U.S. v. Jones

• Decision Date: 22 May 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-1909,94-1909
• Citation: 54 F.3d 1285
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Fredderick D. JONES, also known as Frederick Jones and Fredrick Jones, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1285

54 F.3d 1285

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Fredderick D. JONES, also known as Frederick Jones and Fredrick Jones, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 94-1909.

United States Court of Appeals,

Seventh Circuit.

Argued Jan. 19, 1995.

Decided May 22, 1995.

Randy G. Massey, Office of U.S. Atty., Crim. Div., Fairview Heights, IL (argued), for plaintiff-appellee.

William D. Stiehl, Jr., Wimmer, Stiehl & Montalvo, Belleville, IL (argued), for defendant-appellant.

Before RIPPLE, MANION and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Fredderick D. Jones was convicted in the district court of seven counts of distribution of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1). He challenges his conviction on the ground that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his convictions. He also contests the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence as well as its denial of his motion for a mistrial. Finally, he also raises several challenges to the legality of his sentence. For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I BACKGROUND

The charges against Mr. Jones arose out of an investigation conducted by the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department. Deputy Singleton of that department testified that, while operating as an undercover agent, he purchased, on seven occasions between August 2, 1993 and September 15, 1993, crack cocaine from Mr. Jones. Each transaction After this final purchase, Captain Terrence Delaney of the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department applied for a warrant to search the house where the transactions had occurred. The application and affidavit for the search warrant listed the serial numbers of the bills used for the final drug purchase. It also recited that this currency was the object of the search. On the basis of this affidavit, a search warrant was authorized by a United States magistrate judge. Although the affidavit listed the serial numbers of each of the bills, the warrant itself simply described the property to be seized as "United States Currency."

was witnessed by other law enforcement officers. In the final transaction, Deputy Singleton had used one fifty-dollar bill, two twenty-dollar bills, and one ten-dollar bill. The serial numbers of those bills had been recorded prior to the transaction.

On the same day, September 15, 1993, the warrant was executed. Approximately six officers of the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department conducted the search of the residence. These officers were under the supervision of Captain Delaney. Prior to the execution of the warrant, Captain Delaney held a meeting and instructed the officers that the warrant had been issued for specific currency only and that they were to seize no other property. He further ordered them to cease all searching once the currency was found. During the execution of the warrant, the members of the search team conducted simultaneously a search of three bedrooms. Captain Delaney acted as supervisor. When an officer located a quantity of currency, he brought it to Captain Delaney. The Captain then examined the currency and compared the serial numbers with the numbers he had listed on the application for the warrant. Once he determined that the numbers on the currency matched the numbers on the application, Captain Delaney ordered the officers to cease their search.

During the execution of the search warrant, the officers observed other items of evidence. However, in accordance with Captain Delaney's previous order, none of this evidence was seized. Captain Delaney then applied for a second search warrant which would permit the seizure of the evidence that had been found during the earlier search but had not been seized. This evidence included a file cabinet, crack cocaine, additional United States currency, a triple beam scale, two police scanners, four firearms, and a quantity of marijuana.

Mr. Jones was charged with seven counts of distributing cocaine base. He was also charged with single counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base, using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense, and possession of a firearm by a felon. After a hearing, the district court denied the motion to suppress the evidence seized during the first search. At the trial, held January 18-20, 1994, Captain Delaney, Deputy Sheriff Singleton, and various expert witnesses testified. Another witness was Felicia Brown, a girlfriend of the defendant, who was present at the residence when the warrant was executed. She testified that, during the period she lived with Mr. Jones, he had sold drugs and she had witnessed the transactions. According to her testimony, he had sold crack cocaine to at least twenty people a day. She also testified that he would hold a gun behind his back when he answered the door of the residence and then would place the gun under a couch if he recognized the customer. She identified the weapon exhibited by the government as one that resembled the firearm that she had seen Mr. Jones possess at the residence.

At the end of trial, the jury began its deliberations. In the first hour of deliberation, one juror sent a note to the court complaining of a headache. The court instructed the jury to cease temporarily its deliberations and to have lunch. It then interviewed the juror who had sent the note. She explained that she had a headache caused by asthma and sinus problems. While she rested, the court and the attorneys discussed the available options. After lunch, the juror advised the court that she was feeling better and that she could continue with the deliberations. When the court informed her that it had decided that it would suspend deliberations for the remainder of the day to allow her to recuperate, the juror responded: "Well, I feel that we might as At the sentencing proceeding, the district court determined that a total offense level of 28 was appropriate and that Mr. Jones' prior criminal history warranted a category of III. The court sentenced Mr. Jones to a term of 121 months' imprisonment.

well just go on with it and get it over with, because I drank a pop. And it kind of helped." (Tr.Vol. III, p. 47). The court then denied Mr. Jones' motion for a mistrial and allowed the jury deliberations to proceed. The jury returned a verdict of guilty with respect to Counts I through VIII. The court, however, later determined that the verdict form on Count VIII was defective and therefore dismissed that count. The jury found Mr. Jones not guilty of the firearm counts.

II DISCUSSION

1.

We address first Mr. Jones' contentions with respect to the finding of guilt. His claim that the evidence submitted by the government was legally insufficient to support a finding of guilt need not detain us long. By bringing such a challenge, a defendant bears a "heavy burden." United States v. Scroggins, 939 F.2d 416, 421 (7th Cir.1991). The legal standard by which we measure such a claim is well established. We shall affirm the judgment of conviction if the evidence of record, taken in the light most favorable to the government, will support a rational determination of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Dortch, 5 F.3d 1056, 1065 (7th Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1077, 127 L.Ed.2d 394 (1994). Mr. Jones' claim that the testimony of the undercover agent was inconsistent in some of its details and his claim that Felicia Brown's testimony was not believed by the jury merely invite us to review the credibility determinations of the jury. It was also for the jury to weigh the fact that Mr. Jones' statement was never reduced to writing.

We also note that the evidence supporting the conviction of Mr. Jones was substantial. The record shows that all seven drug transactions were observed by other officers, that the currency which Deputy Singleton used to purchase the cocaine on the seventh and last occasion was recovered from the defendant's residence, and that the defendant orally confessed to being a drug dealer. Mr. Jones' claim that the evidence of record does not support the jury's verdict is without merit.

2.

Mr. Jones also presents two claims grounded in the Fourth Amendment. First, he submits that the first search warrant was overly broad because it described the object of the search as simply "United States currency, which is property that constitutes evidence of a criminal offense, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1)." Second, he contends that the search, as executed, violated the Fourth Amendment because only the supervising officer, one of approximately six officers involved in the search, knew the serial numbers of the currency sought. Consequently, the other officers continued to search while the supervising officer checked the serial numbers on discovered bills. This procedure, he submits, extended the period of time in which the officers were free to rummage among the property in the residence and to identify other items of evidentiary value.

We turn first to the contention that the warrant was overbroad because it did not contain the serial numbers of the bills sought as evidence. In analyzing this claim, we begin with the well-established proposition that "[t]he proceeding by search warrant is a drastic one, and must be carefully circumscribed so as to prevent unauthorized invasions of the sanctity of a man's home and the privacies of life." Berger v. New York, 388 U.S. 41, 58, 87 S.Ct. 1873, 1883, 18 L.Ed.2d 1040 (1967) (quotations and citations omitted). General warrants do not satisfy the requirement of the Fourth Amendment that the warrant contain a description of the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. U.S. Constitution amend. IV; see Dalia v. United States, 441 U.S. 238, 255, 99 S.Ct. 1682, 1692, 60 L.Ed.2d 177 (1979). This particularity requirement protects persons against the government's...