## Facts

- Dale Thomas Johns, a member of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwa Indians, lived with S.D. and her daughter C.D. and became a parental figure in the home.
- The family moved to the Red Lake Indian Reservation when C.D. was about twelve; Johns practiced traditional Ojibwa spiritual practices and conducted ceremonies at the residence.
- Johns assumed authority as both spiritual teacher and father figure; C.D. served as his primary assistant in ceremonies, which created isolated opportunities because others were not permitted to disturb them during certain times.
- C.D. testified that from about age fourteen until age twenty-one Johns repeatedly engaged in oral, anal, and vaginal intercourse with her.
- C.D. testified Johns controlled her movements and could direct her absence from school or work to facilitate sexual encounters.
- C.D. testified Johns enforced strict rules through yelling and slapping, and she feared what he might do if she disobeyed.
- C.D. testified Johns used spiritual teachings to coerce compliance, including that the spirits ordained events and that harm would come to her or loved ones if she disrespected the spirits or resisted.
- After C.D. disclosed the abuse, S.D. and C.D. left the reservation in 1991.
- A federal jury convicted Johns of two counts of carnal knowledge (victim under sixteen), one count of rape, and five counts of sexual abuse under 18 U.S.C. § 2242(1), and he received concurrent 108-month sentences.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient for a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Johns caused C.D. to engage in sexual acts by “threatening or placing [her] in fear” under 18 U.S.C. § 2242(1).

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit affirmed the convictions and concurrent 108-month sentences.
- The court held the evidence was sufficient for a rational jury to find that Johns caused C.D. to submit to sexual acts by placing her in fear within the meaning of § 2242(1).
- The court declined to reweigh credibility and deferred to the jury’s acceptance of C.D.’s testimony under the governing sufficiency-of-the-evidence standard.

## Legal Principles

- For 18 U.S.C. § 2242(1), “threatening or placing [a person] in fear” is not limited to explicit threats of immediate physical violence; the inquiry is whether the defendant’s conduct created fear that compelled submission.
- Fear under § 2242(1) may be established through psychological and spiritual coercion, particularly when the defendant exploits a position of authority or trust over the victim.
- Evidence of a coercive environment may include control over the victim’s daily life, enforcement of obedience through physical discipline, and assertions that disobedience will result in harm to the victim or others.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed Johns’s federal sex-offense convictions, holding that a jury could reasonably find the “placing in fear” element of 18 U.S.C. § 2242(1) satisfied where a parental and spiritual authority used physical discipline, control, and spiritual threats of harm to compel the victim’s submission to sexual acts.


United States v. Johns, 15 F.3d 740 (8th Cir. 1994)