U.S. v. Williams

• Decision Date: 20 April 1994
• Docket Number: No. 193,D,193
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Lloyd WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant. ocket 93-1224.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 629

23 F.3d 629

62 USLW 2710

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Lloyd WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 193, Docket 93-1224.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued Sept. 30, 1993.

Decided April 20, 1994.

Colleen Cassidy, The Legal Aid Soc., Federal Defender Services Appeals Unit, New York City, for appellant.

Patricia E. Notopoulos, Asst. U.S. Atty. for the E.D.N.Y., Brooklyn, NY (Zachary W. Carter, U.S. Atty., David C. James, Asst. U.S. Atty. for the E.D.N.Y., Brooklyn, NY, of counsel), for appellee.

Before: LUMBARD, CARDAMONE, and LAY, ^* Circuit Judges.

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:

Among the issues before us on this appeal is whether the Federal Magistrates Act and the Constitution bar a magistrate judge from administering an allocution to a defendant entering a guilty plea to a felony. Congress has greatly multiplied the number of magistrate judges in recent years. Its purpose was not to create more judicial officers so that they could simply stand by and wait, but so that they could be a very present help to district courts, the dockets of which are awash in a sea of cases, and which therefore have the utmost need of magistrate judges' aid.

On February 14, 1992 Lloyd Williams entered a guilty plea pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 11 to the charge of conspiracy to import heroin. Prior to an allocution before Magistrate Judge Azrack, Williams signed a form consenting to the magistrate judge taking his plea. On appeal, his principal contention is that the magistrate judge lacked authority to accept his plea and that his conviction must therefore be vacated. Because we conclude this judicial officer had authority to accept Williams' guilty plea, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

A. The Importation Scheme

Lloyd Williams was arrested on October 24, 1991 after he took possession of two suitcases of heroin. The contraband had been imported into the United States by a courier or "mule" he had recruited. At the center of the importation scheme was Hajib.

Williams met Hajib in early 1989 while they were both inmates at the Ray Brook Correctional Facility, a medium security prison in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State. Discussions between the two men laid the foundation for the future drug importation scheme. Following Williams' release from prison in March 1990, he and Hajib agreed that Williams would recruit drug couriers in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in exchange for a share of the imported drugs. Although Hajib was still confined at Ray Brook, he planned, financed and orchestrated the entire operation.

In June 1990 Hajib arranged for Special Agent Anthony Longarzo of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to be informed that a courier carrying heroin would be arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in New York. Furnishing this piece of important information launched negotiations between Hajib and the government. While these discussions continued, Williams recruited his first courier for Hajib in October 1990. Hajib supplied the travel money and organized a drug delivery for a courier in Pakistan. When Hajib later realized that in the absence of a cooperation agreement with the government A short time later the government and Hajib reached an understanding, as a result of which Hajib signed a cooperation agreement and began regularly providing the government with information. Based on information Hajib supplied, two couriers were arrested at JFK upon their arrival from Pakistan, one of whom revealed that she had been recruited by Williams. This prompted Agent Longarzo to inquire about Williams from Hajib. The latter agreed to arrange another importation in order to ensnare Williams; part of the plan envisioned Williams meeting Agent Longarzo, who would be posing as a heroin trafficker.

he could be held criminally responsible for the importation of heroin from Pakistan, he attempted to stop the courier from returning to the United States. The supplier in Pakistan ignored his entreaties and simply diverted the courier to Michigan. For his efforts in recruiting the courier, Williams received a share of the narcotics.

After several delays, the illegal importation scheme was set for October 1991. Williams recruited another drug courier, Geneva Massie, who was brought to New York by Williams' brother, Tyrone Williams. Massie flew to Pakistan where she picked up approximately 10 kilograms of heroin. Upon her return to JFK she was arrested by DEA agents. Meanwhile, Williams, his father-in-law, Paul Jackson, another conspirator named James Mahone and Agent Longarzo were waiting in a hotel room. After her arrest Massie was taken to the hotel room where Williams and the other participants were standing by. All were arrested. Shortly thereafter, Williams agreed to cooperate with the government as did Mahone and Massie. Having executed a written cooperation agreement, Williams indicated his willingness to plead guilty to conspiracy to import heroin. His brother and father-in-law both proceeded to trial and were convicted.

