Dominic A. White v. United States
Dominic A. White v. United States
Opinion
Appellant Dominic A. White challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions for insurance fraud, conspiracy, and aggravated assault while armed ("AAWA"). He also argues that the trial judge committed reversible error in responding to a question from the jury. Once again, this court must grapple with the question of what constitutes a "serious bodily injury," an element of proof required to convict a defendant of AAWA. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for resentencing.
I. Background
A. The Insurance Scheme
Phanessa Haynes filed a claim with State Farm Insurance on October 15, 2014, reporting that somebody had stolen the rims and tires from her Volkswagen Passat. She included a photograph of her car and two receipts totaling $ 5,342.04, purportedly documenting her purchase of those rims and tires. Haynes declined State Farm's offer to replace the missing items, instead insisting that the insurance company reimburse her. Haynes hired WTF Towing to take her Volkswagen to a lot, and State Farm provided her with a temporary rental car.
State Farm's fraud investigation unit began reviewing Haynes's claim on October 20. Many warning signs of fraud emerged, according to Laura Gladding, the company's claims specialist who reviewed the matter. These included the recent purchase of the policy, the customer's eagerness to settle the claim, and a discrepancy between the addresses on the tire merchant's website and the receipts. Additionally, the insurance company obtained the police report filed by Haynes, in which she estimated the value of the stolen items as only about $ 1,400.
Gladding conducted two phone interviews on October 27: one with Haynes and another with a person whom Haynes said was her brother "Dominic." The man on the latter call, who used appellant's phone number, identified himself to Gladding as "Damon Whittaker." This man reported that the missing rims and tires had been installed by somebody named "Jay" rather than a person nicknamed "D. Money," as Haynes had stated. Gladding asked him for the contact information for "Jay" but never received it. During a call on October 30, Gladding told Haynes that State Farm would not process her claim unless she spoke under oath with a company attorney. Gladding added that the company would only pay for the car's storage at the towing lot for a few more days.
B. The Attack at the Towing Lot
Haynes arrived at WTF Towing's lot to pick up her car at about 5:00 p.m. on November 4 and saw Philip Lovell installing tires and rims on her Volkswagen. Haynes expressed her anger with Lovell about a scratch on the car as well as the "raggedy rims" that he had installed. Soon, a quarrel erupted and both parties exchanged derogatory words. Haynes, who was holding a cell phone on speakerphone, said into the phone, "I'm here now." Haynes then told Lovell, "You gonna make me call my boyfriend on you." After she demanded that Lovell "hurry up" with the installation, he responded, "Why don't you call your punk boyfriend and ... tell him to come fix it." Haynes said to somebody on her phone that "[t]hey're playing games with me" and that "he called you out."
Eventually, Lovell walked away from Haynes and toward the area where tires were stored. Moments later, appellant arrived at the towing lot. Haynes pointed to Lovell and told appellant, "That's him." Next, an onlooker screamed, "Watch out!" and Lovell turned around to see appellant swinging a metal pole at his head. The pole - an aluminum handle used to operate a car jack - struck the head of Lovell, who fell to the ground and covered his head and face. The assailant then struck Lovell a second time, this time on the back of his head. One witness, Deneil Bettis, remembered Lovell screaming, "He's trying to kill me!" Bettis and another bystander approached appellant with pocketknives, prompting White to flee the towing lot in his car. Witnesses and police officers who arrived described Lovell as "disoriented," "crying hard," and unable to stand up without help. One police officer recalled that Lovell "appeared to be in a lot of pain" because "there was a lot of blood."
Lovell remained conscious and recalled that he did not feel any pain at the time due to the effects of adrenalin. An ambulance arrived, but he repeatedly resisted going to the hospital due to perceived costs. A co-worker and a police officer eventually convinced Lovell to get in the ambulance despite his concern about medical bills. Lovell then momentarily left the ambulance to lock his vehicle before going to the hospital.
When a bloodied Lovell arrived at Howard University Hospital's emergency room, he reported his pain level as a "ten," the maximum level. Hospital staff performed a CT scan of his head, which showed no acute brain injuries. Dr. Adrienne Wilson, who treated Lovell, said that he had suffered two "superficial" scalp lacerations that measured roughly four centimeters in length, one each on the front and back of his head. According to Dr. Wilson, Lovell was not actively bleeding and did not experience vomiting or nausea. Lovell was given Tylenol No. 3, which contains codeine, to help with his pain. After the physicians cleaned Lovell's two head wounds, they closed the lacerations with eighteen staples. The hospital discharged Lovell the same night at 12:50 a.m., roughly six hours and forty minutes after he entered the emergency room. Dr. Wilson wrote Lovell a prescription for ten tablets of Tylenol No. 3 and twenty tablets of Motrin.
