U.S. v. Charles States

• Decision Date: 19 July 2011
• Docket Number: No. 10–1896.,10–1896.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,v.Charles STATES, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

652 F.3d 734

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Charles STATES, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 10–1896.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued March 30, 2011.Decided July 19, 2011.

Bolling W. Haxall (argued), Attorney, Matthew M. Schneider, Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff–Appellee.Jeffrey B. Steinback, Rachel Anne Katz (argued), Attorneys, Law Office of Jeffrey B. Steinback, Chicago, IL, for Defendant–Appellant.Before FLAUM, WOOD, and TINDER, Circuit Judges.FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

Charles States was a member of the Carman Brothers Crew, a group comprised of members and former members of the Latin Kings and Vice Lords gangs. Along with other defendants, States was convicted of a host of criminal charges in relation to the crew's activities. The racketeering charges netted him three life terms of incarceration. On appeal, States argues that he is entitled to a new trial because certain self-incriminating statements he made were elicited in violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution. He also urges that he suffered prejudice when all of the counts with which he was charged were tried before a single jury. As a fallback, he asks for re-sentencing. We affirm.

I. Background

Charles States was a member of the Carman Brothers Crew. The group trafficked in illegal narcotics and was formed (among other reasons) to obtain drugs, money, and other property by force. The means they adopted to accomplish these ends included violent kidnappings, robbery, and extortion. For example, sometime around July 2001, the crew abducted a drug dealer and stole illegal narcotics and firearms from him. During that incident, States forced the victim into a car, striking him with the butt of a handgun as he did so. The victim was subsequently bound and tied to a metal pole during the kidnapping, and States stood watch. For his involvement, he reaped a payment of approximately one kilogram of cocaine, which he ultimately sold for approximately $21,000. The next month, States participated in three more kidnappings, part of an effort to recover drugs that had been stolen from the crew. The crew threatened one of the victims with murder, held him for seven days handcuffed to a bed frame, and stole his Rolex watch. States shot and killed the victim's dog and was paid for his involvement with the hijacked timepiece.

In May 2002, the government filed a criminal complaint with a federal magistrate judge in order to obtain an arrest warrant for States and five other members of the Carman Brothers Crew. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 3 & 4 (describing the complaint and its function in establishing probable cause for one or more arrest warrants). The magistrate judge issued arrest warrants for States and five others.

Five months later, in October 2002, two federal agents and three Chicago police officers attempted to take States into custody. They showed up at his apartment, knocked, and announced their presence. States responded with a hail of gunfire through the door. (Of the five rounds he discharged, one struck a police officer in the hand.) The agents and officers responded in kind and States quickly gave himself up. He was taken into custody. Several hours after his arrest, States was questioned. The statements he made, admitted at trial through the testimony of an FBI agent who participated in the interrogation, proved self-incriminating. According to the agent, States received Miranda warnings and waived his right to counsel. He then admitted to and described his participation in kidnappings. The goal of the abductions was to obtain drugs from rival drug organizations. In addition, States admitted to cooking up—that is, manufacturing—crack cocaine. As for the circumstances surrounding his arrest, States tried to explain that after hearing loud knocks at his door, he peered out a window and did not see any police cars. Apparently concerned that his security was being threatened, he grabbed a weapon, aimed it at the door, and fired several rounds through the door. Only after fire was returned, States told the agent, did he hear the officers make their affiliation with law enforcement known to him.

After his arrest, a grand jury returned an indictment and then a superseding indictment in the case. The lengthy charging document named States in 12 of 28 counts. Ten of the counts related to States's conduct prior to his arrest: racketeering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c); conspiring to commit racketeering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); conspiring to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute it, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846; two counts of possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute it, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1); committing extortion, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951; three counts of possessing a firearm in relation to drug offenses or crimes of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A); and possessing firearms with obliterated serial numbers, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(k). Two counts were based on the fact that States did not go gently into federal custody: he was charged with attempting to kill a federal agent, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1114, and with the federal analogue to resisting arrest, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) & (b).

Prior to trial, States moved to suppress the post-arrest statements he made to law enforcement, arguing that his statements were elicited in violation of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The district court rejected States's Sixth Amendment argument outright, ruling that the right to counsel was not triggered by his arrest and interrogation. States's Fifth Amendment argument, which was that he invoked (but was denied) his right to counsel prior to making self-incriminating statements, was referred to a magistrate judge for an evidentiary hearing. The magistrate judge recommended denying the suppression motion; he believed the testimony of several law enforcement officers who said that States never requested a lawyer. The district court adopted the report and recommendation.

The case went to a jury, and States was convicted of each of the 12 counts with which he was charged. States filed a post-trial motion with the district court seeking a new trial, arguing for the first time that the charges related to his racketeering and drug trafficking activities should not have been joined with the charges related to his arrest and possessing firearms with obliterated serial numbers. The district court denied the motion along with one other motion not implicated in this appeal. Thereafter, the district court ordered that States be given a top-of-the-guidelines sentence of three concurrent life terms in prison. In addition, and by operation of statute, States was sentenced to a consecutive term of imprisonment of 57 years for his violations of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A), using a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking offense or crime of violence.

II. Discussion

On appeal, States argues that the district court erred by refusing to suppress the post-arrest statements he made to police, statements which he says were elicited in violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution. He also maintains that he is entitled to a new trial because the counts against him were misjoined or because joinder was prejudicial. At a minimum, he urges that he should be re-sentenced because the judge improperly ordered part of his sentence to run consecutively with his life terms of imprisonment and failed adequately to consider statutory sentencing factors. We take up each argument in turn.

A. Suppression of Post–Arrest Statements

When reviewing a district court's ruling on a motion to suppress evidence, we review conclusions of law de novo and findings of fact for clear error. United States v. Vasquez, 635 F.3d 889, 894 (7th Cir.2011). The Sixth Amendment challenge he makes raises a pure issue of law. The particular Fifth Amendment challenge he makes, however, turns on whether States invoked his Miranda rights when he was subjected to custodial interrogation. That is a largely fact-driven inquiry. United States v. Salyers, 160 F.3d 1152, 1159 (7th Cir.1998) (teaching that whether a custodial interrogation occurred is reviewed de novo but that “historical” facts are reviewed for clear error). “A factual finding is clearly erroneous only if, after considering all the evidence, we cannot avoid or ignore a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.” United States v. Jackson, 598 F.3d 340, 344 (7th Cir.2010) (quotation marks omitted). In addition, we are particularly reticent to call into question a lower court's credibility determinations, formed as they were after the opportunity to listen to testimony and observe witnesses. E.g., United States v. Villalpando, 588 F.3d 1124, 1127 (7th Cir.2009); United States v. Groves, 530 F.3d 506, 510 (7th Cir.2008).

1. Fifth Amendment

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “[n]o person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” States's chief contention is that his confession was taken in violation of the prophylactic constitutional rule announced in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). When a person is subject to custodial interrogation, law enforcement must first provide that case's familiar, eponymous warnings. Thereafter, questioning must cease if the person indicates that he wishes to remain silent or desires an attorney's presence. Maryland v. Shatzer, ––– U.S. ––––, 130 S.Ct. 1213, 1219, 175 L.Ed.2d 1045 (2010). States contends that he was taken into custody, subjected to interrogation, and invoked his right to remain silent. Because questioning did not cease, the statements he made should be suppressed. His argument is...