United States v. Sims

11 F.4th 315

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff—Appellee,

v.Jaimian Rashaad SIMS, Defendant—Appellant.

No. 19-20833

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

FILED August 24, 2021

Audrey Lynn Maness, Carmen Castillo Mitchell, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas, Houston, TX, for Plaintiff—Appellee.

Yolanda Evette Jarmon, Esq., Law Office of Yolanda Jarmon, Houston, TX, for Defendant—Appellant.

Davis, Haynes, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.

W. Eugene Davis, Circuit Judge:

A jury found Defendant, Jaimian Sims, guilty of sex trafficking a minor and conspiracy to sex traffic a minor. The district court imposed a life sentence. Sims appeals his conviction arguing that the evidence was insufficient to convict, and that certain rap videos were improperly admitted into evidence and shown to the jury. He also appeals his sentence arguing that he should not have received an enhancement based on his leadership role in the crime. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM.

I. BACKGROUND

Sims was a Houston-based rap artist (known as "Sauce Lean") and pimp who associated with a group who called themselves "The Sauce Factory" (TSF). TSF members were allowed to use a large house called "the Mansion" which was owned by one of the top TSF members known as "Sauce Walka." At some point between 2016 and 2017, Sims linked up with co-defendant Gary Shawn Haynes, Jr., who was a college football player. Haynes knew Sims was a pimp and wanted an opportunity to join that lifestyle.

To get Haynes started, Sims instructed his girlfriend and co-defendant, Tabbetha Mangis, to find Haynes a "white girl" to work as a prostitute for Haynes. Mangis reached out to the 17-year-old minor victim, who throughout proceedings has been referred to as Jane Doe. Mangis knew Jane Doe as a friend of Mangis's younger sister, and she knew that Jane Doe was 17 years old. Several text messages were exchanged between Jane Doe, Mangis, and Haynes, which resulted in Jane Doe agreeing to work as a prostitute for Haynes. Haynes also knew that Jane Doe was underage. Haynes picked up Jane Doe and brought her back to the Mansion where Jane Doe was taught the rules of prostituting.

Shortly after her arrival at the Mansion, Haynes brought Jane Doe to the Express Inn motel where he provided Jane Doe fraudulent identification to obtain a room. Meanwhile, Sims had previously checked in to the Express Inn to oversee his own prostitutes. After Jane Doe's initial check-in, she was relocated to a room in the Express Inn occupied by one of Sims's prostitutes, referred to as Janet Doe. Janet Doe was instructed by Sims to teach Jane Doe how to make money—"help her," make her "comfortable," and "help her post ads."

Jane Doe then engaged in commercial sex for three days in which all money she earned from these activities was paid to Haynes. After the three days, on November 23, 2017, Jane Doe called the police and asked them to arrest her so that she could escape. The police arrived and recovered Jane Doe, and Sims and several prostitutes at the hotel were arrested.

Sims was charged in a three-count superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors (Count 1), sex trafficking of minors (Count 2), and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion (Count 3). The case went to trial where a jury found Sims guilty of Counts 1 and 2 but not guilty of Count 3.

During pretrial proceedings, Sims filed a motion in limine requesting that the Government not mention song lyrics in any audio or video recording from his rap songs and associated TSF acts. The district court decided to admit some videos but reserved final determination for trial. At trial, Sims objected to admission of the videos, but his objections were overruled and the videos, which graphically depicted and glorified guns, drugs, prostitution, pimping, and misogyny, were admitted and shown to the jury.

Upon sentencing, the PSR recommended an advisory guidelines range of life imprisonment. Sims received a four-level adjustment in his offense level for being an organizer of criminal activity that involved five or more participants. Sims objected to this increase, but the objection was overruled. The district court sentenced Sims to life imprisonment with five years of supervised release. Sims timely appealed.

II. DISCUSSION

Sims argues that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for sex trafficking of a minor because the Government failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he sex trafficked a minor or aided anyone else in doing so. He contends that Haynes and Mangis orchestrated the sex trafficking of Jane Doe and that the Government did not prove that he knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that Jane Doe was under the age of 18 or that he had a reasonable opportunity to observe Jane Doe. He also contends that the evidence was insufficient to show beyond a reasonable doubt that he benefitted or received anything of value from the sex trafficking of a minor, nor did it show that he aided or abetted anyone in doing so. Similar arguments are made regarding the conspiracy conviction. Sims also challenges the admission of the rap videos at trial.

