United States v. Tullies
| Decision Date | 14 November 2018 |
| Docket Number | Crim. No. 18-21 (KM) |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JESSE TULLIES and EUGENE WILLIAMS |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
This matter comes before the Court on the post-trial motion of the defendant, Jesse Tullies (DE 69), joined by his codefendant, Eugene Williams (DE 72), for a judgment of acquittal, pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 29(c), or in the alternative for a new trial, pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 33. I have considered the proffered grounds separately and in combination. For the reasons expressed herein, the motion will be denied.
The charges stemmed from the events of a single afternoon, October 4, 2017. An undercover officer saw the defendants engage in two sales of illegal narcotics. The officers apprehended one customer in possession of the heroin he had just purchased. They seized heroin and crack cocaine, as well as three loaded handguns, from a parked car that defendants used as a stash.
The first witness, Detective Yusef Ellis of the Essex County Sheriffs Department, identified defendants Tullies and Williams as the persons he had seen conduct two hand-to-hand narcotics transactions on October 4, 2017. On that date, Det. Ellis testified, he was in Newark, on Weequahic Avenue near Clinton Place, conducting surveillance from an unmarked vehicle. He was alone, but in radio contact with backup officers nearby. Tullies and Williams, he testified, were two of three men he saw there.2 (Tr. 158)
Det. Ellis saw a green Honda Civic pull up and saw the driver, a white male, speak to Tullies. (Tr. 159-60) Williams then walked up the driveway of 249 Weequahic Avenue and approached a Chevy Lumina with no license plates that was parked there. (Tr. 161-63, 211) He went to the rear bumper of the car, bent down, took out a clear plastic bag, removed some items, and replaced the bag under the car. (Tr. 164-65) He then walked back to the Honda Civic and handed the items to Tullies. Ellis could see that the items were glassine folds, commonly used to package heroin. (Tr. 166) Ellis saw Tullies hand the items to the driver of the Civic, and saw the driver give Tullies cash in exchange. The Civic then drove away. (Tr. 166-67)
An unidentified African-American woman then approached Tullies on foot. (Tr. 170-71) Tullies walked up the driveway of 249 Weequahic, as Williams had done earlier. (Tr. 171) Tullies reached under the rear bumper of the Chevy Lumina, took out a plastic bag, removed items from the bag, and replaced it under the bumper. (Tr. 172) Tullies then walked back to the unidentified woman. (Tr. 173) When Tullies opened his hand, Ellis again could see that the items were glassine folds. The woman handed Tullies cash, which he placed in his pocket. (Tr. 174) The woman then walked away. (Tr. 174-75)
Ellis radioed the backup officers and described where Tullies and Williams were standing. At this point, some five minutes had passed since the hand-to-hand transactions. (Tr. 177)
Detectives Evans and Pearce appeared and arrested Tullies and Williams. (Tr. 178) When arrested, Tullies possessed $1275 in currency and Williams possessed $360 in currency. (Tr. 252-58)
Ellis radioed a brief description of the unidentified woman purchaser and the Civic driver to the backup officers. (Tr. 175-76) The unidentified woman was not found, but Detective Docke pulled over the green Civic nearby, on Lyons Avenue. (Tr. 304, 306) The driver was identified as John Potts. (Tr. 309) Potts surrendered two glassine envelopes of heroin, bearing the brand stamp "Black Jack." (Tr. 309-11) Docke radioed back to Ellis, reporting the results of the stop, and then drove to the Weequahic location. (Tr. 176-77, 311)
Ellis directed Detectives Ryals and Docke to the Chevy Lumina. (Tr. 178-79) Together they searched the Lumina and the surrounding area. (Tr. 235) From under the rear bumper of the car, Ryals personally recovered "jugs" (small plastic containers) of crack cocaine and a loaded handgun with ammunition. (Tr. 236-43, 317-18) Detective Docke recovered from under the bumper a bag containing glassine envelopes of heroin, rubber-banded in bundles of ten, and stamped with the brand name "Black Jack." (Tr. 243-47, 313-16) The brand-stamp "Black Jack" matched the stamp on the two envelopes seized from Potts. (Tr. 259-60) Docke also recovered from under the bumper two additional loaded handguns. (Tr. 247-52, 316-17)
The parties stipulated that the drugs were analyzed and found to consist of 3.714 grams of heroin and .563 grams of cocaine base. (Tr. 371-72) The guns were identified as a Beretta BU9, serial number NU068181; a Taurus Millennium PT111 G2, serial number TGU47186; and an FEG 9mm, serial number AG0726. (Tr. 343, 347-49, 354; GE 4, 5, 6) Agent Casanova of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms confirmed that the seized guns were operable, that they fit the statutory definition of a firearm, and that the guns and ammunition were manufactured outside the State of New Jersey and hence had traveled in interstate commerce. (Tr. 332-58)
