United States v. James Chapman , 692 F. App'x 583 ( 2017 )


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  •               Case: 15-15686     Date Filed: 05/23/2017   Page: 1 of 5
    [DO NOT PUBLISH]
    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
    ________________________
    No. 15-15686
    ________________________
    D.C. Docket No. 4:11-cr-00022-HLM-WEJ-5
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    versus
    JAMES CHAPMAN,
    Defendant-Appellant.
    ________________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Northern District of Georgia
    ________________________
    (May 23, 2017)
    Before MARTIN, JILL PRYOR, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM:
    James Chapman appeals his convictions for conspiracy to distribute and
    dispense Oxycodone, Hydrocodone with Acetaminophen (Lorcet), and Alprazolam
    (Xanax) for other than a legitimate medical purpose and not in the usual course of
    professional practice, in violation of 
    21 U.S.C. §§ 846
     and 841, and for 48 specific
    prescribing acts of the same substances for other than a legitimate medical purpose
    Case: 15-15686        Date Filed: 05/23/2017       Page: 2 of 5
    and not in the usual course of professional practice. Chapman raises five
    arguments on appeal; we address them serially.
    Chapman argues that the district court committed reversible error when it
    instructed the jury that Bartow County and Cartersville were located in the
    Northern District of Georgia. It further instructed that the jury was free to
    disregard “the Court’s declaration of evidence.” He asserts that the instruction
    invaded the province of the jury and eliminated the element of venue, which
    deprived him of due process.
    We have stated that a judge may not decide a disputed fact and instruct a
    verdict in whole or in part. United States v. Goetz, 
    746 F.2d 705
    , 708 (11th Cir.
    1984) (citing Roe v. United States, 
    287 F.2d 435
    , 440 (5th Cir. 1961)1). However,
    we also have held that the court may take judicial notice of certain universally
    undisputed facts. Federal Rule of Evidence 201 governs judicial notice and covers
    only adjudicative facts, not legislative facts. In United States v. Bowers, 
    660 F.2d 527
     (5th Cir. Unit B Sept. 1981), 2 we employed the Eighth Circuit’s distinction
    between legislative and adjudicative facts: “Legislative facts are established truths,
    1
    In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 
    661 F.2d 1206
    , 1209 (11th Cir. 1981)(en banc), this Court
    adopted as binding precedent all of the decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down prior
    to the close of business on September 30, 1981.
    2
    In Stein v. Reynolds Securities, Inc., 
    667 F.2d 33
    , 34 (11th Cir. 1982), this circuit
    adopted as binding precedent decisions issued by Unit B of the former Fifth Circuit after
    September 30, 1981.
    2
    Case: 15-15686        Date Filed: 05/23/2017       Page: 3 of 5
    facts[,] or pronouncements that do not change from case to case but apply
    universally, while adjudicative facts are those developed in a particular case.” 
    660 F.2d at 530-31
     (quoting United States v. Gould, 
    536 F.2d 216
    , 220 (8th Cir.
    1976)). In that case, we reasoned that because Fort Benning’s status as being
    under federal jurisdiction was well established and would not change from case to
    case, it was a legislative fact appropriate for judicial notice and thus not bound by
    Rule 201’s strictures. Id. at 531. The district court in Bowers instructed the jury
    that “Fort Benning, Georgia, is on land which is property of the United States and
    is under the jurisdiction of (the) United States.” Id. at 530. We held there was no
    error, even though the district court failed to advise the jury that it was not required
    to accept as conclusive the judicially noticed fact. Id. at 530-31 (citing
    Fed.R.Evid. 201(g), renamed 201(f) in 2011).
    Under the binding authority of Bowers, the location of Bartow County and
    Cartersville within the Northern District of Georgia falls under this definition of
    legislative facts. Thus, the court’s instruction was of a legislative fact and it did
    not invade the jury’s province for two reasons. First, the court noticed a legislative
    fact, the legal status of the place where the crime was alleged to have occurred, but
    left to the jury the factual determination that the crime had occurred there. 3 See
    3
    That this was a matter of law is especially true in the case of the notice that Bartow
    County fell in the Northern District of Georgia because that is found in 
    28 U.S.C. § 90
    (a)(3): “(a)
    The Northern District comprises four divisions. . . (3) The Rome Division comprises the
    3
    Case: 15-15686       Date Filed: 05/23/2017     Page: 4 of 5
    United States v. Hernandez-Fundara, 
    58 F.3d 802
    , 810 (2d Cir. 1995). Thus, the
    court did not take from the jury the determination that the crime took place in the
    Northern District. Second, although it was not required to abide by the constraints
    of Fed.R.Evid. 201(f) because it noticed legislative facts, the district court included
    in its instruction to the jury that section’s limitation on judicial notice in a criminal
    case: “[i]n a criminal case, the court must instruct the jury that it may or may not
    accept the noticed fact as conclusive.” Fed.R.Evid. 201(f). Other circuits have
    held that the inclusion of this nonconclusive language ensures that the court has not
    improperly removed an element from the jury, in the context of adjudicative facts.
    See United States v. Bello, 
    194 F.3d 18
    , 25-26 (1st Cir. 1999); United States v.
    Jones, 
    580 F.2d 219
    , 223-34 (6th Cir. 1978). We therefore reject Chapman’s
    argument that the court’s instruction violated his right to due process.
    Next, Chapman argues that the Government did not prove that he was aware
    of the illegal conspiracy and failed to prove that he willfully joined it. Although
    Chapman challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, we conclude that his
    challenge is wholly without merit. The Government’s evidence, if not
    overwhelming, was extremely strong and more than ample to support the verdict.
    Similarly, Chapman’s challenge to the district court’s admission of co-conspirator
    counties of Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker,
    and Whitfield.”
    4
    Case: 15-15686     Date Filed: 05/23/2017   Page: 5 of 5
    statements is wholly without merit. Again, there was ample evidence—completely
    aside from the co-conspirator statements themselves—to establish that Chapman
    was aware of and joined the conspiracy and that the co-conspirator statements were
    made in furtherance of the conspiracy. Chapman’s challenge to the district court’s
    failure to hold a Franks v. Delaware hearing is foreclosed by our recent decision in
    United States v. Votrobek, 
    847 F.3d 1335
    , 1342-44 (11th Cir. 2017). Finally, we
    cannot conclude that the district court abused its discretion in admitting evidence
    concerning Chapman’s alcohol use.
    AFFIRMED.
    5