Case: 16-11194 Date Filed: 09/17/2018 Page: 1 of 24 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 16-11194 ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 1:15-cr-20194-DMM-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee versus EDMOND DANTES, a.k.a. Arnold Lewine, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (September 17, 2018) Before ROSENBAUM, HULL and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: After a jury trial, Edmond Dantes appeals his convictions for making false statements in two applications for a United States passport. On appeal, Dantes Case: 16-11194 Date Filed: 09/17/2018 Page: 2 of 24 argues that: (1) the evidence was not sufficient to support his conviction; (2) the district court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence (a) judgments issued by a Colombian family court, (b) handwritten notes of a government witness, and (c) Dantes’s prior felony conviction; and (3) the district court erred in concluding that Dantes voluntarily waived his right to counsel and was competent to represent himself at trial and sentencing. After careful review, we affirm. I. SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS In March 2015, a federal grand jury indicted Edmond Dantes1 on two counts of making false statements when applying for an American passport, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1542. In particular, the indictment charged that Dantes, who is a native and citizen of the United States but a resident of Colombia, submitted applications in February 2007 (the “2007 Application”) and February 2014 (the “2014 Application”) for an American passport for a Colombian girl, Katerine. In those applications, Dantes made the following false statements under penalty of perjury: (1) in the 2007 Application, Dantes stated that a woman named Luz Fanny Munoz (“Fanny”) was Katerine’s mother (Count 1); and (2) in the 2014 Application, Dantes stated that he, Dantes, was Katerine’s father (Count 2). The indictment alleged that Dantes knew both of these statements were false when he made them. 1 Edmond Dantes was born Arnold Herbert Lewine. He adopted his current name in 1996. 2 Case: 16-11194 Date Filed: 09/17/2018 Page: 3 of 24 The district court appointed the Federal Public Defender (“FPD”) to represent Dantes. Dantes, however, filed a pro se motion to represent himself, while retaining the FPD as standby counsel. On May 28, 2015, a magistrate judge conducted a Faretta2 hearing to assess Dantes’s waiver of his right to counsel. The next day, the magistrate judge recommended that Dantes’s motion to proceed pro se be granted. The district court adopted the magistrate judge’s recommendation and allowed Dantes to represent himself at trial. After a two-day trial, the jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts. The district court sentenced Dantes to 24 months’ imprisonment as to Counts 1 and 2, to be served concurrently, followed by 3 years’ supervised release as to Counts 1 and 2, to be served concurrently. Dantes has completed his prison term and is now serving his supervised release. II. SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE Dantes’s two convictions are for making ...
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