U.S. v. Maynie, s. 00-1264

• Decision Date: 30 November 2000
• Docket Number: 00-1269,00-1271,Nos. 00-1264,s. 00-1264
• Citation: 257 F.3d 908,2001 WL 856142
• Parties: (8th Cir. 2001) United States of America, Appellee, v. Keith Maynie, Jr., Appellant. United States of America, Appellee, v. Dietrick Lavon Banks, Appellant. United States of America, Appellant, v. Lenora Logan, Appellant. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 908

257 F.3d 908 (8th Cir. 2001)

United States of America, Appellee, v. Keith Maynie, Jr., Appellant.

United States of America, Appellee, v. Dietrick Lavon Banks, Appellant.

United States of America, Appellant, v. Lenora Logan, Appellant.

Nos. 00-1264, 00-1269, 00-1271

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: November 30, 2000.¹

Filed: July 30, 2001.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before HANSEN, HEANEY, and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.

HANSEN, Circuit Judge.

Defendants Keith Maynie, Dietrick Banks, and Lenora Logan were each convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), 846 (1994). The district court sentenced each defendant to life in prison. On appeal, defendants challenge both their convictions and sentences. We affirm all three defendants' convictions, but because drug quantity was not alleged in the indictment and the juries did not make a quantity finding sufficient to authorize a life sentence, see Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000), we reverse the district court's judgment as to the sentences imposed and remand for resentencing of each defendant.

I. Background

Stuart Stewart, Dietrick Banks, and Lenora Logan decided that Davenport, Iowa, would be a promising market in which to sell crack cocaine. Both Stewart and Dietrick Banks resided in Harvey, Illinois. Logan informed the two that she had several family members in Davenport who could be enlisted to help the trio break into the local drug market. The three made their first trip to Davenport for purposes of selling crack cocaine in December 1997, bringing with them a total of two ounces of the drug. After a few days, Logan arranged for the three to stay at Rosie Butler's apartment on State Street, which became the group's initial venue for selling crack cocaine. Logan and Butler are cousins.

The group was successful in selling crack cocaine out of Ms. Butler's apartment and Banks and Stewart made several return trips to Harvey to replenish their inventory of crack cocaine. On their third trip in late December 1997, Tyrone Banks, Dietrick Banks' cousin, returned to assist with the drug-sales operation in Davenport. At some point, a decision was made that more money could be made if the group expanded its operation by selling drugs at an apartment building on Harrison Street. Logan's brother, Edward Green (E.G.) Harrison, who resided at the Harrison Street apartment, spearheaded the sale of crack cocaine (and later the conversion of cocaine powder into crack cocaine) at the Harrison Street building.

In March 1998, a dispute arose between Dietrick Banks and Stewart over who was entitled to certain proceeds from the drug sales. Stewart left Davenport and returned to Harvey, taking with him $ 10,000. Dietrick Banks believed that at least part of the $ 10,000 belonged to him. Sometime later in Harvey, a car driven by Maynie pulled alongside Stewart's automobile, and Dietrick Banks began firing at Stewart from the rear seat of Maynie's vehicle. At least one round struck Stewart's car, but he was not injured in the incident.

Maynie, who was also a Harvey native, joined Dietrick Banks in Davenport sometime after Stewart's departure from the operation. Around the same time, the Quad-City Metropolitan Enforcement Group ("MEG") initiated a series of controlled buys of crack cocaine from various individuals at the Harrison Street building. MEG officers purchased crack cocaine on seven occasions from March 5 through June 9, and the investigation culminated in a raid of the building on June 10, 1998. Officers seized cash, crack cocaine, scales, drug notes and various other drug paraphernalia. Maynie was present at the time of the raid, but the officers found no drugs or money on him.

Following the raid, E.G. Harrison and others who resided at the Harrison Street building were evicted, and they moved to another Davenport apartment building at 620 Perry Street where they resumed trafficking crack cocaine. The Perry Street building was eventually raided on July 14, 1998, and E.G. Harrison and three females, including Ms. Butler, were arrested for selling crack cocaine. Maynie was not present at the time of the raid, but officers seized a keyless remote to Maynie's vehicle, and found his vehicle parked outside the building at the time of the raid. According to those involved in the distribution, Dietrick Banks, Tyrone Banks, and Maynie supplied the cocaine sold at the Harrison Street and Perry Street apartments.