A. Standard of Review

When, as in this case, a defendant properly preserves the issue of evidentiary sufficiency,¹ this Court affirms the conviction "if, after viewing all the evidence and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt."² We consider "whether the inferences drawn by a jury were rational, as opposed to being speculative or insupportable, and whether evidence is sufficient to establish every element of the crime."³

B. The Substantive Conviction

To convict a defendant of sex trafficking a minor requires the government to establish that the defendant (1) "recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, advertises, maintains, patronizes, or solicits by any means a person; or ... benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value" from the above described venture, and (2) knowledge that the person has not attained the age of 18 years.⁴ The knowledge or mens rea requirement can be met in one of three ways: (1) actual knowledge; (2) reckless disregard of the minor's age; or (3) a defendant's reasonable opportunity to observe the minor.⁵ The third option regarding observation of the victim has been characterized by this Court as a strict liability option for the Government.⁶

To prove that there was a conspiracy to sex traffic a minor, the Government must additionally show "beyond a reasonable doubt that an agreement existed to violate the law and each conspirator knew of, intended to join, and voluntarily participated in the conspiracy."⁷ The agreement may be tacit rather than explicit, "may be established solely by circumstantial evidence[,] and may be inferred from concert of action."⁸

In this case, the jury was presented with sufficient evidence to conclude that Sims had a reasonable opportunity to observe Jane Doe. First, Janet Doe testified that Sims and Haynes together introduced her to Jane Doe at the hotel. Although Jane Doe testified that only Haynes introduced her to Janet, the jury was allowed to weigh and assess credibility on this conflicting testimony. If the jury credited Janet Doe, an introduction where Sims was present supports a finding that Sims had ample time to observe Jane Doe.

Second, Jane Doe testified that she saw Sims at the Express Inn, once while he was outside going up to the second floor, and once when Sims came into Jane Doe and Janet Doe's room. When Sims came into the room, Jane Doe saw him briefly and then she went back to the bathroom and mirror area of the room while Sims spoke with Janet Doe. The jury could reasonably infer that if Jane Doe saw Sims while he was traversing the motel, then Sims likely also saw Jane Doe. More importantly, however, the jury was able to see photos of Jane and Janet Doe's small room in the motel and conclude that Sims had a reasonable opportunity to observe Jane Doe when he came into the room.

Additional circumstantial evidence was presented that could have aided the jury in determining that Sims recklessly disregarded Jane Doe's age. Jane Doe testified that upon her arrival with Haynes at the motel, Haynes went "upstairs" at the motel to obtain a fraudulent I.D. for Jane Doe so she could rent a room.⁹ Testimony revealed that Sims had a room on the second floor. Furthermore, Janet Doe testified that she had previously found an I.D. from her friend, Monica, in her room, and she gave the I.D. to Sims. She later saw that Jane Doe was using that I.D. The jury was entitled to infer from this circumstantial evidence that Sims was providing fraudulent identification for Haynes to give to a minor (Jane Doe) so she could rent a room.¹⁰

With respect to Sims's argument that the evidence was insufficient to show beyond a reasonable doubt that he benefitted from or received anything of value from sex trafficking a minor or that he aided or abetted anyone in doing so, the Government need not show this benefit element if it alternatively proves that the defendant "recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, advertises, maintains, patronizes, or solicits" a person under the age of 18, knowing the person will be caused to engage in a sex act.¹¹ The evidence supports a finding that Sims recruited Jane Doe by directing Mangis to get Haynes a "white girl" to work as a prostitute. His direction to Janet Doe to have Jane Doe stay with her at the motel to help her feel more comfortable so she would make money through prostitution also supports this conclusion that Sims participated in enticing her into prostitution.

The evidence also supports the conspiracy conviction. Sims knew about the criminal conduct and voluntarily participated in it when he agreed to find Haynes a girl to pimp, directed Mangis to do...