United States v. Alkufi, 14-1834
| Decision Date | 01 February 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 14-1834,No. 14-2313,14-1834,14-2313 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. AQUIL ALKUFI and IBRAHIM AOUN, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
HELENE N. WHITE, Circuit Judge. Following a jury trial, Defendants-Appellants Aquil Alkufi and Ibrahim Aoun were convicted of firearm and controlled substances offenses. The district court sentenced Alkufi to eighty-four months' imprisonment and Aoun to 360 months' imprisonment. Both Defendants appeal their convictions and sentences. We AFFIRM the convictions and Aoun's sentence and VACATE Alkufi's sentence and REMAND for resentencing.
On January 25, 2013, Detroit police executed a search warrant at 6135 Stahelin Street (Stahelin House). Then-Sergeant Tharadrous White (White) had the first line of sight into the house during the search and immediately saw Aoun running "full strength" up the stairs carrying a green, cloth bag. (PID 573-74, 577.) Once police entered the house, they "cleared" the second floor, where they found Aoun. (PID 712-13.) Later, officers searched Aoun and found he had $660 in cash.
Officers later recovered a green lunch bag from a "crawl space" on the second floor of the house, which White identified as the bag he had seen Aoun carrying. (PID 585, 661.) The bag contained 1) a loaded Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver, 2) 393.5 pills marked "Watson 540," 3) 133 pills marked "Watson 853," 4) twelve pills marked "Watson 3203," and 5) two additional pills. Lab tests revealed all the pills marked "Watson" were dihydrocodeinone and one pill found was amphetamine. An officer testified that the quantity of pills found was consistent with distribution, and that "[t]he gun was inside the bag next to the pills possibly for protection," which was consistent with narcotics trafficking. (PID 706-07.)
In the downstairs, front bedroom, officers found 1) a loaded, semi-automatic handgun on the bed, 2) "numerous empty, plastic vials with white tops," and 3) a digital scale. (PID 625-26, 630.) Officers testified that the types of vials found were commonly used to package high-end marijuana and that they often found firearms inside the houses at which they executed search warrants for narcotics because drug traffickers often armed themselves to guard against robberies. No fingerprints were found on the firearms recovered at the Stahelin House.
Police found several other persons on the first floor of the house, including two women, three men, and a small child. Officers testified that they found no weapons or large sums of cash on any of these persons. Although no one present claimed the house as their residence, White testified that the house did not appear to be vacant. Police also found an "aggressive pit bull" locked in the basement, which Aoun said was his. (PID 715.)
Following the Stahelin House search, Detroit police involved the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in the case and obtained an arrest warrant for Aoun on March 12, 2013. After an ATF source told him Aoun was at a house located at 6352 Auburn Street (Auburn House), agent Richard Jury (Jury) observed the location for about three hours. During that time, he saw sixty-eight vehicles arrive at the Auburn House, make contact with someone at the location, and depart within approximately thirty seconds to three minutes. He testified that in his experience, this was a "clear sign of narcotics trafficking." (PID 794.) Officer James Wiencek (Wiencek) also watched the house from about 10:00 or 10:30 PM until 1:00 AM and observed twenty-five or thirty persons arrive separately and either meet someone on the porch or go inside; they stayed for an "average of 45 seconds to two and a half minutes," which he testified was consistent with narcotics trafficking. (PID 958-59.) After Jury confirmed that Aoun was still there, police entered the house to arrest Aoun around 1:10 AM.
When police arrived, there were seven persons in or just outside the house; someone on the porch ran inside the house and officers followed him. Officers testified that the house appeared to be vacant—that is, it was in disrepair, there were very few pieces of furniture and they were in poor condition, the kitchen had no refrigerator or utilities, several of the kitchen cabinets had been ripped off, there was no food, and there appeared to be no running water.
