U.S. v. Beckford

• Decision Date: 18 April 1997
• Docket Number: Criminal No. 3:96CR66-01.,Criminal Nos. 3:96CR66-05 to 3:96CR66-07.
• Citation: 962 F.Supp. 804
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, v. Dean Anthony BECKFORD, Claude Gerald Dennis, Leonel Romeo Cazaco and Richard Anthony Thomas.

Page 804

962 F.Supp. 804

UNITED STATES of America, v. Dean Anthony BECKFORD, Claude Gerald Dennis, Leonel Romeo Cazaco and Richard Anthony Thomas.

Criminal No. 3:96CR66-01.

Criminal Nos. 3:96CR66-05 to 3:96CR66-07.

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Richmond Division.

April 18, 1997.

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David Novak, Stephen Miller, Andrew McBridge, Assistant United States Attorneys, Richmond, VA, for U.S.

Gerald T. Zerkin, Robert J. Wagner, Richmond, VA, for Dean Anthony Beckford.

John C. Jones, Quinton, VA, Scott Brettschneider, Kew Gardens, NY, for Claude Gerald Dennis.

Reginald M. Barley, Cary B. Bowen, Bowen & Bowen, Richmond, VA, for Leonel Romeo Cazaco.

David P. Baugh, Elizabeth D. Scher, Morchower, Luxton & Whaley, Richmond, VA, for Richard Anthony Thomas.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PAYNE, District Judge.

Defendants Dean Anthony Beckford, Claude Gerald Dennis, Leonel Romeo Cazaco and Richard Anthony Thomas have been charged in the Superseding Indictment with intentional killing in furtherance of a Continuing Criminal Enterprise ("CCE") and a drug trafficking offense punishable under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A), in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(e). Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 848(h), the Government has notified each defendant that it intends to seek a penalty of death in the event of conviction and has posited with specificity the statutory and non-statutory aggravating factors which it will seek to prove as the basis for imposition of the death penalty. This is, then, a capital case under Section 848(e).

The defendants seek pre-trial discovery pursuant to the rules of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and its progeny, under which the Government is required to disclose to the accused any favorable evidence in its possession that is material to guilt or punishment. Specifically, the defendants seek the entry of an order requiring the Government to produce:

(a) any information in the possession of the Government which indicates that an alleged murder victim was engaged in criminal activities, specifically drug-related transactions or activities, at the time of his death¹; and

(b) any material in the possession of the Government which relates to all criminal acts of all co-defendants and co-conspirators, in furtherance of or in connection with the drug conspiracy, the continuing criminal enterprise, and the racketeering activity charged in the Superseding Indictment.²

The defendants assert that the requested evidence is relevant to the establishment of two mitigating circumstances under 21 U.S.C. § 848(m), specifically subsections (8) and (9) of that provision, and thus that the evidence would support a sentence of life imprisonment as opposed to the death penalty. In the alternative, the defendants claim that the requested evidence constitutes other information relevant to mitigating factors and is thus admissible at the penalty phase under § 848(m)(10) or § 848(j). In either case, the information sought would be material to punishment and would constitute "evidence favorable to the accused" under Brady.

The Government opposes production of this evidence under Brady for the simple reason that the requested material is not relevant to the establishment of the mitigating circumstances defined in Sections 848(m)(8), (m)(9), and (m)(10) and is not otherwise "favorable" to the defense or "material" to sentencing under Brady and its progeny.

BACKGROUND

The charges set forth in the Superseding Indictment pertain to the various criminal activities of members of the so-called "Poison Clan" drug trafficking organization. Two specific incidents, which resulted in five murders and the shootings of two other victims, constitute the bases for the capital charges against Dean Beckford, Claude Dennis, Leonel Cazaco and Richard Thomas.

I. The Ambrose and Miller Murders

The capital charges against Dean Beckford and Claude Dennis arise out of their alleged participation in the murders of Sherman Ambrose and Dasmond Miller, and the shooting of Delroy Smith. See Superceding Indictment, Counts 5-6. The Superseding Indictment alleges that, beginning in July of 1988, Dean Beckford, who later became the leader of the Poison Clan, took "workers" from Brooklyn, New York, to assist him in the distribution of "crack" cocaine in Richmond, Virginia. Superseding Indictment, Count 3, Overt Act 5. Ambrose, Miller and Smith were some of the so-called "workers" who came to Richmond with Dean Beckford. Id. Sometime between their arrival in Richmond in July, 1988 and December 4, 1988, it is asserted that Ambrose, Miller and Smith fell into disfavor with Dean Beckford. And, if the facts alleged in the Superseding Indictment are true, being the object of Dean Beckford's dislike or mistrust was a most risky condition. For it is alleged that, on December 4, 1988, Dean Beckford and Claude Dennis³ intentionally shot Ambrose and Miller to death and critically wounded Smith.

