United States v. Ramirez–Fuentes

• Decision Date: 03 January 2013
• Docket Number: No. 12–1494.,12–1494.
• Citation: 703 F.3d 1038
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Juan RAMIREZ–FUENTES, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

703 F.3d 1038

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Juan RAMIREZ–FUENTES, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 12–1494.

United States Court of Appeals,Seventh Circuit.

Argued Dec. 6, 2012.

Decided Jan. 3, 2013.

Jennifer S. Chang–Adiga (argued), David E. Hollar, Attorneys, Office of the United States Attorney, Hammond, IN, for Plaintiff–Appellee.

Joseph D. Brydges (argued), Attorney, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, Madison, WI, Michelle L. Jacobs, Attorney, Biscupik & Jacobs, S.C., Mequon, WI, for Defendant–Appellant.

Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and FLAUM and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

In August 2010, Juan Ramirez–Fuentes confessed to being responsible for a bag containing 3.1 kilograms of methamphetamine and for two firearms agents found in his brother's apartment. Ramirez–Fuentes was charged with one count of possession with the intent to distribute five hundred grams or more of methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). A jury convicted Ramirez–Fuentes of committing the charged crimes, and the district court sentenced him to 295 months' imprisonment. On appeal, Ramirez–Fuentes argues that the district court erred in admitting testimony from a government expert witness who described the recovered substance as “Mexican methamphetamine,” which he noted is produced by “Mexican nationals,” and who addressed the violence associated with drug trafficking. Ramirez–Fuentes also argues that the district court did not meaningfully consider his argument at sentencing that he would be deported after his release from prison and that the sentence imposed by the district court is substantively unreasonable. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

On August 23, 2010, Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Marc Zuder, Task Force Agent Lonnie Urban, and several other state and local law enforcement officers were conducting a firearms-related surveillance operation at a trailer park in Hammond, Indiana. During the operation, officers approached Ramirez–Fuentes's trailer and knocked on his door. Ramirez–Fuentes, a Mexican citizen and legal resident of the United States, answered and gave verbal and written consent to the agents to search his trailer. During the course of their search, the agents seized slightly more than $10,000 in cash, a small amount of marijuana, two handguns, ammunition, three scales, and a box containing a white residue that tested positive for cocaine.

Following the seizures, Agent Zuder and some additional officers went to a market in Hammond where Ramirez–Fuentes's brother, Jamie Ramirez–Fuentes, was operating a food truck. Jamie admitted to the officers that he was in the United States illegally and that he was involved in an illegal firearms trade. Upon the officers' request, Jamie consented to a search of his apartment, and during the search, agents found a bag containing over 3.1 kilograms of methamphetamine, two handguns, and drug paraphernalia.

When the agents completed the search of Jamie's apartment, Agent Zuder confronted Ramirez–Fuentes with the evidence and asked him whose fingerprints would be found on the methamphetamine. Ramirez–Fuentes replied “mine.” Later that same evening at the Cook County Sheriff's Department, Ramirez–Fuentes gave a post- Miranda oral and written statement, admitting that his friend Luis had paid him $500 to hold onto a bag filled with four to six pounds of methamphetamine, which he hid in Jamie's apartment. He also stated that he gave Jamie the firearms for protection. Finally, Ramirez–Fuentes admitted that he had once delivered a kilogram of cocaine for Luis and that he collected $30,000 during the exchange.

B. Procedural Background

On September 15, 2010, a grand jury indicted Ramirez–Fuentes. He was charged with one count of possession with the intent to distribute five hundred grams or more of methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).

Ramirez–Fuentes's jury trial began on September 26, 2011. In addition to the agents and officers who participated in the investigation on August 23, the government called Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) Special Agent Jon Johnson to provide expert testimony on the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine and the tools of the drug trade. Specifically, Agent Johnson testified that officers commonly find drugs and guns together because of the potential for theft and the desire of individuals to protect their drugs. Agent Johnson also testified to the difference between “Mexican methamphetamine,” which according to Agent Johnson is produced by “Mexican nationals ... either south of the border or in super labs on the west coast,” and homemade methamphetamine produced in small labs in the United States. Agent Johnson opined that the methamphetamine seized from Jamie's apartment was “Mexican methamphetamine,” worth approximately $1.25 million. He noted that the large quantity and the purity levels were consistent with “a very upper level distributor.” Although Ramirez–Fuentes objected, without success, to the relevance of Agent Johnson's testimony relating to the effects of ingesting methamphetamine, Ramirez–Fuentes did not object to either the testimony relating to the violence associated with drug trafficking or the testimony relating to “Mexican methamphetamine.”