Dietrick Banks and Maynie were initially charged in an indictment in August 1998 with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. The government filed a superceding indictment in April 1999, adding Logan as a defendant and naming E.G. Harrison and Tyrone Banks as coconspirators. The defendants were tried jointly in Des Moines, Iowa, beginning in late June 1999. On July 7, the jury found Dietrick Banks and Maynie guilty of conspiracy but was unable to reach a verdict as to Logan. Logan was retried in September 1999 and found guilty of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. The district court determined that Maynie and Banks faced a Guidelines sentence of life imprisonment and that Logan's Guidelines sentencing range was 360 months to life.² The district court, however, sentenced all three to mandatory life sentences under 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(A)(iii), based on its finding that each defendant was responsible for 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing crack cocaine and its finding that each had two prior drug felony convictions. See USSG 5G1.1 (c)(2) (prohibiting sentence less than the statutorily required minimum sentence). Section 841(b)(1)(A) requires a mandatory life sentence when a defendant has "two or more prior convictions for a felony drug offense" and is also accountable for 50 grams or more of crack cocaine in the instant offense.

On appeal, defendants raise a number of independent and interrelated arguments. Maynie argues his conviction should be set aside because the government violated the Speedy Trial Act, the district court should have transferred his trial, the district court erred in admitting Stewart's testimony concerning the shooting incident in Harvey, and the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. Dietrick Banks joins Maynie's argument that the district court abused its discretion in admitting Stewart's testimony. Logan argues the evidence presented at her trial was insufficient to support her conviction. All three defendants argue in the alternative that their sentences must be set aside in light of Apprendi.

II. Pretrial Matters

A. Speedy Trial Act

Maynie claims on appeal that his rights under the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. 3161-74 (1994), were violated in two respects. He first complains that he was detained for an excessive period of time prior to his trial. As a general rule, a defendant must be tried upon an indictment within 70 days from the date of his initial appearance, see id. 3161(d)(2), yet delay caused by certain statutorily-enumerated events are excluded from the 70-day period see id. 3161(h). Maynie was initially arraigned on September 15, 1998, and tried over nine months later. He also complains that through oversight he was not arraigned on the superceding indictment until the morning of his trial, thus violating 3161(c)(2)'s requirement that a defendant be arraigned more than 30 days prior to trial.³

Maynie was originally scheduled to be tried in November 1998 but his attorney filed a motion for a competency evaluation and a motion to withdraw. The district court continued the trial, ordered the medical examination, and permitted Maynie's attorney to withdraw. The evaluation was completed in December 1998. Maynie was determined competent to stand trial, and the district court, through a series of four requested continuances by Maynie's newly-appointed counsel, ultimately set a May 1999 trial date. On April 22, 1999, the district court granted Maynie's request that his second attorney be permitted to withdraw, and Maynie's present counsel was appointed on May 11, 1999. The district court ultimately set the trial for June 28, 1999.

The district court addressed the numerous delays and the Speedy Trial Act issues in a hearing on the first day of trial. Both Maynie and his first attorney presented testimony. Maynie complained that he had not approved his attorney's request for a continuance and competency evaluation, and that the trial delay prejudiced him because the government secured additional witnesses who would not have testified had the trial been conducted in November 1998. The district court ruled that the delay was caused by Maynie's numerous motions (which the court found were filed with Maynie's consent and approval) and that the time was excluded under the Speedy Trial Act.

We agree that Maynie's speedy trial rights were not violated. As the district court noted, the continuances were precipitated primarily by Maynie's disruptive conduct and his inability to sustain representation. Maynie's first attorney indicated during testimony that he felt a competency exam was required based on his observations of Maynie's conduct in jail. The attorney testified that Maynie smeared his own feces on jail walls and appeared unable to comprehend and defend against the charges against him. As for his allegation that he was unaware of the motion for the competency evaluation, Maynie suggests no authority in support of his assertion that the time to conduct the evaluation should be charged against the government if his counsel acted without his approval in seeking the evaluation. Even if that were the case, we conclude the district court's finding that Maynie approved of his counsel's actions...