U.S. v. Huffman

• Decision Date: 30 August 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-2058.,05-2058.
• Citation: 461 F.3d 777
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Che Borgess HUFFMAN, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 777

461 F.3d 777

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Che Borgess HUFFMAN, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 05-2058.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: July 18, 2006.

Decided and Filed: August 30, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

ARGUED:

Jonathan M. Epstein, Federal Public Defenders Office, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant. Matthew J. Schneider, Assistant United States Attorney, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

ON BRIEF:

Jonathan Epstein, Loren Gross, Federal Defender Office, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant. Matthew J. Schneider, Assistant United States Attorney, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: GILMAN and SUTTON, Circuit Judges; WISEMAN, District Judge.^*

GILMAN, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which SUTTON, J., joined.

WISEMAN, D.J. (pp. 788-791), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit judge.

Officers Deonne Dotson and Nathaniel Womack, police officers with the City of Detroit Police Department, responded to a 911 call reporting that shots had been fired at the residence located at 5742 Lonyo Street. When the officers arrived, they observed bullet holes as well as broken glass on the premises. The officers knocked and announced their presence, but no one answered. They then climbed through a partially open window to make sure that no one inside was injured from the gunshots. While walking through the house, they found Che Huffman asleep with a fully loaded assault rifle within arm's reach. Huffman also possessed ammunition and a fully loaded "banana clip" in his pocket. Based on this evidence and Huffman's post-arrest statements, he was charged with the following three counts: (1) possession of a firearm by a felon, (2) possession of a firearm by an illegal drug user, and (3) possession of ammunition by a felon.

The district court denied Huffman's motion to suppress the evidence seized as a result of the officers' warrantless entry into the residence and, following a conditional guilty plea, Huffman was sentenced to 96 months of imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release. On appeal, Huffman argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress and in applying a four-level increase pursuant to § 2K2.1(b)(5) of the now-advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

I. BACKGROUND

On June 28, 2004, a caller alerted the City of Detroit's 911 call center that shots had been fired at the residence next door to the caller's. Although the 911 call was placed around noon, the caller reported that the shots had been fired approximately eight hours earlier—at "four o'clock at night." The 911 dispatcher immediately requested police officers to respond, warning the officers that shots had been fired and that someone inside the house might be potentially shot, injured, or killed. He neglected to tell the officers, however, when the shots were fired.

Minutes after receiving the dispatch, Officers Dotson and Womack arrived at the scene. They noticed multiple bullet holes in the front windows of the house, and they stepped over shards of glass on the front porch. Upon peering through the windows, which were not obstructed by curtains or blinds, Dotson and Womack observed bullet impact marks on the interior walls of the house. They also saw several pieces of furniture in the house— suggesting that the house was occupied. But they did not observe any blood or other signs that someone inside the house had been injured or killed. Based on their experience in the field, Dotson and Womack believed that the bullet marks on the exterior and interior walls of the house were consistent with those fired from automatic weapons commonly used in drive-by shootings in the area.

The officers knocked on the front door and announced their presence, but they received no answer. They then consulted with two neighbors at the scene, who confirmed that there had been shots fired earlier. The neighbors, however, did not specify the time of the shooting, and they were not asked if they had heard any sounds indicating that someone was injured as a result of the gunshots. Dotson and Womack again shouted "police, police" into the house, but still received no answer. After trying the front doorknob and finding it locked, the officers climbed into the house through a partially-open window.

The officers found Huffman asleep in a chair. A fully loaded automatic assault rifle with a laser scope was on the table directly in front of him. After waking Huffman up, the officers placed him under arrest. They then searched Huffman and found a fully loaded "banana clip" and additional ammunition in his pocket. He was later charged with (1) possession of a firearm by a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), (2) possession of a firearm by an illegal drug user in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), and (3) possession of ammunition by a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

Following his arrest, Huffman gave two statements to the authorities. The first one, given to the Detroit Police Department, was transcribed as follows:

Q: Do you wish to tell me what happened when the officers saw you?

A: I sleep [sic] in a drug coma[.] I was sleep[ing] from using drugs 4 days in a row.

Q: What kind of drugs?

A: Crack cocaine.

Q: Do you live on Lonyo?

A: Yes, I was staying there because I have nowhere else to stay.

Q: So you knew there was a gun in the house?

A: No. I had left, and when I came back in I saw it [and] then I went to sleep.

His second statement, this one given to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), reads in relevant part as follows:

I had been living [at 5742 Lonyo] for about 1 month. I have a bedroom there and I live there with Dee and Mike. A guy named Andre rents the house. A guy named Steve and a guy named DJ supply drugs to my house and the house next door.... DJ and Steve are having a feud over who is going to supply dope to our house and the house next door. They got into a fight a couple nights ago and DJ stated that if he can't sell dope in our house then nobody would.... Steve brought the [weapon] to the house a couple of days ago after the argument. Last night I was in the room with a girl and I heard shots fired. It sounded like a full automatic machine gun. Mike and Dee were also in the house. Nobody got shot. I then went next door and spent the night at Charlie's house. This morning I came back home and put the [weapon] in my bedroom. I also picked up some of the bullets in my pocket. I then got high and fell asleep. Next thing I know, the police were standing over me with their guns out. The [weapon] was about 3 feet from me. I never shot that gun. The only reason my prints would be on that gun is because I moved it today.

Huffman moved to suppress the evidence found as a result of the warrantless search. Following a suppression hearing, the district court denied Huffman's motion, concluding that the facts were sufficient to establish exigent circumstances justifying entry into the residence without a warrant. Huffman then entered a conditional plea of guilty to all three counts in the indictment without the benefit of a plea agreement.

The probation officer issued a Presentence Report (PSR), in which he assigned Huffman a base offense level of 18 and a criminal history category of IV. As a result of this calculation, the PSR recommended a sentencing range of 57-71 months. Both the government and Huffman filed objections to the PSR. The government argued that Huffman's offense level should be increased by four levels because Huffman possessed the firearm and ammunition as tools in the drug trade. See U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(5) (providing for increased offense levels where the offender uses or possesses firearms or ammunition in connection with another felony offense). As a result of the government's objection, the probation officer increased Huffman's recommended offense level from 18 to 22. The government later filed a motion to lower Huffman's level by one due to his acceptance of responsibility, thus reducing his offense level to 21, which resulted in a sentencing range of 77 to 96 months of imprisonment.

Huffman's objection to the PSR related to its classification of 5742 Lonyo as a "flophouse/smokehouse" rather than as his residence. The district court found no merit in Huffman's argument.

Over Huffman's objection, the district court agreed that the four-level increase for using a firearm and ammunition in connection with another felony offense was proper because Huffman was "involved directly in the operation, or at least intended operation of a dope house, a house from which drugs would be sold to others." The district court also found that when Huffman was discovered by the police, he was "in the process of fortifying that location with a fully automatic weapon." Huffman was sentenced at the top of his revised Guidelines range to 96 months of imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release. On appeal, Huffman argues that the district court erred in finding that the warrantless search was supported by exigent circumstances, and that it further erred in relying solely on Huffman's own statements against interest in applying the four-level increase pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(5).

II. ANALYSIS

A. Denial of Huffman's motion to suppress evidence

Huffman first challenges the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence, arguing that the evidence was seized as a result of an improper warrantless search of his residence. In reviewing a motion to suppress, we accept the district court's factual findings unless clearly erroneous, but review its legal conclusions de novo. United States v. Ogbuh, 982 F.2d 1000, 1003 (6th Cir.1993) (reversing the denial of a motion to suppress). When a district court has denied a motion to suppress, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable...