U.S. v. Rollins

• Citation: 544 F.3d 820
• Decision Date: 15 September 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-2649.,No. 07-2930.,07-2649.,07-2930.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James E. ROLLINS, Sr. and Rudy Slack, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

544 F.3d 820

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James E. ROLLINS, Sr. and Rudy Slack, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 07-2649.

No. 07-2930.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued April 14, 2008.

Decided September 15, 2008.

J. Christopher Moore (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Criminal Division, Fairview Heights, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

William D. Stiehl, Jr. (argued), Wimmer & Stiehl, Belleville, IL, for Defendant-Appellant Rollins.

Thomas P. Deaton, Jr. (argued), St. Louis, MO, for Defendant-Appellant Slack.

Before FLAUM, EVANS, and TINDER, Circuit Judges.

TINDER, Circuit Judge.

Beginning in August of 2004, various law enforcement agencies in southern Illinois combined their efforts to concentrate on the investigation of drug distribution and drug crimes in the Alton, Illinois, area. Their endeavors resulted in an eighteen-count, twelve-defendant federal indictment in the district court. Most of the defendants entered pleas of guilty, but a handful of them contested the charges at what turned out to be a thirteen-day jury trial. This appeal is brought by two of those trial defendants, James E. Rollins Sr. and Rudy Slack,¹ against whom the jurors returned verdicts of guilty on the charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, that is, "crack" cocaine.² Rollins Sr. also was convicted on one count of distributing 500 grams or more of cocaine (Count 5). Slack suffered additional convictions on one count of distributing cocaine (Count 6) and one count of distributing 5 grams or more of crack (Count 7). Rollins Sr. was sentenced to 97 months of imprisonment; Slack was sentenced to 108 months of imprisonment. They both challenge their convictions on appeal and Slack contests his sentence.

I. Background

In the early stages of this investigation, law enforcement used an informant to purchase crack cocaine from codefendant Eric Spruill. On November 1, 2004, Spruill went to Rudy Slack's apartment in Alton to obtain crack, which Spruill intended to sell to the informant (of course, without a clue that she was actually an informant). Spruill, who later negotiated a guilty plea conditioned on his cooperation as a witness for the government, testified at trial that on that occasion, he went into the apartment and saw Donald Slack and Rudy Slack in the kitchen cooking large quantities of powder cocaine into crack. Spruill was overcome by the odor and went outside. A short time later Slack met Spruill outside and sold him 12.2 grams of what was later tested and found to be crack cocaine. More on the Slacks later.

The big fish caught by the DEA's investigative net was co-defendant Richard Pittman, a powder cocaine and crack cocaine distributor and also a daily and heavy marijuana user. Pittman, who was also persuaded to become a witness for the government, testified at trial that he attended a family reunion in Alton during the summer of 2002. James Rollins Jr., John Frost, Talia Pittman and Slack also attended the reunion. Pittman testified that he and codefendant Rollins Jr. started up a cocaine distribution relationship. Shortly after the family reunion, Rollins Jr. delivered a kilogram of cocaine to Pittman who then sold it to others. Rollins Jr. and Pittman continued their powder cocaine distribution relationship until 2005 (excepting a brief period of time when Pittman was incarcerated). They dealt in one-half and one-quarter kilogram amounts which Rollins Jr. delivered twice a month to Pittman via John Frost, who was employed by Rollins Jr.'s trucking company. After approximately one year, in the summer of 2003, James Rollins Sr. began making the cocaine deliveries to Pittman in the Alton, Illinois, area. Sometimes Pittman converted the cocaine powder into crack cocaine.

Pittman testified that on March 20, 2005, he went to Rollins Sr.'s home in St. Louis, Missouri, to purchase cocaine. During his trip, the two men had phone conversations which were intercepted by law enforcement. Pittman identified the voices on the calls as his and Rollins Sr.'s. Once Pittman arrived at Rollins Sr.'s home, Rollins Sr. measured out 9 ounces (1/4 kilogram) of powder cocaine and sold it to Pittman for $5,400. Rollins Sr. gave Pittman powder cocaine only; Pittman would later convert some of the powder cocaine to crack cocaine. While inside Rollins Sr.'s home, Pittman saw 18 ounces of powder cocaine and a set of digital drug scales.

Pittman testified that in March 2005 he moved to Atlanta and continued to make arrangements with Rollins Jr. for cocaine and continued to receive cocaine from Rollins Sr. According to Pittman, after Bubba "Catfish" Smith's funeral on April 15, 2005, he received a duffel bag containing 9 ounces of cocaine from Rollins Sr.

