United States v. Taloa Latu

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 19-10069 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v. 1:17-cr-00364-

JMS-

TALOA LATU,

Defendant-Appellant.

OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii J. Michael Seabright, Chief District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted July 7, 2022 Honolulu, Hawaii

Filed August 31, 2022

Before: Kim McLane Wardlaw, Jacqueline H. Nguyen, and John B. Owens, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Nguyen SUMMARY *

Criminal Law

The panel affirmed a conviction for assault resulting in serious bodily injury, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6), in a case in which Taloa Latu, an inmate at a federal detention center, repeatedly punched and kicked inmate Joseph Yamaguchi, who suffered multiple serious injuries.

Yamaguchi did not testify, but the district court admitted his statements—that he was assaulted and that his pain level was an eight out of ten—through the testimony of a nurse and a surgeon who treated him.

Latu argued that admitting this testimony violated the rule against hearsay and the…