No. 23-3501 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Gabriel White Plume, Sr.

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of South Dakota ____________

Submitted: June 11, 2024 Filed: August 9, 2024 ____________ Before LOKEN, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRASZ, Circuit Judge.

Gabriel White Plume, Sr., appeals his convictions for witness tampering and assault, arguing there was insufficient evidence to convict him. He also contends he was placed in double jeopardy because three of his nine charges related to the same conduct. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the district court.1

1 The Honorable Jeffrey L. Viken, United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota. I. Background

At trial, the government presented evidence of a horrific sexual assault. On January 10, 2023, White Plume was drinking vodka and using methamphetamine with his girlfriend, CLS, as well as his friend, Edison Jumping Eagle. At some point, White Plume pulled off CLS’s pants and “asked [Jumping Eagle] if he wanted to get some.” Jumping Eagle then got on top of CLS had sex with her. While Jumping Eagle had sex with CLS, White Plume choked CLS and forced her to perform oral sex on him. At one point, White Plume forcefully struck CLS on her hip with his closed fist; he also pinned CLS down and told Jumping Eagle to insert his hand into CLS’s vagina. CLS felt a sharp pain in her vagina and started bleeding nonstop. CLS testified feeling scared and hopeless because she would “get beat up” if she did not do what White Plume ordered her to do. White Plume recorded part of the incident, and those recordings were used as evidence at trial.

When CLS arrived at the hospital, she was treated as a trauma patient. She reported her pain level as 10 out of 10. A doctor testified that CLS had a “very deep 5-centimeter laceration” inside her vagina that penetrated the adjacent muscle, and that “her uterus was very red and almost had a bruised appearance.” Doctors also discovered other extensive injuries on CLS, including bite marks, cigarette burn marks, and deep bruising all over her body. CLS testified that White Plume had used a cigarette to burn her arm, and that he had beat her up both before and after the incident, causing deep bruises throughout her body.

A federal grand jury indicted White Plume for nine counts of sexual assault, assault, witness tampering, and distribution of a controlled substance. A jury

-2- convicted White Plume of eight of the nine counts. 2 The district court sentenced White Plume to 480 months of imprisonment.3

II. Analysis

White Plume appeals, arguing insufficiency of the evidence to convict him of Witness Tampering (Count 6) and Assault (Count 7). He also contends he was placed under double jeopardy for the charges against him for Aggravated Sexual Abuse (Count 2), Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury (Count 3), and Aiding and Abetting Sexual Abuse (Count 9). We address each issue below.

A. Motion for Judgement of Acquittal

“We review the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal de novo, viewing the evidence and all reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict.” United States v. McDonald, 826 F.3d 1066, 1072 (8th Cir. 2016). “We will direc