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NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD,
Petitioner,
v.
METRO MAN IV, LLC, dba Fountain Bleu Health and
Rehabilitation Center, Inc.,
Respondent. |
No. 23-1472 |
On Application for Enforcement
of an Order of the National Labor Relations Board.
No. 07-CA-264407
Argued: May 9, 2024
Decided and Filed: August 29, 2024
Before: BUSH, NALBANDIAN, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
JOHN K. BUSH, Circuit Judge. When the COVID-19 virus struck a nursing home in
March 2020, the owner, Metro Man IV, LLC, facing staff shortages, took emergency measures
to keep its residents safe. Namely, it implemented temporary hazard pay and hired non-certified
nursing aides. The National Labor Relations Board determined that the exigent circumstances
presented by COVID excused Metro Man from its initial obligations to bargain with SEIU
Healthcare Michigan (the Union). However, the Board determined that Metro Man failed to
bargain with the Union regarding the effects of its unilateral decisions and the decisions
themselves when the emergency receded. For the reasons that follow, we grant in part and deny
in part the Board’s petition to enforce its order. |
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
MICHAEL HARVEL,
Defendant-Appellant. |
No. 23-5416 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee at Cookeville.
No. 2:21-cr-00005-1—William Lynn Campbell, Jr., District Judge.
Argued: March 20, 2024
Decided and Filed: August 29, 2024
Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; SUHRHEINRICH, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
MURPHY, Circuit Judge. Michael Harvel, a county official, sexually assaulted many
women that he supervised. A jury convicted him of infringing the constitutional rights of seven
victims in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242. On appeal, Harvel raises timeliness, indictment, and
evidentiary challenges. Two of his arguments deserve mention at the outset. Federal law sets a
five-year statute of limitations for most crimes. See 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a). Yet it permits the
government to charge crimes “punishable by death” at any time. See id. § 3281. Harvel
contends that the government did not bring the most serious charges in this case (which involved
kidnapping and sexual abuse) within § 3282’s five-year statute of limitations. He is mistaken.
These counts were not subject to this limitations period because they were “punishable by death”
under § 3281. Admittedly, the Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence might bar the
death penalty for kidnapping or rape crimes. But we hold that the phrase “punishable by death”
in § 3281 looks to the penalty provisions in the charged offense (here, § 242), not to these
constitutional standards.
Next, Harvel argues that the government violated the Due Process Clause and Federal
Rule of Evidence 403 by introducing “other crimes” evidence (the testimony of five additional
women who asserted that Harvel abused them in similar ways) to show his propensity to commit
sexual assault. Harvel, however, has not identified a long history of courts uniformly excluding
this type of evidence in sex-crime cases—as he must to establish a due-process violation. And
the district court reasonably found that the evidence’s prejudicial effect did not substantially
outweigh its probative value under Rule 403. Because Harvel’s other arguments also lack merit,
we affirm. |
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