Two officers testified that they saw Aoun throw a plastic bag out a second-floor window. The bag was later found to contain multiple individual containers that collectively contained approximately forty-two grams of marijuana. In the room where officers found Aoun, they also found $962 in a hole in the wall.
Sergeant Jeffrey Pacholski (Pacholski) testified that when he reached the second floor of the Auburn House, he heard officers outside shouting, and then saw Alkufi "div[e]" back into the house through the window carrying a black grocery-style bag. (PID 870-72.) Inside the bag, officers found a loaded 9-millimeter Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun, two loaded Ruger semi-automatic handguns, an unloaded .357 magnum revolver, two additional Ruger magazines, and a holster, in which one of the Rugers was found. When police searched Alkufi's person, they found a key to the front door and $526 in cash. Jury also testified that no one else present had a key to the house and that police found ten photographs of Alkufi in a bedroom on the second floor.
Officers testified that they found drugs in several rooms of the Auburn House and throughout the property. In the basement, they found a plastic bag containing over 600 pills in a number of pill bottles; some of the pills had markings such as "DAN 5513," "Watson 540," and "Watson 3202." Wiencek testified that the packaging and quantity of pills was "indicative of street-level sales." (PID 978-79.) Lab tests revealed these pills to be dihydrocodeinone (162 pills), amphetamine (52 pills), carisoprodol, or Soma (176 pills), and alprazolam, or Xanax (281 pills). Officers also found a one-gallon Ziploc bag in the mailbox "containing small plastic vials containing suspected marijuana," (PID 803, 898); they testified that the vials were similar to those they had seen used in drug sales in the neighborhood, and that the way the marijuana was packaged was consistent with distribution. In the kitchen, officers found a digital scale and a plastic vial containing marijuana. Jury testified that it was "extremely common" to find a digital scale "in proximity to the sale of narcotics," and that the vials were similar to those recovered at the Stahelin House. (PID 805, 809-10.) Officers also found a bag of marijuana on the living-room floor.
Police found additional firearms and ammunition at the house, including fifty .22-caliber rounds in the basement, a loaded 12-gauge shotgun in the yard, and another unloaded firearm that "look[ed] like a Tommy gun, assault rifle" in the backyard. (PID 926-28, 966-67.) No usable fingerprints were found on any of the firearms recovered at the Auburn House.
In addition to Alkufi and Aoun, there were five persons at the house when police arrived, including Durgham Alfadhili (Alfadhili), who was also present when police searched the Stahelin House. None of the other persons were found with illegal narcotics or firearms in their possession. Nobody in the house admitted living there. Officers found in the house a manila envelope with Alfadhili's medical records, as well as mail addressed to four persons who were not present.
Both Aoun and Alkufi were arrested at the Auburn House. Aoun was charged with: 1) one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances in violation of 21 USC §§ 841(a), (b)(1)(C), (b)(1)(E) (); 2) two counts of maintaining places for purposes of distributing controlled substances in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 856(a)(1) (); 3) two counts of felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (); 4) two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) (); and 5) conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a), (b)(1)(D), and 846 (). Counts Five, Six, and Eight also charged Alkufi. Several counts charged Alkufi and Aoun with aiding and abetting each other, including Count Six, maintaining a place (Auburn House) for the purpose of distributing controlled substances.
Alkufi spoke to police following his arrest. At trial, Jury testified that Alkufi told him that he sold pills, carried a gun for protection, and that one of the Rugers found at the Auburn House belonged to him. Jury also testified that Alkufi denied selling pills from the Auburn House and stated he never sold marijuana, but admitted selling pills from a Metro PCS store. When asked whether he had asked Alkufi about "any guns that were found in the house at 6352 Auburn Street that night," Jury replied, (PID 818.)
The government also introduced evidence at trial about two incidents that occurred in April 2012. Officer Brian Headapohl (Headapohl) testified that on April 16, 2012, after receiving a "police run" that persons were selling narcotics, he and a partner went to a vacant house...
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