Fuqua v. United States

• Decision Date: 29 March 2021
• Docket Number: NO. 3:17-cv-01243,3:17-cv-01243
• Parties: QUINCY MAURICE FUQUA, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

QUINCY MAURICE FUQUA, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent.

NO. 3:17-cv-01243

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION

March 29, 2021

JUDGE CAMPBELL

MEMORANDUM

I. Introduction

Pending before the Court are Petitioner's pro se Motion Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct Sentence (Doc. No. 1); Supplemental and Amended Motions to Vacate (Doc. Nos. 4, 7, 23, 25); and the Government's Responses (Doc. Nos. 16, 27). The Court appointed counsel for Petitioner, who has filed a Response (Doc. No. 37), indicating the case is ripe for decision.

For the reasons set forth herein, Petitioner's Motions to Vacate (Doc. Nos. 1, 4, 7, 23, 25) are DENIED, and this action is DISMISSED.

II. Petitioner's Criminal Proceedings

Petitioner was indicted on the following charges: unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924 (Count One); possession and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) (Count Four); and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute it, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (Count Five). (Docket No. 22 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065). The Indictment named Victor L. Owens and Buin Edward Hodison as co-defendants. (Id.) Defendant Hodison pled guilty early on in the case (Doc. No. 105 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065), and Defendant Owens, who was severed for trial, pled guilty after Petitioner's trial. (Doc. Nos. 218, 306 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065).

Petitioner filed pretrial motions to suppress evidence, which were denied by now-retired Judge Todd J. Campbell, who was assigned to the case. (Doc. Nos. 103, 177 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065). Also, before trial, the Government filed an Information Alleging Prior Felony Drug Conviction (21 U.S.C. § 851) (Doc. No. 193 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065), stating that Petitioner had a prior conviction for possession for resale of marijuana in Davidson County, Tennessee.

After a week-long trial, Petitioner was convicted on all counts. (Doc. Nos. 255, 258 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065). Petitioner's counsel filed, and Judge Campbell denied, a motion for judgment of acquittal and/or a new trial. (Doc. No. 311 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065). At the sentencing hearing, Judge Campbell imposed a total sentence of 248 months of imprisonment, as follows:

• Count One (unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon) - 120 months;

• Count Four (Section 924(c) - possession and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime) - 60 months, consecutive to Counts One and Five; and

• Count Five (possession with intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana) - 120 months, with 68 months consecutive to Count One and 52 months concurrent with Count One.

(Doc. Nos. 366, 367 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065). After sentencing, and while the case was pending on appeal, Petitioner filed a motion for new trial based on newly discovered evidence, i.e., statements made by Co-Defendant Owens regarding the discharge of firearms on the night inquestion. (Doc. Nos. 396, 397 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065). Judge Campbell denied the motion. (Doc. No. 414 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065).

On appeal, the Sixth Circuit summarized the evidence adduced at trial, as follows:

In February 2010, the Nashville police searched the trash behind Fuqua's house. They found trace amounts of marijuana in numerous containers within the same trash bag, seven smoked marijuana blunts, and a gun holster. They also found a receipt from the week before, mail with Fuqua's address on it, and paperwork with Fuqua's Social Security Number on it. The next day, Detective Matthew Grindstaff presented a magistrate judge with an affidavit detailing the items found in the trash, explaining that the police had information that Fuqua's phone number was being used to deal drugs and that illegal drugs were being sold, packaged, or consumed at Fuqua's address. The affidavit added that the police had surveilled Fuqua's house and seen two cars parked out front, both of which were registered to Fuqua. The magistrate judge issued a warrant authorizing the police to search Fuqua's house for evidence of drug use and distribution.

Around midnight that same night, a group of officers went to Fuqua's house to execute the search warrant. According to the officers' testimony, an officer turned on the emergency blue lights on a patrol car outside the house and used its PA system repeatedly to announce 'Metro Police, search warrant, do not resist.' Meanwhile, Detective Grindstaff knocked three times on Fuqua's door, each time announcing 'Metro Police.' When no one promptly answered, Detective Atif Williams broke down the door. Grindstaff stepped forward to enter and continued to announce himself. While in the doorway, he heard a gunshot and saw one person on the couch by the door with his arms up. Grindstaff moved toward the kitchen, where he saw Fuqua and Victor Owens each holding guns. Fuqua and Owens ducked behind a wall; then someone reached around and shot at Grindstaff. Grindstaff ducked and fired back, hitting Fuqua in the stomach. Grindstaff and another officer secured Owens and searched Fuqua. They found around $1,640 in cash in Fuqua's pockets. The police called paramedics, who took Fuqua to a hospital.

