U.S. v. Knight

Decision Date18 August 2003
Docket NumberNo. 01-4264.,No. 01-4219.,No. 01-4339.,01-4219.,01-4264.,01-4339.
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Anthony KNIGHT, Willie J. Newton Jr., and Troy C. Williams, Defendants-Appellants.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Carol L. Kraft (Argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Milwaukee, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Thomas G. Wilmouth, Milwaukee, WI, Paul Flynn (Argued), Federal Defender Program, Rockford, IL, for Defendant-Appellant Anthony Knight.

Michael J. Fitzgerald, Glynn, Fitzgerald & Albee, Milwaukee, WI, Paul Flynn (Argued), Federal Defender Program, Rockford, IL, for Defendant-Appellant Willie J. Newton, Jr.

Paul Flynn (Argued), Federal Defender Program, Rockford, IL, for Defendant-Appellant Troy C. Williams.

Before BAUER, KANNE, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

Defendants Anthony Knight and Troy Williams appeal their convictions for possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. Knight, Williams, and defendant Willie J. Newton, Jr. appeal their convictions for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. All three defendants argue that they are entitled to a new trial because the government improperly withheld material exculpatory evidence. They also contend that the district court violated Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), by not requiring the jury to return defendant-specific findings of drug quantity for each offense (as opposed to the offense-specific findings that the jury returned on a special verdict form). Williams raises two additional challenges to his convictions and one to his sentence, arguing that the appointment of the prosecuting Special Assistant United States Attorney was improper and rendered his indictment invalid, that the prosecution improperly used its peremptory challenges to strike two jurors for racial reasons, and that Apprendi required the evidence of his prior convictions to be pleaded in the indictment and proven to the jury. We find all of the defendants' challenges unavailing and affirm each of their convictions and sentences.

HISTORY

Between 1993 and 1999, the defendants collaborated in a complex scheme to traffic large quantities of cocaine from Los Angeles, California, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Not surprisingly, their activities required the efforts of a number of associates, principally as couriers and dealers, many of whom would eventually testify against the defendants during their nearly three-week-long trial.

Knight was the organizer and leader of this criminal drug organization and Williams was his second in command. Newton and another codefendant, James Durant (who voluntarily dismissed the appeal of his conviction), were Knight's middle-management lieutenants. They recruited and managed the organization's couriers and dealers and performed other functions at Knight's request.

In 1993, Newton and Durant recruited two female drug couriers, Margaret Hicks Frampton and Doris Outlaw, to begin transporting cocaine from Los Angeles to Milwaukee. The two women packed the drugs in their luggage, used public transportation to travel between the two cities, and then checked into local hotels to complete the delivery. In July 1995, while en route to Los Angeles, Frampton was arrested at a Phoenix, Arizona airport with over $100,000 in cash in her suitcase. She was charged with money laundering in an Arizona state court, which brought an end to her career as a courier. Outlaw, on the other hand, voluntarily quit her employment with Knight and Williams in 1997. Shortly thereafter, she was arrested in Arkansas with a carload of cocaine and marijuana (which she was transporting for someone else). Her arrest led to a federal conviction for drug trafficking.

With Frampton and Outlaw no longer at their disposal and with the risks inherent in the use of public transportation for their criminal purposes apparent, Knight and Williams bought a number of cars, which they registered in the name of their coconspirators or under fictitious names, and outfitted them with secret compartments to conceal cocaine.

Durant ran the secret-compartment-car operation. He began driving the cars himself before he recruited William Wirth to assist him and make additional trips for Knight. Wirth was paid between $5000 and $6000 per trip, and made a number of drug runs. Six of these trips were documented by various Milwaukee hotel records, which included information about the cars he drove — information that the investigation later matched to the coconspirators or aliases that the organization had employed to purchase and register the cars.

Knight promoted Wirth to run the secret-compartment-car operation after Durant was arrested in California while transporting thirty kilograms of cocaine in one of the cars. Believing that he was compromised by the arrest, Knight no longer trusted Durant and began to issue his orders directly to Wirth. Wirth, however, was arrested in February 1998, while attempting to transport six kilograms of cocaine in a van he was driving to Memphis, Tennessee, and began cooperating with federal authorities.

