United States v. Bello

194 F.3d 18 (1st Cir. 1999)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D was a prisoner and worked as a food service orderly, serving food to other prisoners. Domingo Santana-Rosa, was also a prisoner. D testified that Santana frequently sneaked into the food service line and requested seconds even when all other prisoners had not yet eaten. D refused to serve Santana a second helping at dinner because five other inmates had yet to eat. Santana then told d that he and another inmate were 'going to crack open Ds' head.' An inmate later advised D that Santana planned to attack him while D was working out in the recreational yard of the prison. Bello testified that he did not report the threat to prison authorities because he feared the repercussions of being labeled a 'snitch' by his peers. On July 25, 1996, at around 11:30 AM, Santana was playing dominoes. D noticed Santana's presence, and he became alarmed when the table for playing dominoes, which was ordinarily in the prison's game room, had been moved into the yard where it now stood only a few feet away from where D intended to exercise. D grabbed a push broom and hit the wall of the yard with its handle, stating that it was a good stick for playing baseball. Santana noticed D, but continued playing dominoes. D removed the handle from the push broom and kept the head. D walked towards Santana and, once behind him, D hit him in the back of the head with the push broom head. Santana collapsed, unconscious. Santana was operated on to relieve an epidural hematoma (a blood clot under the skull). Santana regained consciousness six days later. The entire incident was captured on videotape.

D was indicted on one count of assault within the jurisdiction of the United States. P filed a pretrial motion requesting that the court take judicial notice that MDC-Guaynabo is located within Fort Buchanan, a military base on lands 'reserved or acquired for the use of the United States, and under the exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction thereof,' and thus is within the 'special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the United States.' The court deferred ruling. At trial, P presented before the jury the testimony of Alma Lopez, the legal advisor to the warden of MDC-Guaynabo, who stated that the land on which the prison was located was owned by the federal Bureau of Prisons and was formerly part of Fort Buchanan, but was transferred to the Bureau by the Department of Defense. D objected to the court taking judicial notice of the fact that MDC Guaynabo is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States. Because Lopez was not in a position to authenticate the documentation submitted with the pretrial motion, the documents were not admitted into evidence. The court examined the documents outside the presence of the jury and concluded that it could take judicial notice (based on both the testimony in evidence and the documents) that the MDC-Guaynabo facility was within the jurisdiction of the United States. D objected. The court denied D's request to instruct the jury on his defenses of duress and self-defense, ruling that there were no facts which justified such instructions. The jury requested clarification on the meaning of self-defense. The court stated that self-defense was not applicable to this case. D was convicted and appealed.