U.S. v. Miggins
| Decision Date | 16 August 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-6708.,No. 01-5198.,No. 00-6709.,00-6708.,00-6709.,01-5198. |
| Citation | 302 F.3d 384 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Donald MIGGINS, Edward McDaniels, and Charles Moore, Jr., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Van S. Vincent (argued and briefed), Asst. U.S. Attorney, Nashville, TN, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Donald Miggins, Nashville, TN, Hershell D. Koger (briefed), for Pulaski, TN, for Defendant-Appellant in 00-6708.
William B. Bruce (briefed), Bruce, Weathers, Corley & Lyle, Nashvill, TN, for Defendant-Appellant in 00-6709.
Jack E. Seaman (argued and briefed), Lyell, Seaman & Shelton, Nashville, TN, for Defendant-Appellant in 01-5198.
Before: NELSON, SILER, and CLAY, Circuit Judges.
Defendants Donald Miggins, Edward McDaniels and Charles Moore, Jr. appeal from the respective criminal judgments entered against them arising from drug trafficking. Miggins challenges his sentence, while McDaniels and Moore claim that the district court erred in denying their suppression motions. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the district court's judgments.
Defendants' convictions and sentences arise from the controlled delivery on December 2, 1999 by the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department via Federal Express of a package from Los Angeles containing slightly over one kilogram of cocaine to 2335 Cooper Terrace, Nashville, Tennessee, the residence of Defendant Moore. Defendants Miggins and McDaniels and another co-defendant, Derek Watson, met the police officer posing as a driver of the Federal Express van outside Moore's residence, and Miggins signed for the package under an assumed name. After Miggins, McDaniels and Watson left with the package, the Nashville police searched Moore's residence pursuant to an anticipatory search warrant, seizing a firearm. Moore was arrested shortly thereafter when he arrived home, giving a statement to the police in which he admitted that the firearm belonged to him. The Nashville police also arrested Miggins, McDaniels and Watson shortly after they left with the package containing the cocaine, and subsequently searched Miggins and McDaniels' residence at 5161 Rice Road, Apartment # 139, Nashville, Tennessee, pursuant to a search warrant, seizing firearms and cocaine.
In a seven-count indictment filed on April 12, 2000, Miggins, McDaniels and Watson were charged in the first six counts, and Moore was charged in the last count. Count I charged Miggins, McDaniels and Watson with conspiring to distribute over 500 grams of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846; Count II charged Miggins, McDaniels and Watson with possessing with intent to distribute over 500 grams of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2; Count III charged Miggins and McDaniels with possession with intent to distribute cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2; Count IV charged Miggins and McDaniels with possession of a Taurus 9mm pistol, a Marlin 30/30 caliber rifle, and a Smith and Wesson .357 caliber pistol in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c); Count V charged McDaniels with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2); Count VI charged Miggins with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2); and Count VII charged Moore with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, a 9mm Ruger pistol, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). The district court granted Moore's motion to sever, and he was subsequently tried separately from Miggins, McDaniels and Watson.
Before trial, McDaniels filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized from the apartment that he shared with Miggins. At the suppression hearing on August 14, 2000, Officer Greg Adams of the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department, the affiant on the search warrant, testified that he was notified by Deputy Kent Wegener of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department that a Federal Express package containing cocaine was being sent to Nashville from California. When the package arrived in Nashville, a narcotics dog detected the presence of a controlled substance. Upon opening the package, the police found slightly over one kilogram of cocaine in several cylindrically-shaped candles.
When the police conducted a controlled delivery of the package containing the cocaine to the address listed, 2335 Cooper Terrace in Nashville, Miggins, McDaniels and Watson greeted the Federal Express van upon its arrival. After Miggins signed for the package, they immediately departed in a vehicle, but were soon stopped and arrested by the police. Upon their arrest, the police found out that Miggins and McDaniels lived together at 5161 Rice Road, Apartment # 139 in Nashville. In addition, Miggins was found with a piece of paper listing the Cooper Terrace address and the names of "Tommy Lee" and "Keith Jackson." The package containing the cocaine was addressed to "Tommy Lee" and the sender was "Keith Jackson." Thereafter, Officer Adams also learned that Watson and Miggins were tied to the South Central Los Angeles area, with Watson and Miggins admitting that they were members of the 190 Delamos Crips gang from Los Angeles. Checking with Deputy Wegener of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Officer Adams was further informed that Miggins had been previously charged and convicted in California on "numerous cocaine charges." Officer Adams also testified that Moore, who lived at the 2335 Cooper Terrace address, is McDaniels' brother, and that Watson was then dating McDaniels and Moore's sister. Based upon this information, Officer Adams secured a search warrant for Miggins and McDaniels' residence at 5161 Rice Road, Apartment # 139, seizing 3.7 grams of cocaine base and three firearms.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the district court denied McDaniels' suppression motion, finding that while Officer Adams did not have sufficient information to establish probable cause for the search of McDaniels and Miggins' apartment, the search was nonetheless valid under the good faith exception stated in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984).
At the trial for Miggins, McDaniels and Watson, Officer Adams testified in pertinent part that following their arrests, Miggins was found with a piece of paper in his pocket with information listing "Darnel Smith" as the sender and "Keith Jackson" as the recipient, as well as the name "Tommy Lee." When he signed for the package, Miggins used the name "Darnel Smith." Subsequently, during the search of 5161 Rice Road, Apartment # 139, the police found an airline ticket in Miggins' name showing a flight from Los Angeles to Nashville, as well as a Western Union receipt for a money transfer listing the sender as "Darnel Smith" and the recipient as "Keith Jackson" and the payout location as Carson, California. A fully loaded .357 magnum revolver and 3.7 grams of crack cocaine were also recovered from a dresser drawer in the apartment. In addition, a loaded Taurus 9mm semiautomatic pistol, along with electronic scales that are commonly used to weigh drugs, were found in the residence.
The jury returned its verdicts on September 8, 2000. Miggins was found guilty of conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and felon in possession of a firearm, but acquitted of the charges of possessing cocaine base and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. McDaniels was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, as well as the lesser included offense of possession of cocaine base, but was acquitted of conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Watson was acquitted of the charges against him. Both Miggins and McDaniels have appealed their convictions.
Thereafter, on October 12, 2000, Moore filed motions to suppress the evidence found as a result of the execution of the anticipatory search warrant at his residence on December 2, 1999 and the statements that he made to Officer Adams during questioning after the execution of the anticipatory search warrant. At the hearing on Moore's suppression motions, Officer Adams, the affiant of the search warrant, testified that the application for the search warrant provided that a package would be delivered to 2335 Cooper Terrace by officers via a Federal Express van, and that "[w]hen it is delivered to this address and possession of the package is taken by someone inside 2335 Cooper Terrace, as is anticipated, then and only then will the search warrant be executed." Officer Damion Huggins, who participated in the surveillance of Moore's residence at 2335 Cooper Terrace and the execution of the search warrant at the same residence, gave testimony that during the course of his surveillance, he saw Miggins, McDaniels and Watson enter and exit Moore's residence before the delivery of the package. When the Federal Express van arrived with the package, Miggins, McDaniels and Watson were outside, and Miggins signed for it, using a false name. According to Officer Huggins, Defendants did not go back inside the residence with the package, but immediately left the premises in a vehicle. At the hearing, Derek Watson gave contrary testimony, stating that neither he nor his two co-defendants had a key to Moore's residence and that none of them entered Moore's residence before they left with the package.
After the delivery of the package, the police executed the anticipatory search warrant, finding a firearm in Moore's...
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