The events leading to the murders of Ambrose and Miller began on the night of December 3, 1988, when Dean Beckford, Dennis, and Oliver Wiltshire⁴ entered the apartment at 1514 Tifton Court in Richmond, Virginia wherein resided Ambrose and Miller.⁵ At the time of their entry, the apartment was empty; the three, however, awaited the arrival of Ambrose and Miller. Ambrose, Miller and Smith were in Norfolk that night looking at apartments. Ambrose and Miller arrived back at 1514 Tifton Court at approximately 11:30 P.M., and apparently encountered Dean Beckford and Dennis in the apartment; Smith, who was Miller's cousin, arrived at the apartment just minutes thereafter.⁶

When Smith entered the apartment, there was an argument in progress between Dean Beckford and Miller over a silver .32 caliber Derringer gun. The gun apparently belonged to Miller, but when Smith entered the apartment, Dean Beckford was holding it in his hands. Smith described the nature of the argument as follows: "The nature of this argument was why Dasmond Miller brought this gun into the apartment. And Dasmond Miller said it's my gun, and I bought it with my license, and this is my apartment." Commonwealth v. Dennis, Criminal No. 89-221-F and 89-222-F (Trial Transcript, June 13, 1989).⁷ After that, there was a "scuffling" between Dean Beckford and Miller, whereupon Smith "tried to break it up" until Dennis allegedly "pulled a gun out and put it to [Smith's] head and said, don't try." Id. At that point, Smith sat down and observed the remainder of the scuffle between Dean Beckford and Miller.

Eventually, Dean Beckford pushed Miller into the living room of the apartment, whereupon Miller, who was not aware that Dennis had a concealed firearm, turned his back to Dean Beckford, removed his jacket, and formally challenged Dean Beckford to a fight. With Miller's back turned, Dean Beckford nodded his head toward Dennis, "like give him a nodding of the head, and do what I told you." Id. at 22. Dennis then pulled out his gun and fired a shot at Miller, which sailed "a couple of inches over [Miller's] head." Id. at 23. When Miller realized that he was being fired upon, he turned around, only to be shot in the heart and killed by Dennis' next bullet.

Smith, upon seeing Miller (his cousin) shot, jumped to Miller's aid to prevent him from falling. Dennis then fired a shot at Smith, which struck Smith "next to the heart, and the bullet came through in the center of [his] back." Id. at 23. Smith, who, rather remarkably, survived this bullet to the chest, nonetheless played dead in order to dissuade Dennis' attention. According to Officer Woody's report, Smith next related that, at that point, "Sherman Ambrose attacked Claude Dennis." And, although Smith didn't witness the shooting, he heard a shot, and later found Ambrose lying in the kitchen with a bullet wound. According to Smith, he later learned from an ailing Ambrose that Dean Beckford shot Ambrose with Miller's .32 Derringer.

After the Ambrose shooting, Dennis "went to the front, to a room to look out a window to see if anybody heard a shot." Id. at 24. As Dennis was in the other room, Smith gathered himself on one knee, armed himself with the gun he was carrying on his person, "and waited for [Dennis] to come back in." Id. When Dennis returned, he was greeted with the sight of Smith and his gun. Dennis, undoubtedly surprised, "ran toward the front door where [Beckford and Wiltshire] were, wanted to give them a warning like one of the guys is still alive." Id.

At this point, Dean Beckford and Wiltshire ran upstairs and eventually evacuated the apartment through a second floor window. Dennis, meanwhile, "turned around to start to fire on [Smith]." Id. A gunfight then ensued between Smith and Dennis. Smith hit Dennis "a couple of times," then changed positions into the kitchen and again exchanged fire with Dennis. Soon thereafter, Dennis ran upstairs and exited the apartment from the second floor. Smith then exited from the back sliding-glass kitchen door in search of much-needed medical attention for himself, Ambrose and Miller.⁸

II. The "Sugar Bottom" Murders

The capital charges against Leonel Cazaco and Richard Thomas stem from their alleged involvement in the so-called "Sugar Bottom" Murders, which resulted in the deaths of Anthony Baylor, Marco Baylor and Anthony Merrit and the critical wounding of Charles Meekins on January 12, 1994 inside the location of 20 North 31st Street, Richmond, Virginia. See Superceding Indictment, Counts 10-12. The events leading up to these killings began in December, 1993, when Devon Dale Beckford⁹, Dean Beckford's brother and co-leader of the Poison Clan, asked Anthony Baylor, allegedly a member of a rival drug organization, to sell "crack" cocaine for the "Poison Clan" from the location of 20 North 31st Street. Baylor refused the request. As the subsequent developments alleged in the Superseding Indictment attest, Devon Beckford is said not to...