U.S. v. Taylor
| Decision Date | 29 July 1994 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 93-2234,93-2265,s. 93-2234 |
| Citation | 31 F.3d 459 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Fred TAYLOR, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
David H. Miller, Asst. U.S. Atty. (argued), Office of U.S. Atty., Fort Wayne, IN, for plaintiff-appellee.
Marvin Bloom (argued), Alan D. Blumenthal, Chicago, IL, for defendant-appellant.
Before CUDAHY, and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges, and PLUNKETT, District Judge. 1
Fred Taylor was indicted for counterfeiting, possession of controlled substances, and use of a weapon during a drug offense. The first indictment charged possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and the use of a firearm during and in relation to a drug transaction. These charges were tried without a jury, and Taylor was convicted on both counts in September 1992.
The second indictment charged Taylor with a single count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by counterfeiting Federal Reserve notes. Taylor was convicted by a jury on this charge in September 1992.
In May 1993, Taylor was sentenced for both convictions. The trial court imposed a combined guideline sentence of 144 months for the counterfeiting and drug convictions, and an additional and consecutive sentence of sixty months for the Sec. 924(c)(1) firearms conviction, for a total sentence of seventeen years. Taylor appeals on four grounds. First, he argues that consent to search his garage was involuntarily obtained. Second, Taylor claims that his custodial statements were involuntary as well. Third, Taylor argues that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the use of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense. Finally, Taylor argues that the trial court erred in enhancing his sentence for obstruction of justice pursuant to U.S.S.G. Sec. 3C1.1. We shall address each of Taylor's arguments in turn.
Taylor was the operator of a used car dealership in Fort Wayne, Indiana called Executive Motors. Taylor had been acquainted with a man named Edson Nolan for several years. Nolan, in turn, was acquainted with a man named Jerry Cripe, a resident of a federal work-release center. In mid to late 1991, Nolan and Cripe considered entering the counterfeiting business. Nolan asked his acquaintance, Fred Taylor to finance the operation and Taylor agreed.
Soon thereafter, Cripe went to the authorities and told them of the budding scheme. After agreeing to serve as a confidential informant for the Secret Service, Cripe continued his role in the conspiracy. Counterfeiting began in earnest in early 1992 when Cripe provided the services of a printer who was an undercover Secret Service agent. Several hundred thousand $100 bills were printed on one side in Nolan's garage. However, before the bills could be completed, federal authorities arrested Nolan.
At the time of Nolan's arrest, the only evidence connecting Taylor to the conspiracy was (1) Nolan's reference to his "silent partner" as "Fred"; (2) Nolan's visits to Taylor's garage after saying he was going to show samples of the bogus money to "Fred"; and (3) the fact that Taylor paid Cripe $500 to give him proof of employment.
However, these small buds of evidence blossomed into a bouquet when Nolan, like Cripe before him, agreed to cooperate with federal authorities. Nolan agreed to wear a wire when presenting Taylor with some finished counterfeit money provided by the government. Nolan was instructed to show Taylor the bills provided by the government and to bring boxes of the still unfinished bills into Executive Motors before the arrest was to be made.
Nolan agreed. However, his cooperation did not stop there. Nolan told the government that he often bought cocaine from Taylor at Executive Motors and that he had seen firearms there. The authorities instructed Nolan to attempt to set up a drug buy from Mr. Taylor.
Nolan called Taylor, but Taylor did not answer the phone, so Nolan left a message. Later the surveillance agents learned that Taylor had returned to the dealership, and Nolan was dispatched with the "show" counterfeit, the boxes of unfinished bills, and $13,500 in government-provided buy money for cocaine. Needless to say, numerous government agents were close behind.
When Nolan arrived, Taylor said he hadn't gotten his message. Regardless, Nolan asked for a quantity of cocaine in a prearranged code and Taylor replied that he had none on the premises but could get some. The conversation then shifted to the counterfeit, and Taylor voiced his approval of the "show" bills provided by the government. The men agreed to transfer the remainder of the bills, (which were, unknown to Taylor, unfinished), to Taylor's custody for safekeeping. The boxes were brought into the garage of the dealership.
