## Facts

- On January 1, 1990, Daniel Joe Chischilly, a Navajo man living on the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona, reported to the Sanders, Arizona fire station that a woman was injured near Querino Canyon Road.
- Chischilly led rescuers to fresh tire tracks and drag marks ending at Sheila Tso, found half-naked in snow and later pronounced dead.
- An autopsy showed severe blunt-force trauma, including cerebral contusions and fractures, along with evidence consistent with sexual assault.
- Investigators recovered sperm from the victim and from clothing; FBI DNA testing matched the sperm to Chischilly’s blood sample, with an expert presenting a random-match probability for American Indians of about 1 in 2,653.
- A federal jury convicted Chischilly of murder (18 U.S.C. §§ 1111, 1153) and aggravated sexual abuse (18 U.S.C. §§ 2241(b)(1), 1153).
- The district court imposed concurrent life sentences, including a life term on the aggravated sexual abuse count based on aggravating circumstances.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial judge was required to recuse due to prior state-court dealings with the defendant.
2. Whether the district court clearly erred in finding the defendant competent to stand trial.
3. Whether the defendant’s consent to provide a blood sample was voluntary despite his earlier request for counsel.
4. Whether the admission of DNA match results and associated population-frequency statistics was proper under the Federal Rules of Evidence.
5. Whether sufficient evidence connected the killing to the underlying sexual assault to support felony murder.
6. Whether the court erred by refusing to instruct on involuntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense.
7. Whether the life sentence for aggravated sexual abuse was a properly explained upward departure.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the convictions for murder and aggravated sexual abuse.
- The court held recusal was not required because prior judicial exposure, without an extrajudicial source of bias, did not show disqualifying prejudice.
- The court affirmed the competency finding under clear-error review, concluding the record supported that the defendant could understand the proceedings and assist counsel.
- The court held the blood-sample consent was voluntary under the totality of the circumstances because there was no evidence of coercive police conduct.
- The court upheld admission of the DNA evidence and random-match statistic, finding the methodology sufficiently reliable and the trial court’s framing reduced risk of misuse.
- The court found the evidence permitted a rational jury to conclude the killing occurred “in the course of” the sexual assault for felony-murder purposes.
- The court upheld denial of an involuntary manslaughter instruction because the evidence did not permit a rational jury to convict on the lesser offense while acquitting on murder.
- The court vacated the concurrent life sentence on the aggravated sexual abuse count and remanded for resentencing because the district court did not adequately state reasons and the extent of the upward departure.

## Legal Principles

- Recusal requires a showing that a reasonable person would question impartiality, typically grounded in an extrajudicial source or a deep-seated bias; prior judicial rulings or involvement alone are insufficient.
- Competency turns on whether the defendant has sufficient present ability to consult with counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings; appellate review is for clear error.
- Voluntariness of consent for obtaining evidence is assessed under the totality of the circumstances, and coercive police activity is a necessary predicate to finding involuntariness on due process grounds.
- DNA profiling evidence and related statistics may be admitted where the methodology is reliable and relevant; probability testimony should be presented as a random-match probability rather than as a statement about guilt or innocence.
- For felony murder, the government must prove the killing occurred in the perpetration of, or in the course of, the predicate felony; the connection may be shown by a continuing criminal episode.
- A lesser included offense instruction is required only when the evidence would allow a rational jury to convict on the lesser offense and acquit on the greater.
- A substantial upward departure at sentencing must be supported by a clear statement of reasons sufficient to permit appellate review.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit sustained the convictions and key evidentiary rulings, including DNA and consent-based blood evidence, and found adequate proof of felony murder, but required resentencing on the aggravated sexual abuse count because the district court failed to adequately explain its upward departure to a life sentence.


United States v. Chischilly, 30 F.3d 1144 (9th Cir. 1994)