After a three-day trial, the jury convicted Ramirez–Fuentes on both counts. Ramirez–Fuentes's Pre–Sentence Report recommended an advisory guideline range of 235 to 293 months' imprisonment on count one and 60 consecutive months' imprisonment on count two. In his sentencing memorandum, Ramirez–Fuentes argued for the mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment. He explained that he was living in the United States legally with his wife and children at the time of his arrest and that this was the first nontraffic offense he had committed. He also emphasized that he will be deported and separated from his family when he is eventually released from prison. The district court noted Ramirez–Fuentes's “comprehensive” sentencing memorandum but found nothing in his history and characteristics, including his family situation, that would support the substantial reduction he requested. The district court sentenced Ramirez–Fuentes to 295 months in prison: 235 months on the drug distribution charge and a consecutive 60–month sentence on the firearm possession charge.

II. Discussion

A. Agent Johnson's Testimony

Ramirez–Fuentes first challenges the district court's admission of Agent Johnson's testimony relating to the violence associated with drug trafficking and to the “Mexican” nature of the methamphetamine at issue in this case. He argues that the district court should have excluded the testimony as irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial. Before the district court, however, Ramirez–Fuentes's trial counsel did not object to the admissibility of the evidence at issue on appeal, and unpreserved evidentiary issues must be analyzed under a plain error standard. United States v. Foster, 939 F.2d 445, 450 (7th Cir.1991).

Ramirez–Fuentes contends that his counsel did not need to object to each individual question regarding Agent Johnson's classification of the methamphetamine or the violence associated with drug trafficking because he “lodged a general objection to the government's entire line of questioning.” But Ramirez–Fuentes mischaracterizes that objection. In fact, his trial counsel objected only once during Agent Johnson's testimony, arguing that the testimony relating to the effects of ingesting methamphetamine was irrelevant to the issues in the case. Because the objection gave “no indication to the judge that the defense [was] claiming that the entire line of questioning [was] improper,” we will review for plain error only. United States v. McMahan, 495 F.3d 410, 418 (7th Cir.2007), vacated in part on other grounds,552 U.S. 1091, 128 S.Ct. 917, 169 L.Ed.2d 719 (2008).

To prevail under plain error review, a defendant must show “(1) the district court made an error; and (2) that error represented a miscarriage of justice such that [the defendant] probably would have been acquitted but for the erroneously admitted evidence.” Foster, 939 F.2d at 450–51 (internal quotation marks omitted). We will remand to avoid a miscarriage of justice if an error “seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” United States v. Trujillo–Castillon, 692 F.3d 575, 578 (7th Cir.2012) (internal quotation marks omitted).

The Federal Rules of Evidence guide our inquiry into whether the evidence at issue in this case was relevant and admissible. Under Rule 401, evidence is relevant if it “has any tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” Fed.R.Evid. 401. Relevant and reliable expert testimony is admissible if it will help the jury understand the evidence in the case. Fed.R.Evid. 702; see also United States v. Avila, 557 F.3d 809, 820 (7th Cir.2009). In the context of drug trafficking cases, this court has consistently allowed expert testimony “concerning the ‘tools of the trade’ and the methods of operation of those who distribute various types of illegal narcotics” because the average juror is not well versed in the mechanics of the drug trade. United States v. Allen, 269 F.3d 842, 846 (7th Cir.2001) (quoting United States v. Hubbard, 61 F.3d 1261, 1274–75 (7th Cir.1995)). Such evidence may be excluded, however, if the potential for unfair prejudice outweighs the probative value of the evidence. Fed.R.Evid. 403.

1. Drug–Trade Violence Testimony

In order to convict Ramirez–Fuentes on the firearm possession count, the government needed to prove that Ramirez–Fuentes possessed the...