U.S. v. Watford
| Decision Date | 14 November 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-6184.,05-6184. |
| Citation | 468 F.3d 891 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Marlon WATFORD, a/k/a Tony Vallie and Ronnie Ross, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Scott T. Wendelsdorf, Western Kentucky Federal Community Defender, Inc., Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellant. Randy W. Ream, Assistant United States Attorney, Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF:
Scott T. Wendelsdorf, Western Kentucky Federal Community Defender, Inc., Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellant. Randy W. Ream, Monica Wheatley, Terry M. Cushing, Assistant United States Attorneys, Louisville, Kentucky, for Appellee.
Before MOORE and GIBBONS, Circuit Judges; ACKERMAN, Senior District Judge.*
ACKERMAN, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which GIBBONS, J., joined. MOORE, J. (pp. 918-20), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.
Defendant-Appellant Marlon L. Watford appeals from the District Court's judgment of conviction and sentence following a jury's guilty verdicts on counts of narcotics and firearm possession. Watford, through his able counsel, contends that the District Court erred in several critical respects by allowing this case to proceed to trial after a lengthy pretrial delay during which the Government filed three superseding indictments. He also asserts that the District Court erred in its handling of voir dire and several sentencing-related issues. Having carefully considered Watford's arguments in light of the record submitted on appeal, we find no reversible error in the District Court's adjudication of this case. Accordingly, for the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM.
On July 8, 1998, United States Marshals in Louisville, Kentucky were conducting surveillance of Watford, who was wanted in the State of Illinois on charges of murder and in the Central District of Illinois for violation of federal probation. Watford was also suspected of being involved in drug trafficking and maintaining a storage facility at which he stored between two and three kilograms of cocaine. The Marshals were warned that Watford likely would be armed with a 9mm handgun and wearing a bullet-proof vest.
Hoping to execute a fugitive warrant, the Marshals, along with other law enforcement officers, followed Watford as he left a residence on the 1300 block of South Third Street in Louisville, Kentucky. A short time later, between Eighth and Ninth Streets on Muhammad Ali Boulevard, they pulled over the yellow Toyota pick-up truck in which Watford was riding as a passenger and arrested him without incident. At the time of his arrest, Watford wore a bullet-proof vest and carried a 9mm Glock handgun in his right front pocket and a baggie containing what appeared to be drugs. Subsequent testing confirmed that the baggie contained 41.2 grams of crack cocaine.
With the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Marshals obtained warrants to search several apartments located at 1341 South Third Street, including Watford's apartment. Before executing the warrants, however, agents placed the apartments under surveillance. Devon Hale, a known associate of Watford's, lived in an apartment upstairs from Watford. Agents observed Hale attempting to leave his apartment by the fire escape but retreating into the apartment upon spotting the police. Hale then repeatedly attempted to warn Watford of the police presence by sending the message "9-1-1" to Watford's pager, which agents now had in their possession. When Hale later left his apartment and was confronted by police, he denied knowledge of Watford's identity. Agents placed Hale under arrest and executed a search warrant on his apartment. The search revealed approximately $58,000 in cash and some firearms.
Agents subsequently executed a search warrant on Watford's apartment. There, hidden in a night stand, agents found 28 baggies that were later confirmed to contain 292.6 grams of crack cocaine. Agents also discovered $12,000 in cash hidden under Watford's mattress. A safe containing more than $136,000 in cash and a driver's license displaying Watford's photograph was also present in the apartment. In a bag under Watford's kitchen sink, agents discovered a disassembled sawed-off shotgun and several knives.
On July 9, 1998, one day after Watford's and Hale's arrests, federal prosecutors in the Western District of Kentucky filed a criminal complaint against Hale. The complaint charged Hale with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine, and possession of a firearm that traveled in interstate commerce with an obliterated serial number. Watford was not immediately charged in that district, but was instead removed to state custody in Illinois to stand trial on the unrelated murder charges.
