United States v. Victor Edwards ( 2023 )

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 22-1033
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United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Victor Devon Edwards
Defendant - Appellant
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the District of Minnesota
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Submitted: October 21, 2022
Filed: April 25, 2023
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Before LOKEN, GRUENDER, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges.
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GRASZ, Circuit Judge.
A jury convicted Victor Devon Edwards of rioting, 18 U.S.C. § 2101(a), and
aiding and abetting arson, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 844(i), for his participation in civil
unrest in downtown Minneapolis. The district court 1 sentenced Edwards to
1
The Honorable Joan N. Ericksen, United States District Judge for the District
of Minnesota, presided over the trial. The case was thereafter reassigned to the
concurrent sentences of 60 months of imprisonment for rioting and 100 months of
imprisonment for aiding and abetting arson, followed by two years of supervised
release. Edwards appeals, challenging the admission of certain surveillance video
and the substantive reasonableness of the sentence. We affirm.
I. Background
On the night of August 26, 2020, rumors spread that police officers had killed
a homicide suspect in downtown Minneapolis. In reality, the suspect took his own
life. Before the police could release video showing that officers had not killed the
suspect, crowds gathered in downtown Minneapolis. Despite efforts to calm the
crowd and correct the rumor, the crowd became more agitated and destructive.
Looting ensued and multiple buildings were set on fire in the course of the riot,
including the headquarters for Target Corporation and a bar known as Brit’s Pub.
In the aftermath of these events, authorities obtained evidence that Edwards
participated in the riot. Edwards appeared several times on surveillance recordings,
most importantly showing Edwards unlawfully entering the Target headquarters
building. While in the Target mailroom a companion of Edwards, Shador Jackson,
started a fire. Video from the Target mailroom also shows another “shadowy
figure,” near the fire, pouring an accelerant onto the fire. Exterior surveillance video
then shows Edwards and Jackson leaving Target and entering Brit’s Pub, where a
second fire began minutes after Edwards’s entrance. At issue is the admission of
surveillance video capturing Edwards entering Brit’s Pub and the subsequent fire.
Authorities also obtained data from Edwards’s cell phone and social media
that provided other information about his activity in downtown Minneapolis that
night. This included videos of Edwards outside of damaged retail stores and
Honorable Patrick J. Schiltz, now Chief Judge, United States District Court for the
District of Minnesota, who imposed Edwards’s sentence.
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displaying a large amount of cash. Text messages from Edwards’s phone indicated
he intended to engage in looting.
Authorities arrested and charged Edwards with rioting in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 2101(a) and aiding and abetting arson of the Target building in violation of
18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 844(i).2 The district court sentenced Edwards to 100 months of
imprisonment.
II. Analysis
Edwards appeals, challenging the admission of surveillance video showing
the Brit’s Pub fire and arguing his sentence is substantively unreasonable. We
consider each argument in turn.
A. Evidentiary Challenge
We first consider Edwards’s evidentiary challenge, which we review under an
abuse of discretion standard. United States v. Willins, 992 F.3d 723, 726 (8th Cir.
2021). Edwards argues the district court abused its discretion in overruling his
objection to the admission of the Brit’s Pub video because the district court “fail[ed]
to conduct the required balancing test” and erred in admitting the evidence because
the “footage was unfairly prejudicial and misleading, confused the issues, and was
unduly cumulative.” Edwards specifically argues admitting the video of the Brit’s
Pub fire “was highly unfairly prejudicial, confusing, and misleading because the jury
likely would believe it supported the arson charge [at Target’s headquarters]” when
the video was admitted only as evidence of riotous behavior.
Under Rule 403, a “court may exclude relevant evidence if its probative value
is substantially outweighed by a danger of . . . unfair prejudice, confusing the issues,
2
Authorities also arrested Jackson and charged him with conspiracy to commit
arson under 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 844(i). Jackson pled guilty, and the district court
sentenced him to 33 months of imprisonment.
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misleading the jury, undue delay, wasting time, or needlessly presenting cumulative
evidence.” Fed. R. Evid. 403. We grant “great deference . . . [to] the district court’s
balancing of the probative value and prejudicial impact of the evidence.” United
States v. Ruiz, 412 F.3d 871, 881 (8th Cir. 2005).
Here, the district court decided the challenged surveillance video was not so
unfairly prejudicial, misleading, or confusing so as to substantially outweigh its
probative value. The district court found the video probative on grounds that
Edwards’s entire course of conduct throughout the night was relevant to determine
if he engaged in riotous behavior. The fact that the video involved an act of arson
did not diminish the video’s probative value to prove riotous conduct. Riotous
conduct includes acts of violence that result in damage to property. See 18 U.S.C.
§ 2102(a). Setting fire to a building falls safely within the type of conduct prohibited
by the statute. Further, the district court reasoned that any unfair prejudicial effect
would be mitigated with a limiting instruction prohibiting the jury from considering
the Brit’s Pub video as evidence that Edwards helped commit arson at the Target
headquarters.
The district court’s explanation belies Edwards’s contention that the district
court neglected to conduct the balancing test required by Rule 403. It also convinces
us the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the challenged video.
While the evidence may have contributed to Edwards’s conviction, “Rule 403
prohibits evidence that is unfairly prejudicial, not any evidence detrimental to a
defendant’s case.” United States v. Fechner, 952 F.3d 954, 958 (8th Cir. 2020). We
agree with the district court’s assessment that video surveillance images were
probative as to whether Edwards engaged in riotous behavior in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 2101(a). And in light of the limiting instruction,3 any danger of unfair
prejudice or confusion that could result from admission of the video was diminished
and did not substantially outweigh its probative value.
3
At trial Edwards requested the limiting instruction and conceded the limiting
instruction given was satisfactory.
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B. Sentencing
We next consider Edwards’s request to vacate the judgment and remand for
resentencing because the district court failed to respond to all his mitigation
arguments and imposed a substantively unreasonable sentence. We decline to do so.
We have long held a district court is not required to address every argument
for mitigation brought by defense counsel. United States v. Struzik, 572 F.3d 484,
487 (8th Cir. 2009). Instead, the district court must simply provide enough of an
explanation to convince us it has considered the arguments the parties advanced and
has a “reasoned basis” for making its decision. Id. Here, the district court provided
extensive reasoning, much of which expressly addressed Edwards’s mitigation
arguments. This explanation is sufficient to satisfy us that the district court
considered Edwards’s arguments and had a reasoned basis for imposing the
100-month sentence. As to his claim the sentence is substantively unreasonable,
Edwards has not articulated any reason for us to reach such a conclusion in light of
the presumption of reasonableness that attaches to the bottom-of-the-Guidelines
sentence. See United States v. Ruiz-Salazar, 785 F.3d 1270, 1272 (8th Cir. 2015).
As the district court explained, “[Edwards] was risking the lives of hundreds or even
thousands of people for no discernible purpose.” Considering this and Edwards’s
mitigating factors, the district court found “a sentence of 100 months is sufficient,
but not greater than necessary, to accomplish the goals of [18 U.S.C. §] 3553(a).”
We discern no error in this determination.
III. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s judgment.
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