U.S. v. Valle

• Decision Date: 08 December 1995
• Docket Number: No. 95-1832,95-1832
• Citation: 72 F.3d 210
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Roberto VALLE, Defendant, Appellant. . Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 210

72 F.3d 210

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Roberto VALLE, Defendant, Appellant.

No. 95-1832.

United States Court of Appeals First Circuit.

Heard Dec. 8, 1995.

Decided Dec. 26, 1995.

William J. Murphy, Providence, RI, for appellant.

Margaret E. Curran, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Sheldon Whitehouse, United States Attorney, and Kenneth P. Madden, Assistant United States Attorney, were on brief, for appellee.

Before SELYA, Circuit Judge, BOWNES, Senior Circuit Judge, and STAHL, Circuit Judge.

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-appellant Roberto Valle challenges his convictions for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, see 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1) & (b)(1)(B), and use of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, see 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c). We affirm the drug trafficking conviction but reverse the firearms conviction.

I. BACKGROUND

On April 17, 1991, nine law enforcement officers converged upon an apartment located at 82 Glenham St., Providence, Rhode Island, to execute a search warrant. Inside, they found three individuals: the appellant, his grandmother (who leased the apartment), and Rafael Tavarez. The police immediately segregated the trio in different chambers. They placed the appellant in the kitchen under the watchful eye of Detective Michael Panzarella. The search team then started its treasure hunt.

In short order, a narcotics detective, Guy DeAngelis, discovered a plastic bag secreted between the cushions of the living room couch. Inside the bag were forty-seven cut straws with the ends burned shut. Subsequent tests confirmed that each straw contained cocaine base, known colloquially as "crack." Another gendarme, Robert Clements, spied two firearms under a day bed in the dining room. A third officer, John Corley, rummaged through the rear hall closet and found a plastic bag, containing an additional 101 crack-filled straws, in the pocket of a green jacket.

Promptly upon the discovery of the contraband, Panzarella read the appellant his rights. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 479, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1630, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Meanwhile, the search continued. DeAngelis proceeded to examine the contents of the rear hall closet, poring over items of apparel one by one and dropping each piece on the floor when he had finished his inspection of it. The appellant (who enjoyed a clear view of the closet from the kitchen) harangued DeAngelis not to throw his clothing on the floor as he might want to wear it upon his release. When DeAngelis asked the appellant whether he owned the clothes, the appellant responded affirmatively. In reply to a specific inquiry, the appellant identified the crack-laden green jacket as belonging to him. Later on, DeAngelis descended into the basement--an area to which all occupants of the building enjoyed common access--and came across a triple-beam scale of a type commonly associated with the packaging of illegal drugs for retail distribution.

Near the end of the search, Corley asked the appellant where he slept. The appellant pointed toward the day bed and said "there." To put the ribbon on the package, Sergeant Stephen Bathgate (the officer in charge of the operation) elicited incriminating comments from the appellant in the course of making the formal arrest.

The police transported the appellant to the station house. After again receiving Miranda warnings, the appellant signed a form that signified his understanding of those rights. He then called a friend and asked her to contact his attorney.

II. PROCEEDINGS BELOW

In due course, a federal grand jury handed up an indictment. The appellant responded in part by filing a motion to suppress the statements he had made to the police during the search. He advanced two arguments. First, he insisted that, while still at Glenham St., he had invoked his right to remain silent and asked if he could contact his attorney, but that the police ignored his importuning and did not permit him to do so. Second, he contended that DeAngelis had dumped the clothing on the floor in a wily effort to provoke him into making an inculpatory comment, and that, therefore, DeAngelis's antics should be treated as an impermissible constructive interrogation. See Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 301, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 1690, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980). The government denied that the appellant invoked his right to remain silent or that he sought counsel while at the apartment. It also argued that his initial complaint concerning the handling of his vestments was a spontaneous utterance, and that his subsequent statements amounted to a waiver of his Miranda rights.