B. Prior Proceedings

The district court, with Williams' consent, referred the guilty plea to a magistrate judge for the purposes of administering the allocution pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 11, making a finding as to whether the plea was knowingly and voluntarily entered, and recommending to the district court whether the plea should be accepted. On February 14, 1992 Williams signed a written consent form for the referral of the plea to the magistrate judge. The magistrate questioned him to ensure that he knew he had the right to have his plea taken by the district court. After Williams stated that he understood he had that right but nonetheless wanted to proceed before the magistrate judge, the Rule 11 allocution was administered.

During the hearing Williams stated he had recruited individuals, three of whom he named, to bring drugs from Pakistan into the United States. He further admitted he made travel and other arrangements for individuals to come to New York from Pittsburgh and that he had expected to receive a substantial amount of heroin from the illegal importation scheme. At the conclusion of the hearing, the magistrate judge stated she would recommend to the district court that in pleading guilty Williams acted voluntarily and with a full understanding of his rights. In addition, she found a factual basis for the plea and recommended to the district court that it be accepted.

When Williams subsequently learned Hajib had in fact been a government informant, his counsel made an oral motion pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(d) to withdraw Williams' guilty plea and proceed to trial where he planned to raise entrapment as a defense. At that time the district judge stated there was no basis for the application, and continued: "[t]he allocution is clear and unmistakable. He admits his guilt." Nonetheless, the district court agreed to entertain a written motion, which it denied on March 19, 1993 finding "the defense of entrapment would not have been available to Williams because he became involved with [Hajib] and the scheme to import heroin at least six months before the government's first meeting with [Hajib].... Accordingly, Williams has failed to establish a valid ground for withdrawal of his plea."

Williams was sentenced to 292 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release and a $50 special assessment. In calculating his sentence the sentencing

court enhanced Williams' offense level by four for being an organizer or leader of a criminal activity involving five or more participants pursuant to federal Sentencing Guidelines Sec. 3B1.1, and deducted three levels for acceptance of responsibility. The sentencing court refused to depart downward after defense counsel argued that Williams' prior criminal history did not involve drugs or violent crime.

DISCUSSION

Upon appeal defendant contends the taking of his plea by a magistrate judge violates the Federal Magistrates Act (Magistrates Act), 28 U.S.C. Secs. 631-639 (1988), and Article III of the Constitution, that the district court erred in refusing to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea to assert the entrapment defense, erroneously enhanced his sentence as an "organizer," and wrongly refused to consider a downward departure. In the following discussion we deal with each of these issues.

I Allocution by Magistrate Judge

A. Under the Statute

We turn first to whether the district court's referral of Williams' guilty plea allocution to the magistrate judge violated the Magistrates Act. In the 1976 amendments to the Magistrates Act, Pub.L. No. 94-577, 90 Stat. 2729, Congress authorized district court judges to assign additional duties to a magistrate. See 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(b)(3). As the legislative history of the 1976 amendments demonstrates, Congress was troubled by a series of court decisions that construed the Magistrates Act narrowly, stifling the greater use of these judicial officers by the district courts. See H.R.Rep. No. 1609, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 5-6 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6162, 6164-66. The amendments accordingly reorganized the Magistrates Act in an attempt " 'to clarify and further define the additional duties which may be assigned to a United States Magistrate.' " Gomez v. United States, 490 U.S. 858, 867, 109 S.Ct. 2237, 2243, 104 L.Ed.2d 923 (1989) (quoting H.R.Rep. No. 1609, at 2). The revised Sec. 636(b)(3) reads as follows: "A magistrate may be assigned such additional duties as are not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States."

The scope of Sec. 636(b)(3) has been illuminated by two recent Supreme Court decisions. In Gomez, the Court held that a magistrate's conducting of a jury voir dire without the defendant's consent is not one of the "additional duties" a district court has authority to assign to a magistrate. 490 U.S. at 875-76, 109 S.Ct. at 2247-48. Later, Peretz v. United States, 501 U.S. 923, 111 S.Ct. 2661, 115 L.Ed.2d...