U.S. v. Caldwell

• Decision Date: 07 October 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-3701,95-3701
• Citation: 97 F.3d 1063
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. John R. CALDWELL, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1063

97 F.3d 1063

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. John R. CALDWELL, Appellant.

No. 95-3701.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted March 13, 1996.

Decided Oct. 7, 1996.

Roger C. Jones, argued, Springfield, MO, for appellant.

Douglas C. Bunch, Asst. U.S. Atty., argued, Springfield, MO, for appellee.

Before McMILLIAN, BEAM and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge.

John R. Caldwell appeals from a final judgment entered in the District Court ¹ for the Western District of Missouri upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of distribution of methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (count I), possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (count II), using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense (possession with intent to distribute charged in count II) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) (count III), and unlawful firearms possession in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (count IV). The district court sentenced him to a total of 180 months imprisonment, 8 years supervised release and special assessments in the amount of $200.00. For reversal appellant argues the district court erred in (1) denying his motion to suppress physical evidence seized following a traffic stop, (2) denying his motion to sever the unlawful firearms possession count (count IV), and (3) instructing the jury on the 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) count (count III). For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the convictions and sentences except with respect to counts II and III, the sentence on count II is vacated, the conviction on count III is reversed, and the case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

In early April 1994 a state highway patrol trooper was investigating drug trafficking in Monett, Missouri, and supervised an informant's purchase of methamphetamine from appellant at a local motel. The trooper noted the make and license plate of appellant's car. On September 21, 1994, Chief of Police Frank Preston of Pierce City, Missouri, received radio information that a gray Camaro with a specific Missouri license plate was approaching Pierce City, had been speeding and had almost run another car off the road. Preston checked the license plate number and learned that the car was registered to appellant. At about the same time, Lieutenant Bill Wegrzyn, a police officer from Monett Acting on this information, Preston positioned his patrol car where he could observe traffic entering Pierce City. He saw the Camaro and checked its speed with his radar unit; the Camaro was travelling slightly faster than the posted speed limit. Preston followed the Camaro, activated his lights, and stopped the Camaro. Preston approached the car and asked appellant for his driver's license. Appellant responded that the Monett police had his driver's license because it had been suspended. At this point Preston asked appellant to get out of the car and for identification information. Appellant got out of the car and removed a fanny pack and placed it on the front seat. Preston started to open the car door, but appellant objected. Preston then contacted the Monett police department by radio. The Monett police department reported a possible suspended driver's license for appellant. Preston arrested appellant for driving on a suspended driver's license and requested his permission to search the car. Appellant consented to the search. Preston and Wegrzyn, who had arrived on the scene to assist Preston, searched the passenger compartment, including the hatchback area, and found methamphetamine, five firearms (one of which was loaded), and drug paraphernalia.

Missouri, told Preston that appellant probably did not have a driver's license because several months earlier the Monett police department had processed information that appellant's license had been suspended and that appellant had been arrested two or three weeks earlier with a concealed weapon. Preston also received information from another law enforcement officer that appellant might be involved in a drug transaction.

Appellant filed a motion to suppress physical evidence. The district court held a suppression hearing. Preston and Wegrzyn testified for the government. Preston testified at the suppression hearing that he was not going to issue a speeding ticket, but instead wanted to check the status of appellant's driver's license and to talk to appellant about the reported speeding and careless and imprudent driving. The district court credited their testimony. The district court found that Preston had probable cause to stop the car because he reasonably suspected that appellant was driving with a suspended driver's license. The district court also found that the warrantless search of the car was an inventory search or, in the alternative, that appellant had consented to the search. The district court denied the motion to suppress physical evidence (the district court also granted the motion to suppress certain inculpatory statements; that part of the district court's suppression ruling is not an issue in this appeal).

Immediately before trial began, defense counsel made an oral motion to sever the unlawful firearms possession count (count IV). Defense counsel argued that joinder of that count would allow otherwise inadmissible evidence of other crimes, specifically his prior felony convictions, including one for possession of methamphetamine for sale, to be introduced at trial. The district court denied the motion to sever. At trial the government used California court records to establish appellant's prior felony convictions. Portions of the court records read to the jury included information about the type of offense, the date of conviction, and the length of the sentence. Appellant did not testify. Defense counsel objected to instruction No. 16, which defined the phrase "used a firearm" as "having a firearm available to aid in the commission of the [drug trafficking] crime." The instruction did not separately define "carry." Defense counsel objected to the instruction on the ground that it improperly shifted the burden of proof to the defense. The district court denied the objection. The jury found appellant guilty on all four counts. The district court sentenced appellant to a total of 180 months imprisonment, 8 years supervised release, and special assessments in the amount of $200.00. This appeal followed.

MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE

Appellant first argues the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress certain physical evidence seized from his car. He argues the traffic stop was invalid because the police lacked probable cause to stop his car and to arrest him. He also argues the traffic violations were merely pretextual because the real reason the police "[A]s a general matter determinations of reasonable suspicion and probable cause should be reviewed de novo on appeal." Ornelas v. United States, --- U.S. ----, ----, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 1663, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996). However, "a reviewing court should take care both to review findings of historical fact only for clear error and to give due weight to inferences drawn from those facts by resident judges and local law enforcement officers." Id.; e.g., United States v. Johnigan, 90 F.3d 1332, 1336 (8th Cir.1996).

wanted to stop his car was that they suspected it contained illegal drugs. He argues the warrantless search of his car cannot stand if the traffic stop was unlawful. We disagree.

The district court correctly concluded that there was probable cause to suspect that a traffic violation had occurred. Preston had a reasonable suspicion, based upon objective facts obtained from other law enforcement sources, that appellant was probably driving with a suspended driver's license. In addition, Preston had observed appellant speeding. "[A]ny traffic violation, even a minor one, gives an officer probable cause to stop the violator. If the officer has probable cause to stop the violator, the stop is objectively reasonable and any ulterior motivation on the officer's part is irrelevant." United States v. Bell, 86 F.3d 820, 822 (8th Cir.1996) (citation omitted); cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 372, 136 L.Ed.2d 262(1996); e.g., United States v. Maza, 93 F.3d 1390, 1396 (8th Cir.1996). The Supreme Court expressly rejected the pretext argument in Whren v. United States, --- U.S. ----, ---- - ----, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 1774-75, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996). "[T]he fact that the officer does not have the state of mind hypothecated by the reasons which provide the legal justification for the officer's action does not invalidate the action taken as long as the circumstances, viewed objectively, justify that action.... Subjective intentions play no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis." Id. at ----, 116 S.Ct. at 1774 (citation omitted). In other words, "so long as police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred, the stop is valid even if the police would have ignored the traffic violation but for their suspicion that greater crimes are afoot." United States v. Thomas, 93 F.3d 479, 485 (8th Cir.).

We also hold that the search of the car was lawful. "[W]hen a [police officer] has made a lawful custodial arrest of the occupant of an automobile, [the officer] may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of that automobile." New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 460, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 2864, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981) (footnotes omitted). "[T]he police may also examine the contents of any containers [whether opened or closed] found within the passenger compartment." Id. (citations and footnote omitted). Here, Preston lawfully arrested appellant because he had probable cause to believe that appellant's driver's license had been suspended. Following appellant's arrest, the police could lawfully search the...