U.S. v. Copeland

• Decision Date: 23 August 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-14313.,No. 03-14314.,03-14313.,03-14314.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William COPELAND, a.k.a. William Joseph Creed, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1101

381 F.3d 1101

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William COPELAND, a.k.a. William Joseph Creed, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 03-14313.

No. 03-14314.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

August 23, 2004.

Kristen Gartman Rogers, K. Lynn Hillman and Carlos Alfredo Williams (Fed. Pub. Defenders), Fed. Def. Org., Mobile, AL, for Defendant-Appellant.

Richard H. Loftin, Mobile, AL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.

Before DUBINA, CARNES and CUDAHY^*, Circuit Judges.

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge:

The defendant, William Lee Copeland, was charged in a four-count indictment with conspiracy to distribute "crack" cocaine (the drug charge).¹ He pleaded guilty to the drug charge in a plea agreement in which the government agreed not to prosecute him for matters which he related to the government. The plea agreement also contained Copeland's waiver of the right to appeal his sentence in the drug case. Copeland was subsequently charged in a one-count indictment with carrying a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (the gun charge). Copeland claimed that this gun charge was barred by the plea agreement for the drug charge, but the district court ruled that the plea agreement had not been breached. The defendant now appeals.

I.

William Lee Copeland was a busy criminal. The facts underlying his three convictions are undisputed.

On August 14, 2002, an officer of the Mobile Police Department was looking for Copeland pursuant to an outstanding arrest warrant for domestic violence. When he was located and patted down, the officer found a pistol. At the time of his arrest, he had a 1989 felony conviction in Ohio for Trafficking in Cocaine and Carrying a Concealed Weapon. In District Court Case No. 02-00160 (the felon-in-possession case), Copeland was charged with one count of being a felon in illegal possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He pleaded guilty to this charge pursuant to a written plea agreement with the United States. This conviction was consolidated with two other charges for sentencing but is not at issue in this appeal.

On August 16, 2002, a confidential informant (CI) told the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that William Copeland distributed crack cocaine and marijuana in Mobile, Alabama. Under DEA supervision, the CI bought crack from Copeland on two occasions. In District Court Case 03-00079 (the drug case), Copeland was charged in four counts with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and with possession with intent to distribute cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). In one of two consolidated appeals, Appeal No. 03-14314, Copeland is now seeking specific performance of his plea agreement in the drug case.

The facts underlying District Court case 03-00111 (the gun charge), involving carrying a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking offense in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), are not directly related to the facts supporting the drug charge. On January 4, 2003, Mobile police officers bought drugs from a woman in a hotel room in Mobile. When the officers returned to the hotel room to arrest the woman, they found Copeland there. He threw a plastic bag containing seven rocks of crack to the floor. The officers searched Copeland and found a plastic bag containing marijuana that was packaged for sale. They also found Copeland in possession of the currency that had been used by the officers to pay the woman for the drugs. Copeland was arrested and taken to jail. Upon arriving at the jail, he disclosed that he was carrying a pistol. He was convicted of the gun charge and now seeks to set aside that conviction in the other of the two consolidated appeals, Appeal No. 03-14313.

On May 12, 2003, Copeland pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in the drug case pursuant to a written plea agreement and conceded that he was responsible for 136.7 grams of crack cocaine. Paragraph 16 of the plea agreement in the drug case stated in pertinent part that Copeland

will not be tried on any other violations of federal criminal law in the Southern District of Alabama for his involvement prior to the date of this agreement (for matters he has related to the United States pursuant to this agreement only). Further, except for the charge to which the defendant enters his guilty plea, the defendant will not be charged in federal court in the Southern District of Alabama with any other criminal acts resulting from information provided by him to the government pursuant to this agreement as long as all information he provides is truthful and complete.

(Copeland's Br. at 5-6.) The plea agreement also contained a waiver of Copeland's right to appeal his sentence in the drug case but reserved his right to contest certain specified exceptions not relevant here. Copeland signed a "proffer" agreement on the same day he signed the plea agreement, but despite his counsel's several attempts to set up a debriefing session, the government did not return her voice mail messages and did not debrief Copeland before bringing the gun charge.

On May 19, 2003, Copeland's counsel filed a motion in the district court requesting an anticipatory breach hearing, alleging that the government was planning on charging Copeland with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) in breach of paragraph 16 of his plea agreement in the drug case. The district court conducted a hearing on May 20, 2003, during which the assistant U.S. Attorney stated that it was the intention of the United States at the time the plea agreement in the drug case was entered to exclude the intended gun charge from the language of paragraph 16. The district court found that the breach issue was not ripe and postponed ruling on it until after the gun charge had been formally filed. The district court also postponed Copeland's plea hearing in the drug case until after the gun charge was filed, so that the two cases could be consolidated for plea and sentencing, which would allow Copeland to avoid qualifying as a career offender. Immediately prior to entry of Copeland's guilty pleas in the drug case and the gun case, the district court denied the motion for anticipatory breach and found that the United States had not violated the plea agreement in the drug case. Then Copeland entered a blind plea of guilty to the gun charge at the same time as his guilty plea in the drug case, reserving his right to appeal the district court's ruling on the breach issue. On August 20, 2003, Copeland was sentenced to a total of 200 months' imprisonment in all three cases: 120 months in the felon-in-possession case; 140 months in the drug case, to run concurrently; and 60 months in the gun case, to run consecutively. A mandatory special assessment of $100 in each case was also imposed.

Copeland now appeals the district court's finding that the United States did not breach his plea agreement in the drug case, arguing that there was a breach when the United States charged him with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) without first giving him a chance to be debriefed pursuant to that plea agreement and to admit to the criminal conduct underlying the gun charge. Copeland argues that the district court interpreted the language of his plea agreement in the drafter's favor instead of in his favor as required by well-established law. He also argues that the sentence-appeal waiver in his plea agreement does not bar his appeal here, because he is alleging a breach of the plea agreement containing the waiver provision and is not appealing any aspect of his sentence in the drug case. Copeland is seeking specific performance of the plea agreement, which in his view would require dismissal of the gun charge.

II.

As an appeal of a final judgment of the district court in a criminal case, we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742.

Whether a defendant effectively (knowingly and voluntarily) waived his right to appeal his sentence is a question of law that we review de novo. United States v. Benitez-Zapata, 131 F.3d 1444, 1446 (11th Cir.1997). Similarly, whether the government has breached a plea agreement when the defendant preserved his objection in district court, as did Copeland, is reviewed de novo. United States v. Mahique, 150 F.3d 1330, 1332 (11th Cir.1998).

III.

The government argues at some length that Copeland "waived his right to appeal anything connected with [the drug] case except for the three exceptions listed in paragraph 22 of the waiver of appeal," none of which apply.² (Gov't Br. at 18-19.) This contention is quite meritless in view of the controlling language of paragraph 20 that "the defendant knowingly waives the right to appeal any sentence imposed in the instant case [the drug case], except with regard to those rights identified in paragraph 21 below." (Copeland's Br. at 6-7 (emphasis added).) The waiver, therefore, applies only to the sentence imposed in the drug case, not, as the government contends, to "anything connected with [the drug] case" — a considerably more expansive category. (Gov't Br. at 18.) The defendant has therefore not waived the right to appeal the matters presented to us, and we shall address them on the merits.

IV.

Copeland contends that the government breached the plea agreement in the drug case by bringing charges in the gun case under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). When guilty pleas rest "in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be a part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled." Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971). Thus, in determining whether the government has breached a plea agreement, we must first determine the scope of the government's promises. The district...