When the officers searched Fuqua's home, they found 19.5 grams of marijuana and two ecstasy tablets inside a piece of a black plastic bag on the kitchen counter, a set of digital scales, 4.3 grams of marijuana in a clear plastic bag in a drawer in the kitchen, 4.0 grams of marijuana in a plastic bag on the stereo in the living room, another 2.2 grams of marijuana in a newspaper under the couch in the living room, a poster depicting different kinds of marijuana in the basement, and three guns - including a .44 caliber revolver that Fuqua admitted was his. Fuqua told police that he had fired the gun at the ceiling. But a crime-scene investigator testified that there was no evidence of a bullet in the ceiling.

(Doc. No. 416, at 1-3, in Case No. 3:10-cr-000650); United States v. Fuqua, 636 Fed. Appx. 303, 306-07 (6th Cir. 2016). The appeals court rejected the challenges raised by Petitioner to: (1) denial of his suppression motions; (2) denial of his request to sever the drug trafficking charge; (3) denial of his objection to allowing Detective Grindstaff to testify as both a fact and opinion witness; (4) admission of Trial Exhibit 8E; (5) denial of his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence; (6) reliance on the Section 851 Information to enhance his sentence; (7) reliance on U.S.S.G. § 3A1.2(c)(1) to enhance his sentence; (8) relying on U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(c)(1) to enhance his sentence; and (9) denial of his request for a new trial, or alternatively, for a new sentencing hearing. Id.

The Supreme Court subsequently denied Petitioner's petition for writ of certiorari. (Doc. Nos. 435, 436 in Case No. 3:10-cr-00065).

III. Analysis

A. Section 2255 Proceedings

Petitioner has brought this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Section 2255 provides a statutory mechanism for challenging the imposition of a federal sentence:

A prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground that the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, or that the court was without jurisdiction to impose such sentence, or that the sentence was in excess of the maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral attack, may move the court which imposed the sentence to vacate, set aside or correct the sentence.

28 U.S.C. § 2255(a). In order to obtain relief under Section 2255, a petitioner "'must demonstrate the existence of an error of constitutional magnitude which had a substantial and injurious effect or influence on the guilty plea or the jury's verdict.'" Humphress v. United States, 398 F.3d 855,858 (6th Cir. 2005) (quoting Griffin v. United States, 330 F.3d 733, 736 (6th Cir. 2003)).

If a factual dispute arises in a § 2255 proceeding, the court is to hold an evidentiary hearing to resolve the dispute. Ray v. United States, 721 F.3d 758, 761 (6th Cir. 2013). An evidentiary hearing is not required, however, if the record conclusively shows that the petitioner is not entitled to relief. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(b); Ray, 721 F.3d at 761; Arredondo v. United States, 178 F.3d 778, 782 (6^th Cir. 1999). A hearing is also unnecessary "'if the petitioner's allegations cannot be accepted as true because they are contradicted by the record, inherently incredible, or conclusions rather than statements of fact.'" Monea v. United States, 914 F.3d 414, 422 (6th Cir. 2019) (quoting Valentine v. United States, 488 F.3d 325, 333 (6^th Cir. 2007)).

Having reviewed the record in Petitioner's underlying criminal case, as well as the filings in this case, the Court finds it unnecessary to hold an evidentiary hearing because disposition of Petitioner's claims does not require the resolution of any factual dispute.

B. Petitioner's Claims

Through his Motions to Vacate, Petitioner asserts the following claims: (1) the Government failed to disclose certain evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215 (1963); (2) the Government engaged in prosecutorial misconduct; (3) the district court erred in enhancing his sentence under Section 851; (4) the district court erred in applying a six-level increase to the base offense level for shooting at a law enforcement officer; (5) the district court erred in failing to consider fully Petitioner's mental health records, including the Forensic Psychologist Report, at sentencing; and (6) he received the ineffective assistance of counsel.

C. Brady/Giglio

Petitioner argues the Government violated his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, asapplied in Brady v. Maryland, by failing timely to provide the defense with "three additional bags of untested...