United States v. Minter

• Docket Number: 22-5600
• Decision Date: 31 August 2023
• Parties: United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Eric Lavell Minter, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

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United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Eric Lavell Minter, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 22-5600

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

August 31, 2023

Argued: August 2, 2023

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Ashland. No. 0:17-cr-00010-5-David L. Bunning, District Judge.

ARGUED:

Maryam Assar, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant.

John Patrick Grant, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee.

ON BRIEF:

Maryam Assar, Andrew S. Pollis, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant.

John Patrick Grant, Charles P. Wisdom, Jr., UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee.

Before: STRANCH, BUSH, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

JOHN K. BUSH, CIRCUIT JUDGE.

Eric Minter pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin. He appeals the district court's enhancements of his sentence for acting as a manager or supervisor of the conspiracy and for constructive possession of a firearm. For reasons discussed below, we hold that both enhancements were proper and AFFIRM the district court's sentence.

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I.

On August 28, 2017, the Ohio State Highway Patrol seized four vacuum-sealed packages during a routine traffic stop of two drug couriers, Kimberly Moore and James Saunders. Field testing revealed the packages contained around 431 grams of heroin. Following the positive field test results, officers arrested the couriers. They told police they had planned to deliver their load to Minter in Huntington, West Virginia.

Instead, law enforcement took the couriers to the police station, where the FBI Drug Task Force took over the investigation. Interviews revealed that Moore and Saunders were returning from making a cash delivery to, and heroin pickup from, Leonard Wright in Detroit, Michigan. A search of the couriers' cell phones revealed Minter had paid them in either cash or drugs, or both, to deliver the money to Wright and return with drugs. After delivery of the heroin to Minter, the plan was for him to distribute it.

On the same day that Moore and Saunders were arrested and questioned, members of the FBI Drug Task Force followed up by obtaining and executing a search warrant for Minter's residence. There they recovered traces of heroin, scales, and about $18,000 in cash. As a result, Minter was arrested and charged with state offenses related to conspiracy to traffic in drugs.

Moore and Saunders revealed in their interviews with detectives that they had made similar journeys between Wright and Minter in the past. According to Moore, Minter introduced her to Wright during an earlier delivery trip. Moore explained that Wright was "in charge," as the main leader of the operation, and that he set the amount she and Saunders were paid. As for Minter's role, according to Moore, he told her and Saunders where and when to give him the drugs in Huntington, paid them for the deliveries, and gave them cash to take to Wright.

On the day after Minter's arrest, August 29, 2017, members of the FBI Drug Task Force executed a second narcotics search warrant, based on information from a confidential informant, to search under the porch of Minter's residence. Minter lived in an apartment on the upper floor of the building, and he shared the downstairs porch with other tenants. During this search, officers recovered a large charcoal bag containing 529 grams of heroin and 37 grams of crack cocaine. Underneath the steps of the porch, officers also recovered a stolen .357 Magnum

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revolver. The revolver was hidden in a plastic grocery bag about eight feet from the bag containing the drugs.

Law enforcement never tested the gun for Minter's DNA or fingerprints. Also, Moore testified that she had never seen Minter with a gun in person. She did, however, recall him and Wright "playing" with a gun during a FaceTime video call, though she could not recall further details.

Other calls relevant to the case occurred between Minter and his girlfriend, Erica Miller, while he was in jail. In one call, he told her to "make sure that nobody got behind [the house]." The next day Minter called Miller again, telling her to make sure nobody walked around to the back of the house. Miller then informed Minter that the police had found a revolver and "a bag with a bunch of other stuff" under the porch. Minter replied, "[O]h my God, Erica, it's over with, because if they found that s***, oh, my God, Erica, . . . I need you to go back and look underneath there." In response, Miller reminded Minter that the phone call was being recorded, and Minter began to cry.

Despite Miller's warning of their calls being recorded, Minter in a subsequent call told his girlfriend to check underneath the porch, where there should be a "big-a** charcoal bag." Miller reported that no such bag was under the porch. Minter then told her to "check by the steps. You have to move the grass to look."

Minter pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute heroin in September 2018, and the district court sentenced him as a career offender. This court vacated that sentence after the government conceded that Minter no longer qualified as a career offender following this court's decision in United States v. Havis, 927 F.3d 382 (6th Cir. 2019) (en banc) (per curiam). On remand, the district court applied a three-level enhancement for an...