Following an evidentiary hearing, the district court ruled that DeAngelis's rearrangement of the appellant's wardrobe did not amount to an interrogation, and that the appellant's original objection to DeAngelis's behavior could properly be admitted into evidence as a spontaneous statement. Sweeping more broadly, the court found as a matter of fact that the appellant had neither invoked his rights nor requested an attorney while the search was ongoing. Consequently, the court ruled that, given the adequate warnings which preceded the officers' questions, the appellant's replies could be used against him.

At trial, the appellant did not seriously dispute his possession of crack cocaine, but, rather, concentrated his fire on the issue of distributive intent. Some of the government's proof on this point came in the form of opinion testimony rendered by DeAngelis. In the end, the jury bought the prosecution's wares and convicted the appellant on both counts. The district court sentenced him to serve sixty-three months in prison on the drug trafficking charge, and added a consecutive sixty-month incarcerative term for the firearms count. After a false start, the details of which are not relevant here, this appeal blossomed.

III. THE DRUG TRAFFICKING CONVICTION

We begin by analyzing the assignments of error insofar as they relate to the conviction for possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. The appellant assigns error in three respects. We treat these claims seriatim.

A. Suppression of Statements.

Before us, the appellant assails the district court's refusal to suppress his statements regarding the clothing, the day bed, and the like. His main thesis is that he exercised his prerogative to remain silent and demanded an attorney, but that the police rode roughshod over his rights. He asseverates that, under these circumstances, the interrogation conducted by the officers at the search scene contravened the teachings of both Miranda and Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-85, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 1884-85, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981) (explaining that an accused, having voiced a desire to deal with the authorities only with the aid of a lawyer, is not subject to further police interrogation until counsel has been made available to him). ¹ We find no error.

In reviewing orders granting or denying suppression motions, this court scrutinizes a district court's factual findings, including its credibility determinations, for traces of clear error. See United States v. Zapata, 18 F.3d 971, 975 (1st Cir.1994). By contrast, we indulge plenary review of the lower court's answers to questions of law, including its ultimate resolution of the constitutional issue. See id.

In this case, whether or not to suppress the challenged statements boils down to a credibility call. Such calls are grist for the district court's mill. See, e.g., United States v. Rutkowski, 877 F.2d 139, 144 (1st Cir.1989). The district court, having seen and heard the witnesses at first hand, chose to believe the mustered testimony of four law enforcement officers--Bathgate, DeAngelis, Panzarella, and Corley (two of whom testified unequivocally that the appellant had neither expressed a desire to stay silent nor requested counsel)--and rejected the appellant's contradictory version of his interaction with the police. If we are to remain faithful to the jurisprudence of clear error, we cannot disturb this finding. ² See id. (acknowledging that a judge's credibility choice between two plausible accounts of the events in question cannot be deemed clearly erroneous); see also Cumpiano v. Banco Santander P.R., 902 F.2d 148, 152 (1st Cir.1990) (explaining that there can be no clear error "unless, on the whole of the record, [the court of appeals] form[s] a strong, unyielding belief that a mistake has been made").

B. Admission of Opinion Testimony.

At trial, DeAngelis, after chronicling his experience as a narcotics detective and his encyclopedic familiarity with the mores of the crack cocaine community, testified as to the approximate "street value" (all told, roughly $1,500) of the 148 straws of crack found during the search. He also explained that so large a quantity of crack was consistent with distribution as opposed to personal use. Finally, he listed the visible characteristics of the prototypical crack addict, and noted that the appellant manifested none of these symptoms. ³

The appellant labors to convince us that this testimony should not have been admitted for two reasons: first, it did not afford the jury appropriate assistance in determining his intent; and second, it comprised an impermissible opinion concerning his supposed mental state. We are not persuaded.

1. Rule 702. Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, expert testimony is admissible if the witness qualifies as an expert and the proffered testimony "will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue." Fed.R.Evid. 702. The decision to admit or reject expert testimony is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court and the court's determinations are reviewable only for abuse of that discretion. See United States v. Echeverri, 982 F.2d 675, 680 (1st Cir.1993); United States v. Hoffman, 832 F.2d 1299, 1310 (1st Cir.1987). Typically, appellate courts give...