For a month or two after being released, Lovell suffered daily migraines. He also experienced occasional nausea and sometimes vomited. Lovell returned to work within a week of the attack but incurred a migraine while driving a tow truck and was assigned to office work for about a month. His primary care physician referred him to Dr. Jenny Lin, a neurologist, who examined him about three-and-a-half months after the attack. Lovell told Dr. Lin that he had experienced some light-headedness and a "persistence of daily headache," which he described as "throbbing pain." He reported that he was taking ibuprofen, which did not adequately alleviate his head pain. Lovell performed well on all the tests administered by Dr. Lin, who determined that Lovell "possibly" suffered from "posttraumatic headache." She recommended that he receive a brain MRI and return for a follow-up evaluation, but there is no evidence that he did either. To help Lovell with his headaches, Dr. Lin prescribed an antidepressant for "chronic headache" but no other medications. At the time of the trial more than two years after the attack, Lovell estimated that he suffered migraines about once every two months.
C. The Proceedings
Haynes was charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and solicitation of a violent crime. A jury convicted her of the two insurance-related charges only, and she did not appeal. White was charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, aggravated assault while armed with "a pole," assault with a dangerous weapon ("that is, a pole"), and possession of a prohibited weapon ("a pole"). A jury convicted him on all five counts. The trial court sentenced appellant to one year of incarceration for each of the two insurance charges, to run concurrently; eight years' incarceration for AAWA and four years' incarceration for assault with a dangerous weapon ("ADW"), to run concurrently to each other and consecutive to the insurance counts; and one year of incarceration for possession of a prohibited weapon, to run concurrently.
II. Analysis
A. Did the Trial Judge Erroneously Instruct the Jury?
Appellant first contends that the trial judge improperly responded to a note sent by the jury during deliberations. We review the trial judge's answer to the jury for abuse of discretion.
See
Cheeks v. United States
,
Regarding the counts of ADW,
see
Whether the pole in evidence was the exact weapon used by appellant is not beyond question. 2 Deneil Bettis recalled that White dropped the pole that he used after hitting Lovell. Two laborers on the site later picked up the object and used it along with a jack to work on a car. Many of these poles, described as about two feet long and one inch thick, routinely rested on the ground at the towing lot.
When Bettis testified, he referred to a photograph of a pole found on the site to explain how the instrument worked. On cross-examination, Bettis acknowledged that he did not know if the pole in evidence was the same weapon but observed that it "look[ed] like the one." The crime scene technician said that he could not find any fingerprints on the pole in evidence because of its porous surface.
Appellant's argument, which relies on only one case, is not persuasive. His brief cites
Williamson v. United States
,
B. Was There Sufficient Evidence of Insurance Fraud?
Appellant asserts that the government presented insufficient evidence to convict him of either first-degree insurance fraud
3
or conspiracy to commit that offense.
4
When considering the sufficiency of evidence, we "view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, giving full play to the right of the fact-finder to determine credibility, weigh the evidence, and draw justifiable inferences of fact, and making no distinction between direct and circumstantial evidence."
Cherry v. District of Columbia
,
Appellant acknowledges there was "overwhelming evidence" of co-defendant Haynes's guilt but argues that he was an "unwitting sidekick." But a rational fact-finder could have found otherwise. For instance, text messages and emails between the two defendants provided sufficient evidence from which a juror could have justifiably inferred appellant's culpability. On the night of October 13, four days before Haynes submitted a doctored receipt to State Farm, appellant texted her that he planned to "get on the computer and put these receipts together." About two hours later appellant texted Haynes, "The one on the right is the one I fixed up," attaching an image of two receipts that was presented at trial. The jury heard other evidence of appellant's participation in the scheme, including Laura Gladding's call with a man using appellant's phone number. With the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the government, this claim is without merit.
C. Was There Sufficient Evidence of AAWA?
Appellant also argues that the government presented insufficient evidence to convict him of AAWA. We agree.
By statute, three tiers of assault exist in the District of Columbia. A conviction for simple assault, which may, but need not, cause injury, carries a maximum sentence of 180 days.
By creating an intermediate felony assault offense, the Council intended to "fill the gap between aggravated assault and simple assault," covering assaults that resulted in "significant (but not grave) bodily injury."
Perry v. United States
,
Two decades ago, this court defined "serious bodily injury" as "bodily injury that involves a substantial risk of death, unconsciousness, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ or mental faculty."
Nixon v. United States
,
Appellant argues that the government failed to prove that Lovell suffered extreme physical pain. This level of pain must be "exceptionally severe if not unbearable," which a juror can infer "from the nature of the injuries and the victim's reaction to them."
Hollis
,
In re P.F.
,
One case to which these facts are analogous is
Jackson v. United States
,
At oral argument, government counsel argued that Lovell's pain "far exceeds what this court found sufficient" in
Jenkins v. United States
,
In
Bolanos
, one of three stabbing victims testified that he thought he "was going to die."