Co-defendant Tamiesha Williams, Pittman's common law wife, who like Pittman smoked marijuana daily, just not as much, also agreed to serve as a witness for the government. At trial, she testified that Rollins Sr. delivered powder cocaine to Pittman at her house every two weeks or once a month from the end of 2003 to 2005. She also testified that the cocaine came from Rollins Jr. Williams stated that on April 16, 2005, Rollins Sr. delivered one-half kilogram of cocaine to Pittman and dropped his wallet in the back seat of Pittman's rental car. Williams called him, and Rollins Sr. retrieved his wallet. Williams testified that Pittman continued to deal cocaine with Rollins Sr. in 9 to 18 ounce quantities about three more times after she and Pittman had moved to Atlanta.

As mentioned, the Slacks were involved in other aspects of this drug organization. Around June 2000 when Donald Slack got out of prison, Rudy Slack introduced Donald to a cocaine supplier in California, and Donald resumed his cocaine selling business. In 2003, Donald had an accident which temporarily knocked him out of the cocaine business. To help get him back in the game, Pittman fronted Donald 4 1/2 ounces of cocaine, which came from Rollins Jr. This was enough to get Donald back on his feet in the cocaine business. Donald testified that in 2004 he began to sell larger amounts (2 to 3 ounces at a time) of powder cocaine to Rudy. But the Slacks had a falling-out in September 2004 and stopped dealing with each other until January 2005 when they started up again. According to Donald's testimony, from January until September 19, 2005, when he was arrested, he sold Rudy three to four ounces of powder cocaine at a time, four or five times per week. Donald also testified that he was with Rudy on some occasions when Rudy sold cocaine (that Donald had provided) to others. Donald also converted large quantities of powder cocaine to crack. Donald pled guilty to cocaine distribution charges in a related case.

Co-defendant Alan Taylor, one of Rudy Slack's regular customers, was introduced to Slack by Christy Woolsey, who was a cocaine and crack customer of Rudy's as well. The government also persuaded Taylor to join its parade of cooperating witnesses at trial. Taylor testified that Woolsey told him she got crack from Rudy Slack. Taylor and Woolsey got crack from the Slacks and would smoke it together. Taylor began working for Rudy repairing motor vehicles and was paid with cash and cocaine. Slack also sold crack and cocaine to Taylor on several occasions. At trial, Taylor testified that certain intercepted telephone calls between him and Slack concerned Taylor's obtaining powder cocaine from Slack. According to Taylor, he never bought crack from Slack. Taylor further testified that on April 28, 2005, he obtained one and one-half grams of cocaine from Slack in a parking lot of CTW's in Alton. The police stopped the truck in which Taylor was a passenger (Gary Ontis was the driver) shortly after it left the parking lot and found a small amount of cocaine between the seats.

Slack also supplied Pittman with cocaine and marijuana. At least once, Pittman contacted Slack looking for crack and Slack only had marijuana, which Pittman settled for instead. In addition to illegal drugs, Slack also contacted Pittman to alert him of police activity when the police were actively investigating cocaine trafficking near Pittman's house. At trial, Pittman testified that he was concerned about the police because he did not have a driver's license.

DEA Agent John McGarry led this investigation into drug trafficking in the Alton area. In the course of the investigation, undercover purchases (under government surveillance) of cocaine were also made from Pittman by an informant.³ Eventually, the DEA obtained authorization for wire taps for ten phones used by Pittman, the Rollinses, Spruill and Slack. Agent McGarry was involved in the wire tap overhears from the beginning, and he listened to the intercepted calls every day for the duration of the wiretaps, from February to July 2005. He developed a familiarity with the persons using the phones and testified at trial about his impressions of numerous phone calls.

On September 20, 2005, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Rollins Sr.'s home in St. Louis and found drug paraphernalia in his bedroom, including the cutting agents Dorman and Manitol, a precision mixing kit and sifter. They also found a Smith & Wesson firearm in his bedside table along with ammunition. In a kitchen drawer they found a "digimon" drug scale, latex gloves, plastic baggies and plastic mixing bowls. Predictably, Rollins Sr. was arrested. In his post-arrest statement following a Miranda waiver on September 20, Rollins Sr. advised investigators, including Agent McGarry, that he was a party to one of the intercepted calls, that he knew Pittman, that Pittman had approached him asking him for "some product," he collected drug proceeds from Pittman for about eighteen months, and that he was paid for his participation in the drug business.

The jury trial began on January 22, 2007. More than 100 recorded telephone conversations were played during trial. Of...