Despite these periodic courier arrests, Knight and Williams were still successful in obtaining large amounts of cocaine from their drug-shipping network. They employed a number of associates to distribute this supply, including Laura Collins, Carl McAfee, and Marcus Adams.

Collins introduced Knight and Williams to her boyfriend, McAfee, in the summer of 1994. McAfee thereafter began to purchase kilograms of cocaine from Knight. McAfee did one or two deals per month with Knight for a period of seven to eight months, purchasing between two and ten kilograms per deal — for a total of approximately thirty kilograms. McAfee was arrested in August 1995, while attempting to purchase four kilograms of cocaine from an undercover police officer in an unrelated transaction.

After McAfee went to prison, he arranged to have Collins introduce Knight and Williams to Adams. Adams would go on to purchase large quantities of cocaine from Knight and Williams. At a price of $20,000 per kilogram, Adams estimated he purchased over sixty-seven kilograms of cocaine over the course of his relationship with the organization.

While McAfee and Adams had purchased multiple kilogram quantities of cocaine from Knight and Williams, Collins had contented herself with acting as the intermediary between the sellers and buyers (often allowing them to use her home to complete the transaction) and had herself only purchased small, one-ounce quantities of cocaine. But in October 1996, Collins told Williams she desired a larger role in the distribution network and wanted to sell larger quantities. Williams agreed. The decision would prove fateful, however, causing the fall of Knight and Williams' drug empire.

On October 22, 1996, Knight and Williams came to Collins's house to discuss her intention to sell a kilogram of cocaine. They returned later that evening, bringing five kilograms with them, which they set on the living room floor. Collins had made arrangements to sell one kilogram to Orlando Williams (no relation to defendant Williams, but rather a friend of McAfee's) for $22,500. Orlando arrived at the house shortly after Williams and Knight. Collins took a kilogram from the living room, left the house, and got into Orlando's car with him to close the deal. She returned a few minutes later with a bundle of cash, which she placed on the dining room table near where Knight was sitting. Williams then left the house to go to the liquor store.

Within minutes, someone kicked in the door. Thinking it was the police, both Knight and Collins fled the house through the back door and into an alleyway. They heard gunshots. Knight stopped running, telling Collins that it wasn't the police after all that had entered the house, but robbers. Collins continued on alone.

Collins's neighbors heard the gunshots and, drawn to the scene after the shots had ceased, observed a heavyset black man (Knight fits this description) running in and out of the back door of Collins's house, carrying items into the alley. They also saw a second, thinner black male arrive in a black Ford Bronco (the make and model of the car Knight was known to drive at the time) and walk up to Collins's front porch.

When police officers arrived, they discovered evidence of a drug-fueled gunfight. They found $2200 in blood-spattered money and six kilograms of cocaine strewn about Collins's front yard. Blood was smeared on the front porch, a knit hat with a bullet hole lay nearby, and a trail of blood led from the house to the still-breathing body of Frank McRae. When the police discovered him, McRae was holding a gun and a $10,600 bundle of blood-stained cash. He died before telling the officers what had happened. Inside Collins's home, police retrieved spent cartridge casings from two different guns — .45 caliber casings fired from McRae's gun and .40 caliber casings fired from an unidentified weapon. McRae's unoccupied truck, doors open and keys still in the ignition, was parked nearby Collins's home. Further down the street, police found Williams's photo ID and keys to his car.

Police discovered five kilograms of cocaine and about $200 cash in Collins's living room. In the alley behind the house they found several cardboard boxes full of cocaine. The first box contained thirteen kilograms; another, ten. An additional ten kilograms of cocaine were found scattered about the alley and against the foundation of an adjacent home. In total, police recovered forty-four kilograms of cocaine in and around Collins's home that evening. The substantial amount of drugs seized prompted local police to contact federal authorities.

Within a few days, Collins surrendered and agreed...

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