Approximately two weeks later, on July 22, 1998, a federal grand jury in the Western District of Kentucky returned a seven-count indictment against Watford and Hale for various weapons and narcotics offenses. Of relevance here, Count 1 charged Watford and Hale with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine between October 1, 1997 and July 8, 1998; Count 2 charged Watford and Hale with knowingly and intentionally possessing with intent to distribute crack cocaine on or about July 8, 1998; Count 3 charged Watford with possessing a firearm in connection with Counts 1 and 2; and Count 4 charged Watford with possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number and which had traveled in interstate commerce. In accordance with standard practice at the time, the Indictment did not specify any quantities of crack cocaine, nor did it cite the applicable penalty section of Title 21 of the United States Code. On the day the Indictment was returned, a federal magistrate judge in the Western District of Kentucky issued a warrant for Watford's arrest.
On October 21, 1998, Hale pled guilty to Count 2 of the Indictment and subsequently received a sentence of 46 months incarceration. Pursuant to Hale's plea agreement, the Government dismissed the remaining counts against Hale at the time of his sentencing.
Meanwhile, the state prosecution on the unrelated murder charges proceeded against Watford in the Kankakee County Circuit Court in Kankakee, Illinois. On June 27, 2002, a state jury convicted Watford on three counts of first-degree murder involving the drug-related shooting deaths of two individuals and the attempted murder of a third individual, as well as one count of aggravated battery with a firearm. At sentencing on September 19, 2002, Watford received a sentence of death for each first-degree murder conviction, and the court set an execution date for December 15, 2002. The execution date was apparently adjourned, however, and on January 11, 2003, Watford became one of the approximately 167 Illinois death row inmates whose sentence was commuted to life without the possibility of parole by outgoing Illinois Governor George Ryan. Thus, Watford's death sentence was commuted to life without parole on each of the three first-degree murder counts. Watford appealed his convictions to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The District Court's sentencing colloquy reveals that at some point after Watford's Illinois death sentence was commuted to three life sentences, the Illinois prosecutor became concerned that these sentences might be further commuted, or that the Supreme Court of Illinois might order a new trial. For reasons unexplained, the Illinois prosecutor also became concerned that Watford's state trial counsel might be disbarred. Indeed, according to the Assistant United States Attorney who prosecuted the case against Watford in the District Court below, the Illinois prosecutor's concerns proved "prophetic" when Watford's state trial counsel was later suspended from the practice of law. (J.A. at 312.) The Illinois prosecutor conveyed his concerns to federal authorities in the Western District of Kentucky and requested that they proceed in seeking a conviction and sentence on the pending federal charges.
Acting on this request, the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky made a decision to prosecute the pending federal charges against Watford. Accordingly, on February 18, 2004, a federal grand jury returned a four-count Superseding Indictment against Watford. As in the original Indictment, Count 1 of the Superseding Indictment charged Watford with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine, although this Count no longer named Hale. Count 2 likewise charged Watford with knowing and intentional possession of crack cocaine. Counts 3 and 4 remained unchanged. Additionally, in response to the Supreme Court's decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), Counts 1 and 2 now specified "50 grams or more" of crack cocaine. (J.A. at 28-29.) On the same day that the Superseding Indictment was returned, a federal magistrate judge issued a new warrant for Watford's arrest. Because Watford was in Illinois state custody, the court also issued a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum on March 22, 2004. Watford was arraigned in federal court on April 20, 2004 and remanded to federal custody.
On September 10, 2004, Watford, through his counsel, moved to dismiss Counts 1 and 2 of the Superseding Indictment for violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. The District Court denied Watford's motion, finding that the delay in prosecuting Watford's case was not due to any Government effort to impede Watford's defense, but because Watford had been standing trial in Illinois on charges of murder. In addition, the District Court found that a federal detainer had been placed on Watford while he was in Illinois custody,...
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