U.S. v. Spears

• Decision Date: 09 June 1992
• Docket Number: Nos. 89-3154,90-1009 and 89-3303,s. 89-3154
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles J. SPEARS, also known as "Blackie," and Donald Meeks, Defendants-Appellants. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Kim CURRAN, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 262

965 F.2d 262

60 USLW 2802

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles J. SPEARS, also known as "Blackie," and Donald

Meeks, Defendants-Appellants.

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Kim CURRAN, Defendant-Appellee.

Nos. 89-3154, 90-1009 and 89-3303.

United States Court of Appeals,

Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 6, 1991.

Decided June 2, 1992.

As Amended June 9, 1992.

K. Tate Chambers, Asst. U.S. Atty., Peoria, Ill. (argued), for U.S. in Nos. 90-1009 and 89-3154.

K. Tate Chambers, Asst. U.S. Atty. (argued), Peoria, Ill., J. William Roberts, U.S. Atty., Springfield, Ill., for U.S. in No. 89-3303.

Clifton J. Mitchell (argued), Jackson, Mitchell & Collier, Peoria, Ill., for Donald Meeks.

Suzanne Philbrick, Chesterton, Ind. (argued), for Charles J. Spears.

Richard H. Parsons, Peoria, Ill. (argued), for Kim Curran.

Before BAUER, Chief Judge, POSNER, Circuit Judge, and MORAN, Chief District Judge. ^*

BAUER, Chief Judge.

In this consolidated appeal, defendants Spears and Meeks appeal from their convictions and sentences, and the government appeals the sentence imposed on defendant Curran. We affirm as to Spears and Meeks; we reverse and remand as to Curran.

I. Facts

In April 1988, Operation Iron Eagle, a code name for a drug task force investigation, focused on Charles "Blackie" Spears. Jeff Casey, an informant, told Illinois State Police ("ISP") Sergeant Kurt Kabat that Spears was transporting large amounts of cocaine into the Peoria area. A month later, Casey told Kabat that Spears and his girlfriend, Kim Curran, would be traveling to Florida to obtain cocaine. With the information from Casey, and from another informant, undercover agents arranged to purchase one ounce of cocaine from Curran on June 21. Before she met with the undercover agents, investigators observed her meeting with Spears.

On July 14, Curran was arrested on an outstanding warrant, and charged as well with the drug sale to the undercover agents. At the police department, she was interviewed by Charles Schofield of the Peoria County Sheriff's Police, who, at the time, was the Director of the Multi-County Enforcement Group ("MEG"). Curran was advised of, and waived, her constitutional rights before talking to Schofield. In that meeting, Curran admitted that Spears provided the cocaine she sold on June 21 to undercover agents. She told Schofield that Spears obtained cocaine from some Colombians in Florida, that he made frequent trips there to pick up cocaine, and that on two occasions she traveled with him. According to Curran, Spears sold approximately a kilo of cocaine a week. She told them that Leonard Spears, Blackie's brother, headed the entire operation. Leonard, who was incarcerated at the time, made the connection with the Colombians while in prison.

On August 29, 1988, a confidential source contacted Assistant United States Attorney Lee Smith with information about Spears's drug peddling operation. Smith, in turn, introduced ISP Officer Edie Casella to the source over the telephone. The source agreed to meet with Casella, and at their first meeting, told Casella that Curran and Spears would be driving to Peoria from Texas in a black 1983 Peugeot (which, as agents later discovered, was registered to Spears's wife) with a large quantity of cocaine. At their second meeting, at which Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") Agent Ed Halligan was present, the source offered additional details about Spears's drug purchase. She said that Spears and Curran left Peoria on August 27 for Houston, that they planned to pick up one to five kilos of cocaine from someone named Larry, that they had $50,000 in cash with them, and that they were in a black 1983 Peugeot.

The source also outlined Spears's entire drug operation. She related that Spears had been in the cocaine business for about a year. Leonard Spears, in prison in New York at the time, introduced Blackie to the cocaine business. Leonard and his cellmate, Jose Navarro, conducted the business on the outside through Navarro's wife. Blackie made frequent trips to Florida, New York, and Texas to buy cocaine in varying amounts, the largest of which was 10 kilos. These trips usually took three to four days. Spears told the source his weekly cocaine sales netted approximately $100,000.00.

During this meeting Casella learned the identity of the source, who expressed fear for herself and her family. She informed Casella that she did not want to testify, only to alert the authorities to Spears's and Curran's drug activities. She herself was not involved in those activities, she merely had knowledge of them.

