A Ho is a Hoe is a Ho
From an actual decision issued by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Check out the highlighted footnote at the bottom.
In the United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
____________
Nos. 04-2032, 04-2293 & 04-2309
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant,
v.
DARRON J. MURPHY, SR.,
Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Appellee,
and
JENNIFER BAKER,
Defendant, Cross-Appellee.
____________
Appeals from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Illinois.
No. 03 CR 30137—G. Patrick Murphy, Chief Judge.
____________
ARGUED JANUARY 13, 2005—DECIDED MAY 4, 2005
____________
Before ROVNER, EVANS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
EVANS, Circuit Judge.
A jury found Darron Murphy, Sr. guilty on an indictment charging five counts: tampering with a witness who was going to testify against his son (Darron Murphy, Jr.); using a firearm while doing the tampering; being a felon in possession of a firearm; and two counts involving crack cocaine. The same jury also found Jennifer Baker, young Murphy’s girlfriend, guilty of aiding and abetting Murphy, Sr. on the two counts related to witness tampering and one of the drug charges. After the jury spoke, the trial judge, G. Patrick Murphy (there may be too many Murphys in this case), granted Baker’s motion for a judgment of acquittal on the two counts relating to tampering. Murphy, Sr.’s motions for judgments of acquittal were denied and he now appeals, arguing that his conviction on the jury tampering charge was tainted by a faulty jury instruction. If successful on the challenge, the related tampering charge involving the use of a firearm must also be set aside. The government appeals Judge Murphy’s decision to grant post-verdict relief to Baker.
We begin with the facts. Pamela Hayden agreed to become an informant for local law enforcement after being arrested on drug charges. In December of 2002, she made two controlled purchases of crack cocaine from Darron Murphy, Jr., which led to his arrest.
On the evening of May 29, 2003, Hayden was smoking crack with three other folks at a trailer park home on Chain of Rocks Road in Granite City, Illinois. Murphy, Sr., who had sold drugs to Hayden several years earlier, showed up later that night. He was friendly at first, but he soon called Hayden a “snitch @#%$ hoe”(FN1) and hit her in the head with the back of his hand. He said he saw her name in discovery materials from his son’s criminal case and that she was...
FN1: The trial transcript quotes Ms. Hayden as saying Murphy called her a snitch @#%$ “hoe.” A “hoe,” of course, is a tool used for weeding and gardening. We think the court reporter, unfamiliar with rap music (perhaps thankfully so), misunderstood Hayden’s response. We have taken the liberty of changing “hoe” to “ho,” a staple of rap music vernacular as, for example, when Ludacris raps “You doin’ ho activities with ho tendencies.”
In the United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
____________
Nos. 04-2032, 04-2293 & 04-2309
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant,
v.
DARRON J. MURPHY, SR.,
Defendant-Appellant, Cross-Appellee,
and
JENNIFER BAKER,
Defendant, Cross-Appellee.
____________
Appeals from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Illinois.
No. 03 CR 30137—G. Patrick Murphy, Chief Judge.
____________
ARGUED JANUARY 13, 2005—DECIDED MAY 4, 2005
____________
Before ROVNER, EVANS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
EVANS, Circuit Judge.
A jury found Darron Murphy, Sr. guilty on an indictment charging five counts: tampering with a witness who was going to testify against his son (Darron Murphy, Jr.); using a firearm while doing the tampering; being a felon in possession of a firearm; and two counts involving crack cocaine. The same jury also found Jennifer Baker, young Murphy’s girlfriend, guilty of aiding and abetting Murphy, Sr. on the two counts related to witness tampering and one of the drug charges. After the jury spoke, the trial judge, G. Patrick Murphy (there may be too many Murphys in this case), granted Baker’s motion for a judgment of acquittal on the two counts relating to tampering. Murphy, Sr.’s motions for judgments of acquittal were denied and he now appeals, arguing that his conviction on the jury tampering charge was tainted by a faulty jury instruction. If successful on the challenge, the related tampering charge involving the use of a firearm must also be set aside. The government appeals Judge Murphy’s decision to grant post-verdict relief to Baker.
We begin with the facts. Pamela Hayden agreed to become an informant for local law enforcement after being arrested on drug charges. In December of 2002, she made two controlled purchases of crack cocaine from Darron Murphy, Jr., which led to his arrest.
On the evening of May 29, 2003, Hayden was smoking crack with three other folks at a trailer park home on Chain of Rocks Road in Granite City, Illinois. Murphy, Sr., who had sold drugs to Hayden several years earlier, showed up later that night. He was friendly at first, but he soon called Hayden a “snitch @#%$ hoe”(FN1) and hit her in the head with the back of his hand. He said he saw her name in discovery materials from his son’s criminal case and that she was...
FN1: The trial transcript quotes Ms. Hayden as saying Murphy called her a snitch @#%$ “hoe.” A “hoe,” of course, is a tool used for weeding and gardening. We think the court reporter, unfamiliar with rap music (perhaps thankfully so), misunderstood Hayden’s response. We have taken the liberty of changing “hoe” to “ho,” a staple of rap music vernacular as, for example, when Ludacris raps “You doin’ ho activities with ho tendencies.”
posted by Miss_Vicki at 8:05 AM
|
<< Home