Immediately thereafter, eight law enforcement officers appeared in Taylor's business with weapons drawn. One "bumped" into Taylor and ordered him down on the ground. Taylor complied and was handcuffed while the agents performed a protective sweep of the building. After a thirty second protective sweep of the premises, the agents put away their weapons.
The agents took Taylor to the office area after reading him his Miranda rights. Taylor said he understood and did not request an attorney. Then, Taylor admitted his involvement with Nolan in the counterfeit scheme. The agent then provided Taylor with a consent to search form which Taylor signed. Pursuant to Taylor's consent and with Taylor's assistance, the agents searched the dealership and found over 500 grams of cocaine in a hidden cache in the ceiling of the office restroom and a smaller cache hidden in the bottom of an ashtray in the office itself. In a corner of the office four to six feet from the ashtray and six to eight feet from the restroom, an unloaded .22 caliber rifle stood leaning against the wall.
In the several hours the agents detained him at the dealership, Taylor gave a full confession of his involvement with the counterfeit scheme and detailed his cocaine selling history. At some point however, Taylor requested an attorney and questioning was suspended until his lawyer arrived. With his retained attorney present, Taylor told the agents about his cocaine source and how he conducted his transactions with that person. When asked about his local dealers, Taylor's answers became unsatisfactory and the agents terminated the interview.
At two subsequent detention hearings before Magistrate Judge Campbell, the Magistrate Judge asked the Defendant if the pretrial services reports were correct. At the first hearing concerning the first indictment, Taylor responded that the report was correct and complete. However, when the government pointed out that Taylor had omitted certain real estate valued at $12,500 from the list of his assets in the report, Taylor agreed that the real estate was omitted. At the second hearing, Taylor again stated that the report was correct, and again the government pointed out that the report omitted $470,000 in cash found at the Defendant's home by agents earlier that day. The Magistrate Judge ordered that Taylor be detained.
At sentencing, the trial court assessed a two-level enhancement pursuant to United States Sentencing Guideline Sec. 3C1.1 for obstructing the administration of justice. The court held that Taylor's affirmation to the Magistrate Judge that the report was correct when it omitted the $470,000 in cash from the list of assets was a materially false statement to a magistrate. The court found that a where a magistrate is considering whether to detain a defendant based upon dangerousness and risk of flight, knowledge that the accused has access to a large sum of cash is material.
Several issues are presented for our review by Mr. Taylor. We shall address each in turn.
Taylor argues that both his consent to search and his inculpatory custodial statements were the product of a coercive police presence rather than a knowing and voluntary waiver of rights. After a pretrial motion to suppress, the district court disagreed. After careful review of the record, we must agree with the district court.
The question of the voluntariness is one of fact to be decided by the trial judge in light of the totality of the circumstances. United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 557, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1878-79, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980); Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 238, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2053, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). The government bears the burden of proving voluntariness by a preponderance of the evidence. Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 222, 93 S.Ct. at 2045; United States v. Lechuga, 925 F.2d 1035, 1041 (7th Cir.1991). In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we give particular deference to the district court that had the opportunity to hear the testimony and observe the demeanor of the witnesses. United States v. Edwards, 898 F.2d 1273, 1276 (7th Cir.1990). We will not disturb the district court's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous. United States v. Benjamin, 995 F.2d 756, 758 (7th Cir.1993); United States v. Kelly, 991 F.2d 1308, 1311 (7th Cir.1993). A decision is not clearly erroneous unless, after a review of all the evidence, we are left with a definite and firm conviction that an error was committed. United States v. Barnes, 909 F.2d 1059, 1067 (7th Cir.1990).
We need not tarry long with Taylor's voluntariness arguments. The testimony of the government agents, which the district court found to be credible, adequately supports a finding of voluntariness on the part of Taylor. Though the initial shock of several armed federal agents descending upon him may have understandably upset Taylor, nothing in the record lends any support to Taylor's claims. The record shows that no agents placed a gun to Taylor's head or threatened him in any other fashion,...
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