Casella spoke with the source again on August 30. The source informed Casella that Spears and Curran were on their way back from Texas, traveling through Arkansas. She thought they would be in Illinois within six to eight hours. Again, on August 31, Casella spoke with the source. On this occasion she told Casella that Spears and Curran were still on their way to Peoria with the cocaine, and would probably arrive by nightfall. She related that Spears said he would feel more comfortable driving at night because the black car would blend into the darkness.

Casella then met with several agents in the drug task force, including Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") Special Agent John Leuck, and relayed the information the source gave her. Leuck had the agents set up surveillance at various points leading into the Peoria area. Agents also searched unsuccessfully in the Peoria area for the black Peugeot.

Leuck compared the information the source provided with information provided to police agencies by other confidential sources, and with the statement Kim Curran gave to Schofield on July 14. Based on all of that information, Leuck determined that if agents observed Spears and Curran driving after dark in a black Peugeot on a main artery leading into Peoria, there was probable cause to believe they had narcotics in the car.

At 9:11 that evening, while stationed near the intersection of Routes 121 and 9, ISP Agents Kabat and Taylor, and MEG Director Schofield, saw a black Peugeot slow down as it approached the stop sign at that intersection. Curran was driving, Spears was in the front passenger seat. Curran saw Schofield and, apparently recognizing him, sped away from the intersection. The Peugeot headed northbound on Route 121, at times reaching speeds of between 75 and 85 miles an hour.

FBI Agent Steven Veyera was in position at the intersection of Route 121 and Queenswood Road. Within minutes, he saw Curran and Spears in the Peugeot, traveling fast. The car braked abruptly and turned onto Queenswood without signalling. The car then sped for about 200 yards and made another abrupt turn, again without signalling, into a shopping center parking lot. Veyera followed in his vehicle and requested that an officer in a marked Tazewell County Sheriff's patrol car stop the Peugeot. He complied and stopped the Peugeot.

Veyera, along with the other agents present, approached the Peugeot and asked Spears and Curran to get out. Veyera and Leuck then searched it. In the passenger area they found a radio pager and a small amount of cocaine. In the trunk, they found a kilo of cocaine and $23,000 in cash. They arrested Spears and Curran and seized the Peugeot.

The following day, as Veyera worked in the Peoria FBI office processing the evidence seized, a voice came over the radio pager: "Blackie, call Don. 676-6519. Blackie, call Don. 676-6519." Veyera called the number, and a man whose voice sounded the same as that on the pager answered. The man identified himself as Don, and said he needed "two of them," and he had a "pick up," too. Don then gave Veyera his address.

Veyera believed that the purpose of Don's call was to order two ounces of cocaine. He knew that Spears dealt in ounces, and that he had numerous customers who purchased cocaine by the ounce. Veyera also knew that Spears's customers used the pager system to contact him. Consequently, Veyera instructed undercover agents Kabat and Halligan to drive the black Peugeot over to meet with Don.

Kabat and Halligan went to the address Don gave. Kabat knocked on the door of Apartment A, and asked the woman who answered if Don was there. Defendant Donald Meeks appeared in the doorway of Apartment B, stating that he was Don. Kabat asked if he was the one who wanted two ounces. Meeks replied, "yeah." Meeks asked Kabat to come inside the apartment, but Kabat refused. Then Meeks told Kabat to "go get it." Meeks went inside and Kabat returned to the car.

Shortly, Meeks came out onto the porch of the apartment house and motioned for Kabat to come to the porch. He was irate, and told Kabat that he and Blackie never did business in front of the house before. Meeks had a blue paper sack in his hand, which he handed to Kabat. Kabat told Meeks he had some good pot in the car for sale; Meeks responded that he wanted two ounces of "cane." Kabat returned to the car with the sack and handed it to Halligan, who was sitting in the passenger seat. Halligan spilled the contents of the bag onto his lap. It contained bundled amounts of money. Kabat then went to the trunk and pretended to remove cocaine from the car.

Meeks walked off the porch over to the car and complained to Halligan that, "Blackie and me never done business in front of my porch before." Kabat then approached Meeks and handed him a bag, saying "Here is your coke." When Meeks took the bag, Kabat and Halligan arrested him. The purchase price of the cocaine was never discussed.

After the arrest, Halligan accompanied Meeks into his apartment so he could get dressed. While in the apartment Halligan saw a heat sealer in the living room and numerous plastic bags laying on the couch and the coffee table. The heat sealer was turned on and hot. Later that day, after obtaining a warrant, agents returned and searched the apartment. They found $1,100 in the couch, several...