated on the basis of an amount of loss of $133,000, and was enhanced

two levels because he was a leader and organizer of jointly-undertaken criminal

activity. Before us, Knox advances his grounds for relief. Knox argues Pruden’s

hearsay testimony concerning Brown’s and Robyn Cartwright’s prior statements

was inadmissable; Robyn Cartwright’s testimony should have been excluded on

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the basis of spousal immunity; and the trial court made a number of smaller,

additional errors that together constitute “fundamental unfairness” in violation of

the Due Process Clause. He also challenges the amount of loss attributable to him

and asserts his sentence should not have been enhanced because of his alleged

leadership role in the insurance scheme.

II

Evidentiary decisions rest within the sound discretion of the trial court, and

are therefore reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Cestnik, 36 F.3d

904, 906 (10th Cir. 1994). Appellate review is particularly deferential where an

evidentiary ruling concerns the admission of alleged hearsay evidence. Id. at 906-

07. We consider the record as a whole in reviewing evidentiary rulings. Id. at

907. Knox challenges the admission of the two sets of statements made by Brown

and Robyn Cartwright at their interviews with the FBI and at their change of plea

hearings.

Although all this evidence was admitted under specific exceptions to the

bar against hearsay, the statements made by Brown and Robyn Cartwright at their

change of plea hearings are better viewed as admissible non-hearsay. 1 Rule

1
By admitting the statements under Rules 803 and 804, the district court allowed
the statements to be admitted for their truth. Because that same purpose is served when
statements are admitted as non-hearsay, we may use 801(d)(1)(a) to affirm the district
court’s admission of the change of plea statements. See United States v. Rosenstein, 474
F.2d 705, 711 (2d. Cir. 1973) (holding that admission of evidence improperly
(continued...)

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801(d)(1)(A) provides that “[a] statement is not hearsay if . . . [t]he declarant

testifies at the trial or hearing and is subject to cross-examination concerning the

statement, and the statement is . . . inconsistent with the declarant’s testimony,

and was given under oath subject to the penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, or

other proceeding.” Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(1)(A). Such non-hearsay statements are

admissible as substantive evidence. See United States v. Orr, 864 F.2d 1505,

1509 (10th Cir. 1988).

Both Robyn Cartwright’s and Brown’s change of plea statements were

“given under oath and subject to the penalty of perjury at a . . . hearing . . . .”

Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(1)(A). Pursuant to the rule of United States v. Bonnett, 877

F.2d 1450, 1462 (10th Cir. 1989), both were given the opportunity to explain or

deny their change of plea statements prior to the introduction of these statements.

See Tr. at 11 (Brown); Tr. at 232-37 (Cartwright). Moreover, both these

witnesses were “subject to cross-examination” concerning the statements made at

(...continued)
1

characterized by district court as exception to hearsay can be affirmed by appeals court
where record indicates evidence was non-hearsay admissible for its truth); United States
v. Williams, 837 F.2d 1009, 1013 (11th Cir. 1988) (same); United States v. Provenzano,
620 F.2d 985, 993 (3d Cir. 1980) (appellate court may affirm admission of evidence on
ground never argued in district court, so long as evidence is admissible under ground
relied on by appellate court for same purpose for which it was admitted by trial court); cf.
Shepard v. United States, 290 U.S. 96, 102-03 (1933) (court of appeals may not affirm
admission of hearsay statements under alternative theory not considered by district court
if that would have legitimated admission only for purposes other than the statements’
truth).

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their earlier hearings, though defendant chose not to cross examine either witness

to this effect. Neither witness’s purported lack of recollection meant they were

not subject to cross-examination. See United States v. Owens, 484 U.S. 554, 562-

63 (1988). Thus, the change of plea statements are admissible if inconsistent with

Brown’s and Cartwright’s testimony at Knox’s trial. See Fed. R. Evid.

