United States v. Vartanian

245 F.3d 609 (6th Cir. 2001)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

The Stringers decided to purchase a new home in Harper Woods. They enlisted the aid of real estate agent Steven Weiss and made an offer on a home at 18980 Eastwood that was accepted by the seller and her agents, Kathy, and Mike Martin. The Stringers met at the home with the inspector, Weiss, and the Martins for the examination of the property and structure. After receiving word of the inspector's approval, the inspector and the Stringers left the area and the three real estate agents remained to lock up the house. As they stood talking in the driveway, the seller's next-door neighbors, the DeCraenes, walked hurriedly to the agents and animatedly explained how the real estate professionals had ruined the DeCraenes' lives by facilitating the sale of the property to an African-American family. D who owned the property across the street ran across the road and began ranting at the agents assembled there. He exclaimed that he would not have invested $10,000 in a swimming pool in his yard had he known African-Americans would move in across the street, and then backed Kathy Martin up into her vehicle, all the while spewing invective. D told Kathy Martin that he and his neighbors would boycott the Martins' real estate agency, that he had a friend who was a police officer who could trace the agents from their vehicle's license plate number, and that he (Vartanian) would find the Martins, destroy their car, chop them into little pieces, and bury them in the backyard where nobody would ever find them. The Martins and Weiss left the area and reported the incident to the police. D denied threatening the agents. ID claimed only that he had stated, 'I'm going to buy a house near your house and rent it to blacks. See how your neighbors like it. They will probably cut you up into little pieces and bury you in the back yard.' Weiss informed the Stringers and volunteered to return the couple's earnest money if they chose to rescind their purchase offer. They decided to go through with the purchase of the home, but they kept strict watch over their children so as to protect them from possible attacks or mischief from their neighbors. Weiss and the Stringers filed a civil suit alleging violations of the housing provisions of Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, M.C.L.A. §§ 37.2501-2507. The judgment was in their favor against D. A federal grand jury returned an indictment against D, charging him with one count of using 'force and threat of force . . . [to] intimidate [the real estate agents]' and, in a second count, with 'intimidating and interfering with an African-American family with regard to their opportunity to . . . purchase' the house in Harper Woods by 'force and threat of force' against the agents. The trial court allowed the prosecution to read into evidence testimony offered by a now-deceased witness who had testified at an earlier civil trial against D. D was convicted by a jury. D appealed. D claims it was inadmissible in that he did not have similar motives to develop direct, cross-examination, and redirect testimony at the two proceedings as the burden of proof was different.