5
See
In Lovell's case, he more than once resisted going to the hospital and, after getting in an ambulance, was able to walk away to lock his car. In determining that a victim did not suffer extreme physical pain, this court has "relied heavily" on the ability of a victim to walk away with or without assistance.
See
Jackson
, 940 A.2d at 991 (victim walked three blocks and called 911 from a pay phone);
see also
In re P.F.
,
Moreover, pain that allows victims to "pursue[ ] their normal lives" does not rise to the standard of "extreme."
Alfaro v. United States
,
Appellant also disputes that Lovell suffered a "protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ or mental faculty." Lovell's migraines could fit the definition of "protracted," which "conveys a sense of prolongation beyond a short recovery period."
Swinton
,
Lovell unquestionably suffered a severe beating and experienced pain and discomfort immediately after the attack and in the weeks following it - but the record is insufficient to demonstrate that he suffered serious bodily injury under the standards established in our case law.
D. Was There Sufficient Evidence for an ASBI Conviction?
Although we reverse appellant's conviction for AAWA, the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction of the lesser-included offense of ASBI while armed. 7 A bodily injury is "significant" for the purpose of ASBI if it "requires hospitalization or immediate medical attention."
In
Nero v. United States
,
To determine whether treatment is "medical," we ask whether the attention required by this type of injury is "aimed at preventing long-term physical damage and other potentially permanent injuries" or abating severe pain.
Quintanilla
,
When assessing the need for medical treatment, we have recognized that "not every blow to the head in the course of an assault necessarily constitutes significant bodily injury."
Blair v. United States
,
Here, Dr. Wilson testified that a CT scan of Lovell's head was ordered to "assess his skull and brain for any signs of internal injury," such as a fracture or intracranial bleeding. Medical professionals cleaned the lacerations to Lovell's head, injected the wounded areas with an anesthetic, and used eighteen staples to close the cuts. Dr. Wilson testified that the type of injuries suffered by Lovell presented the risk of future infection, poor healing, and re-bleeding. "The best medical care" for his injuries, according to Dr. Wilson, was to have the wounds closed within twenty-four hours of the attack, after which the chance of infection would have increased. There would have been a "[h]ighly unlikely but possible" chance of death, she testified, if Lovell's scalp wounds had become infected and those infections had spread to his brain.
Based on our case law, a jury reasonably could conclude that Lovell's injuries required immediate medical attention to prevent long-term physical damage or other potentially permanent injuries to his head. As in Nero , a physician testified that the types of wounds would have carried a higher risk of infection had the patient not received prompt medical attention. Unlike in Teneyck , medical testimony emphasized the importance of treatment within twenty-four hours of the injury. The treatment for the type of lacerations incurred by Lovell, including staples and wound-cleaning, and a CT scan to test for brain injuries, required the skill of trained medical professionals. The medical attention needed for this type of injury was similar to that in cases like Belt and Cheeks rather than the "mere diagnosis" and minor remedies in Quintanilla . Therefore, appellant's sufficiency challenge to an ASBI while armed conviction lacks merit.
III. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we vacate appellant's conviction of AAWA but direct the entry of judgment for the lesser-included offense of ASBI while armed. We also affirm appellant's convictions for insurance fraud, conspiracy, ADW, and possession of a prohibited weapon. However, ADW is a lesser-included offense of ASBI while armed,
see
Cheeks
,
So ordered.
For these two counts as well as the AAWA charge, the indictment identified the weapon as a pole. The AAWA jury instruction explicitly stated that the government was required to prove that the defendant was armed with "a dangerous weapon, that is, a pole." However, the jury instructions for ADW and possession of a prohibited weapon, which were derived from model instructions, omitted any reference to the pole. For ADW, the government must prove that the defendant committed the act "with a dangerous weapon," which is defined as any object "designed to be used, actually used, or threatened to be used[ ] in a manner likely to produce death or serious bodily injury."
See
Criminal Jury Instructions for the District of Columbia No. 4.101 (5th ed. rev. 2016). For possession of a prohibited weapon, the trial judge said the government must prove that the defendant "possessed a dangerous weapon" and "intended to use it unlawfully against another."
See
In closing argument, government counsel alternated between referring to "a" pole and "this" pole. At one point, she said: "Ladies and gentlemen, when you take this metal pole and strike it twice on someone's head, you have to know that it could cause serious bodily injury."
This description refers to the injuries suffered by Jose Mejia, whose assailant's AAWA conviction was affirmed. The court in
Bolanos
reversed AAWA convictions related to attacks on two other individuals.
See
The government urges us to incorporate case law from other jurisdictions that migraines constitute a protracted loss to a brain's function. Perhaps some migraines could meet this standard, but the precedents cited are not persuasive authority given the facts of this case.
See, e.g.
,
State v. Epps
,
"It is well-established that this court 'may direct [or allow] the entry of judgment for a lesser included offense when a conviction for a greater offense is reversed on grounds that affect only the greater offense.' "
Long v. United States
,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.