Agent Havens of the FBI testified in the capacity of an opinion witness on "methods used by drug dealers to conduct street-level drug business to includethe distribution, packaging, pricing, and storage of the drugs, and also the use of firearms in furtherance thereof." (Tr. 382) He described packaging of heroin in decks, bundles, and bricks, as well as the use of brand-name stamps; the packaging of cocaine base (crack cocaine) in jugs; prevailing prices in Newark; and related matters. Havens testified that street-level drug dealers will typically set up a territory, often on a quiet block, will protect that territory, and will generally permit only one brand to be sold within that territory. Transactions, he explained, are generally done in cash, and often in small bills, which may be traded in for larger bills at local businesses such as bodegas. The packaging of the drugs and the currency seized in this case, he opined, were typical. (Tr. 374-398) Havens testified that street-level dealers do not want to be caught in physical possession of drugs, so they typically stash them at a location which they can monitor. They then retrieve amounts as necessary for sales. To maintain deniability, the location would typically not be owned by or traceable to the dealer. The facts of this case, he opined, fit that pattern. (Tr. 398-401)
Havens testified further that guns are tools of the narcotics trade. They are used to protect the drugs and the territory, to defend against robbery, and to guarantee payment. Guns will sometimes be stashed with the drugs they are meant to protect; here, too, the dealer may want to avoid being caught in physical possession of a firearm. Once again, Havens testified that the pattern fit the facts of this case. (Tr. 401-04) Semi-automatic handguns like the ones seized here, he testified, are typical and well-suited to the purposes for which street-level drug dealers use them, such as defense, protection of the stash, or discouragement of robbery. (Tr. 404-06)
In the bifurcated second phase of the case, the government introduced a stipulation that each of the defendants had a prior, unspecified felony conviction. (Tr. 587-90, Tr. 636-39)3
Leanna Travers, defendant Tullies's daughter, testified that on October 4, 2017, she went to Weequahic Avenue with her friend, Stephanie Davis. She went there to meet Tullies, who was to give her some money for work shoes. (Tr. 444-45, 449) Tullies pulled up in a car, got out, and walked toward a car that was parked behind the one in which Travers was sitting. Tullies spoke to two females, and then walked toward Travers's car, where Travers was still sitting. At that point the police arrived and blocked everybody in. (Tr. 445) Tullies was handcuffed and arrested. (Tr. 446)
Stephanie Davis testified that on October 4, 2017, she drove to Weequahic Avenue with Leanna Travers, her best friend. They parked and waited for Tullies. The car of Travers's cousin was parked behind them. (Tr. 435-37) Tullies pulled up in a light blue car and parked on the opposite side of the street. (Tr. 437-38) Multiple police cars with flashing lights then arrived, and the police took everyone's car keys. Tullies was handcuffed behind the Davis/Travers car and then placed in a police car. (Tr. 439) Asked on cross-examination why they went to Weequahic Avenue to look for Tullies, Davis agreed that it was the location where he usually hangs out. (Tr. 442)
John Potts, the driver of the green Civic, testified that he drove to Weequahic Avenue on October 4, 2017. A now-recovering heroin addict, he admitted that he went there to buy drugs. (Tr. 451) The persons who sold himthe drugs, he said, were not Tullies and Williams but "younger kids," whom he described as two skinny black males, 6 feet in height, around 18 to 20 years old. (Tr. 452-53) He testified that he recognized Tullies and Williams only from having been arrested with them.4
Dina Blackwell, who identified Tullies as her fiance, testified. As for the $1275 possessed by Tullies, she stated that it was intended for a rental deposit on a house. She testified that, although she later saw Potts in municipal court, she did not have a conversation with him. (Tr. 484-87)5
Audrey Blackwell is the mother of Dina Blackwell, whom she identified as Tullies's wife. Audrey Blackwell did not witness the events, but corroborated that Tullies had borrowed her car, a Nissan Altima, on October 4, 2017. Following the arrests, she recovered the car from the police at Weequahic Avenue. (Tr. 479-82)
Defendants Tullies and Williams were originally charged by complaint filed on December 19, 2017. (DE 1) On January 19, 2018, Tullies and Williams were jointly indicted. (DE 13) All counts were charged as occurring "[o]n or about October 4, 2017."
The first three counts of the indictment, charged jointly against both de...
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