801(d)(1)(A). 2

A well-settled body of case law holds that where a declarant’s memory loss

is contrived it will be taken as inconsistent with a prior statement for purposes of

applying Rule 801(d)(1)(A). See United States v. Bigham, 812 F.2d 943, 946-47

(5th Cir. 1987) (witness’s “selective memory loss was more convenient than

actual,” and prior statements therefore admissible under 801(d)(1)(A)); United

States v. DiCaro, 772 F.2d 1314, 1321-22 (7th Cir. 1985) (where witness’s lack of

memory is feigned, prior statements admissible under 801(d)(1)(A)); United

States v. Thompson, 708 F.2d 1294, 1302 (8th Cir. 1983) (where witness is

“recalcitrant” and gives “evasive answers,” court may admit prior statements as

inconsistent under 801(d)(1)(A)); cf. Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(1) Advisory Committee

2
Although it is true that the determination of whether prior testimony is truly
inconsistent is a matter within the discretion of the trial judge, see Bonnett, 877 F.2d at
1463, this Court has identified inconsistency sufficient for admission under Rule
801(d)(1)(A) even where the lower court apparently failed to make any ruling as to
inconsistency, United States v. Smith, 776 F.2d 892, 897 (10th Cir. 1985). We therefore
perceive no bar to our doing so in this case.

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Note (Rule “provide[s] a party with desirable protection against the ‘turncoat’

witness who changes his story on the stand and deprives the party calling him of

evidence essential to his case”); 3A John H. Wigmore, Evidence § 1043, at 1061

(James H. Chadbourn rev. ed. 1970) (noting with regard to application of Fed. R.

Evid. 801(d)(1)(A) that “the unwilling witness often takes refuge in a failure to

remember, and the astute liar is sometimes impregnable unless his flank can be

exposed to an attack of this sort”); Michael H. Graham, Federal Practice &

Procedure § 6582, at 183 n.9 (int. ed. 1992) (courts typically allow for admission

under Rule 801(d)(1)(A) where witness’s current lack of recollection is deemed

contrivance). Here, the district court ruled that “it is more probable that [Robyn

Cartwright’s] claim of memory loss is due to her own volition and the fact that

she does not want to answer these questions under oath in front of this jury.” Tr.

at 230. In addition, the court noted with reference to Brown’s stated lack of

recollection: “It appears in the manner of her testifying that some of the simple

facts to which she claims to have no memory, that she is doing it purposely.” Tr.

at 59. The record, therefore, is sufficient for us to find both change of plea

statements admissible under Rule 801(d)(1)(A).

We do not consider the admissibility of Brown’s and Robyn Cartwright’s

statements to the FBI. In light of our conclusion as to the admissibility of their

change of plea statements, the admission of the FBI statements cannot have had

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“a substantial influence on the outcome or leave[] one in grave doubt as to

whether [they] had such effect.” United States v. Rivera, 900 F.2d 1462, 1469

(10th Cir. 1990) (en banc) (internal quotations omitted). Thus, even if the FBI

statements were inadmissable hearsay, their admission was harmless.

III

Knox charges that Cartwright’s testimony should have been excluded on the

basis of spousal privilege. Pursuant to principles of common law, see Fed. R.

Evid. 501, we recognize two separate marital evidentiary privileges: the

confidential communications privilege and the privilege against adverse spousal

testimony. See United States v. Neal, 743 F.2d 1441, 1447 (10th Cir. 1984)

(Logan, J., concurring). Knox apparently bases his claim on the former, which

can be invoked by a defendant-spouse as to the testimony of a witness-spouse.

See United States v. Crouthers, 669 F.2d 635, 642 (10th Cir. 1982). 3

The party seeking to assert an evidentiary privilege has the burden of

establishing its applicability. Motley v. Marathon Oil Co., 71 F.3d 1547, 1550

(10th Cir. 1995). In order for defendant to assert the privilege, there must have

been at the time of the communication in question a marriage recognized as valid

3
An appeal based on the privilege against adverse spousal testimony would
assuredly fail because that privilege may only be invoked by the witness-spouse and the
record contains no indication that Robyn Cartwright ever attempted to invoke the
privilege. See Trammel v. United States, 445 U.S. 40, 53 (1980).

