United States v. Jonassen, No. 13-1410 (7th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseJonassen kidnapped his 21-year-old daughter from her Missouri home and took her to an Indiana motel, where he held her against her will and sexually assaulted her. On the third day, she escaped and ran naked from the motel, rope still tied around her leg, screaming for help. Jonassen chased her through the street, into a liquor store, and after a violent struggle, recaptured her. Police arrested him in the parking lot. Jonassen began efforts to get his daughter to recant. She did not recant, but the intimidation made her unavailable as a witness. Although she had cooperated throughout the pretrial period, when called to testify at trial, she failed to respond to the prosecutor’s questions. The court admitted her statements to police under Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6), which allows admission of hearsay against a party who wrongfully procures a witness’s unavailability. Jonassen was convicted of kidnapping, 18 U.S.C. 1201(a), and obstruction of justice, 18 U.S.C. 1512(b). The Seventh Circuit affirmed, upholding the court’s refusal to conduct a competency hearing under 18 U.S.C. 4241, despite Jonassen’s “bizarre” assertions of “sovereign citizenship.” The government laid an ample foundation for admission of the hearsay statements; the evidence established that Jonassen used bribery, guilt, and psychological intimidation to procure his daughter’s unavailability. Jonassen did not request Jencks Act material before the close of trial, so his claim for relief under the Act failed.
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