U.S. v. Lincoln

• Decision Date: 14 May 1993
• Docket Number: 92-3072,Nos. 92-3071,s. 92-3071
• Citation: 301 U.S.App.D.C. 194,992 F.2d 356
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Willie Matthew LINCOLN, Appellant. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Franklin Calvin COLEMAN, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Page 356

992 F.2d 356

301 U.S.App.D.C. 194

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Willie Matthew LINCOLN, Appellant.

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Franklin Calvin COLEMAN, Appellant.

Nos. 92-3071, 92-3072.

United States Court of Appeals,

District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Feb. 12, 1992.

Decided May 14, 1993.

Rehearing Denied in No. 92-3071 July 16, 1993.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

Denied in No. 92-3072 July 19, 1993.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Criminal Nos. 91-00585-01 and 91-00585-02).

Douglas Wham (appointed by this court) for appellant in No. 92-3071.

William Garber (appointed by this court) for appellant in No. 92-3072. David Carey Woll (appointed by this court) was on the brief for appellant in No. 92-3072.

Chrisellen R. Kolb, Asst. U.S. Atty., of the bar of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, pro hac vice by special leave of the court, for appellee. Jay B. Stephens, U.S. Atty. at the time the brief was filed, and John R. Fisher and Per Ramjford, Asst. U.S. Attys., were on the brief for appellee.

Before MIKVA, Chief Judge; WILLIAMS and HENDERSON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Appellants Willie M. Lincoln and Franklin Calvin Coleman appeal their drug possession and distribution convictions. Each appellant challenges the trial court's denial of his motions to sever and to suppress evidence. In addition, Lincoln appeals both the denial of his motion to suppress post-arrest statements and his sentencing classification as a career offender, while Coleman challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction for possessing crack cocaine found in Lincoln's pocket. As set out below, we reject all of the appellants' arguments and affirm their convictions and sentences.

On September 17, 1991 several police officers, acting on informants' tips, staked out an unoccupied red jeep parked on a Washington, D.C. street. When Coleman and Lincoln entered the jeep and began to drive away, the officers pursued in two patrol cars and stopped the jeep by pulling one car in front of it and one behind. Officer John Marsh, who was in the second patrol car, testified that, before the stop, he saw Coleman make a motion as if passing something to Lincoln. ^* After the stop, Officer Thomas Clark approached the jeep's passenger door and ordered Lincoln, who was in the front passenger seat, to show his hands. When Lincoln hesitated, Clark pulled him from the jeep and, as he did so, noticed a ball of tin foil, with plastic inside, protruding from Lincoln's front pants pocket. Clark then removed the foil ball and discovered crack cocaine inside. Upon further search, Clark discovered additional plastic bags of crack in the same pocket. Lincoln was then arrested and Coleman was removed from the driver's seat of the jeep. After learning that Coleman's name was "Frank," Marsh searched him and discovered a total of $281 in his pockets and two marijuana cigarettes in his wallet. Subsequent searches of the jeep turned up $1,165 in cash and $57 worth of food stamps under the rear floor mat and a flashlight containing a bag of cocaine powder in the rear storage compartment. The officers arrested Coleman and both men were then taken to the stationhouse.

After being advised of and signing waivers of their Miranda rights, Coleman and Lincoln each made incriminating statements to the police. Lincoln explained he had found the crack in his pocket earlier in the day and admitted that he would "have to take the beef" for it. Coleman denied any knowledge of the crack, admitted ownership of the marijuana cigarettes, claimed he had won all the money in the car and on his person playing craps and said that the bag of cocaine in the flashlight belonged to his girlfriend.

Both men were subsequently indicted on one count of possessing with intent to distribute more than five grams of crack and, in addition, Coleman was indicted on one count of simple possession of marijuana and one count of simple possession of cocaine. Following two hearings, the trial court denied motions by both defendants to suppress the drugs and to sever and by Lincoln to suppress his statement.

On December 17, 1991 a jury convicted the two men as indicted and the trial court sentenced them on February 24, 1992. Lincoln was sentenced to 180 months' imprisonment followed by 8 years' supervised release and Coleman to 120 months' imprisonment on count 1, with concurrent terms of 24 months on each of the other two counts, followed by 8 years' supervised release.

Each appellant challenges the denial of his motions to suppress evidence and to sever, while Lincoln also challenges the denial of his motion to suppress his statement and his sentencing classification as a career offender and Coleman challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction for possessing the crack found in Lincoln's pocket. We address each challenge in turn.

First, both appellants assert that the drugs found on their persons and in the jeep should have been suppressed as fruit of an illegal stop and search, claiming the officers lacked not only probable cause to arrest them but even a reasonable suspicion to stop them. We disagree. The unrebutted testimony at the motions hearings, which the trial court credited, was that two different reliable informants reported to the police that they had observed individuals matching the appellants' descriptions travelling in a red jeep with wood panelling and distributing drugs. In addition, one informant stated there were drugs and guns inside the jeep, identified the name of one of the two dealers as "Frank" and furnished a license plate number which the officers' investigation showed belonged to a jeep registered to Franklin Coleman and matched the one on the jeep under surveillance. Under the totality of the circumstances here--namely, the reliable informants' detailed and corroborated reports and the officers' own observations--we conclude that the officers had an objectively reasonable belief that both Coleman and Lincoln were engaged in drug distribution and therefore probable cause to arrest them. See Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2332, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983); Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 111-12, 95 S.Ct. 854, 861-62, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975). Further, once they had probable cause to arrest, the officers were entitled, incident to arrest, to search the appellants' persons, Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 763, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 2040, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969), as well as the jeep's passenger compartment and any containers...