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under law. See 3 Weinstein’s Federal Evidence § 505.10[1], at 505-13; 2 Stephen

A. Saltzburg et al., Federal Rules of Evidence Manual 632 (1994) (privilege only

protects “confidential communications made during the marriage”); 1 McCormick

on Evidence § 81, at 301 (John W. Strong ed. 1992). Because there is no federal

law of marriage, see Trammel v. United States, 445 U.S. 40, 50 (1980) (“[T]he

laws of marriage and domestic relations are concerns traditionally reserved to the

states.”), federal courts routinely apply state law to determine whether people are

spouses for purposes of the privilege, see 25 Charles Alan Wright and Kenneth

W. Graham, Jr., Federal Practice and Procedure § 5573, at 563 (1989). Here,

Cartwright testified that she and defendant divorced in September 1991 and have

not since been formally remarried. See Tr. at 201. The first faked crash was

supposed to have occurred on October 17, 1991. Defendant has provided no

indication that the communications between himself and Cartwright pertaining to

that accident occurred prior to their divorce the previous month.

IV

None of Knox’s remaining claims on appeal has merit. First, there is no

truth to his contention that errors made by the district court rendered the trial

proceedings below so “fundamentally unfair” as to violate his rights to due

process. Not only is there scant indication of any errors made, but there is no

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indication that such minor flaws as were present are shocking to the universal

sense of justice. See United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 432 (1973).

Second, Knox charges that excessive pecuniary loss was attributed to him.

Factual findings supporting a district court’s calculation of loss under U.S.S.G. §

2F1.1 are reviewed for clear error. United States v. Burger, 964 F.2d 1065, 1075

(10th Cir. 1992). Because Knox has not shown that it was error to attribute more

than a $120,000 loss to him, the seven-point adjustment for specific offense

characteristics imposed under U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1(b)(1)(H) must stand. Even

excluding intended losses, actual losses found by the sentencing court total in

excess of $123,000. Knox’s argument that he should only be held accountable for

sums paid directly to him by the defrauded insurance companies ignores the

sentencing guidelines’ requirement that specific offense characteristics “shall be

determined on the basis of, . . . in the case of a jointly undertaken criminal

activity . . ., all reasonably foreseeable acts . . . of others in furtherance of the

jointly undertaken criminal activity.” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B). Defendant

provides no particularized argument as to why the facts supporting the district

court’s calculation of loss were erroneous, or why, under the applicable legal

standard given by § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B), its final determination of loss was incorrect.

We therefore affirm the seven-point increase.

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 Finally, Knox argues that his sentence should not have been enhanced for a

leadership role. We review for clear error the district court’s determination that

Knox was a leader or organizer sufficient to merit a 4-level increase in his

sentencing range under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a). See United States v. Tovar, 27 F.3d

497, 499 (10th Cir. 1994). Based on the findings adopted by the sentencing court,

it was not clearly erroneous to find that Knox played such a role. Knox’s

argument appears to be that the sentencing court should have credited the

testimony of witnesses who implicated others as the leading figures in the

insurance scheme and exculpated Knox. But even had the court done so, that

would not undermine the determination that the defendant was the “organizer,

leader, manager, or supervisor of one or more other participants,” § 3B1.1

comment 2, nor that the criminal activity in question involved five or more

participants, see § 3B1.1(a). “There can, of course, be more than one person who

qualifies as a leader of a criminal association or conspiracy.” § 3B1.1 comment 4.

From the evidence legitimately considered at sentencing, which may include

hearsay testimony containing only minimal indicia of reliability, see United States

v. Lopez, 100 F.3d 113, 120 (10th Cir. 1996), the sentencing court was entirely

correct in determining that Knox was an organizer or leader of criminal activity.

AFFIRMED.

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