US v. Manes

• Decision Date: 10 May 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-3163,09-3312.,09-3163
• Citation: 603 F.3d 451
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jackie MANES, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stanton Yancey, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

603 F.3d 451

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jackie MANES, Defendant-Appellant.

United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stanton Yancey, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 09-3163, 09-3312.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: April 16, 2010.

Filed: May 10, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Steven Ray Davis, North Little Rock, AR, for appellant Manes.

Milton A. DeJesus, Little Rock, AR, for appellant Yancey.

Anne E. Gardner, AUSA, Little Rock, AR, for appellee.

Before WOLLMAN, MURPHY, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.

In these consolidated appeals Jackie Manes and Stanton Yancey challenge their convictions by a jury for conspiring to distribute and to possess with an intent to distribute at least 50 but less than 500 grams of a substance containing methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B), and 846. Manes contends that evidence obtained during an allegedly illegal stop should have been suppressed, that the jury should have been instructed on the difference between a conspiracy to distribute and a simple drug transaction, and that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction. Yancey appeals the admission at trial of a photograph showing drugs and money that were seized from different locations. We affirm.

I.

On March 1, 2008 officers of the 20th Judicial Drug Task Force (JDTF) in Jonesboro, Arkansas were tipped off to a drug transaction scheduled to take place the following morning. The tip came from a confidential informant who had provided the investigating officers with reliable intelligence within the previous 6 months. The tipster indicated that a sale of 3 ounces of methamphetamine would occur at around 10 a.m. on state highway 74 in Searcy County, Arkansas. The seller would be a Hispanic male traveling from the direction of Batesville, Arkansas in a green Ford Explorer. The buyers, two white males, would arrive in a red or maroon truck.

The next morning officers from the JDTF and the Arkansas State Police set up surveillance along highway 74 near the intersection with state highway 66. Around 9:40 a.m. Agent Johnny Sowell observed a green Ford Explorer traveling on highway 66. In the vehicle were two individuals, one of whom appeared to be an Hispanic male. A check of the license plates revealed that the Explorer was registered in Cave City which is near Batesville. As the Explorer turned onto highway 74, Agent Sowell proceeded to follow in his unmarked vehicle. Special Agent Kevin Brown followed behind. Agent Brian Tatum, who was posted westward down highway 74, pulled his vehicle onto the highway in front of the Explorer.

As Agent Sowell followed, he observed the Explorer exceed the posted speed limit and cross the center line a number of times. At approximately 10 a.m., a maroon truck approached, traveling eastward on highway 74. The Explorer's Hispanic male passenger then leaned forward and waved. The truck's passengers, two white males, responded with a wave and turned to watch the Explorer pass. The vehicles continued on their course, the truck driving eastward and the Explorer westbound.

Near the end of a curve approximately 1 mile down the highway, the officers made a traffic stop of the Explorer. Officer Sowell approached the car and questioned the driver, Laura Ciesneros (a/k/a Celica Aguilera), while Officer Tatum approached the passenger, Moises Tellez Garcia. At this time the maroon truck reappeared from around the curve and approached the area of the stop. Agent Sowell stepped into the road and signaled for it to pull over. The truck's engine revved momentarily, but then the truck pulled over on the opposite side of the highway.

While Special Agent Brown approached the truck and began to question its passengers, Agent Sowell returned to the Explorer. Tellez Garcia did not speak English well, but Ciesneros agreed to translate. After getting Tellez Garcia's consent to search, Agent Sowell noticed a plastic bag protruding from his front jacket pocket. There were three bags inside containing approximately 3 ounces of methamphetamine. Tellez Garcia, speaking through Ciesneros, stated that he had intended to meet the passengers of the maroon truck in order to sell the methamphetamine to them.

In the meantime the truck's passengers identified themselves to Special Agent Brown as Jackie Manes and Stanton Yancey. They both maintained that they were on their way to purchase a hay baler. Manes volunteered that he had turned the truck around because he believed he had seen his niece. Agent Sowell then informed Special Agent Brown that Tellez Garcia had identified Manes and Yancey as the intended buyers of his methamphetamine. Both nevertheless denied knowing Tellez Garcia.

After waiving their Miranda rights, Manes and Yancey admitted to having used methamphetamine recently. A search incident to their arrest revealed that each had approximately $1950 cash in his pocket, separated from his other money. The officers discovered a small sheet of paper in Manes' wallet on which numbers and names had been written, apparently recording drug transactions. After a drug dog alerted on the truck, the officers found three glass smoking pipes in the back of the driver's seat.

Manes, Yancey, Ciesneros, and Tellez Garcia were subsequently indicted on charges of conspiring to distribute and to possess with an intent to distribute at least 50 but less than 500 grams of a substance containing methamphetamine. Tellez Garcia pled guilty, while Ciesneros appears to be a fugitive. Manes and Yancey proceeded to trial.

Manes filed a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the stop. The district court¹ denied the motion after ruling that the stop, arrest, questioning, and search had not violated the Fourth Amendment. The conspiracy charges against Manes and Yancey proceeded to a jury trial beginning on May 18, 2009. During trial the district court overruled their joint objection to the admission of a photograph showing the drugs and money seized from the two vehicles. The court later refused their proffered instruction seeking to distinguish a simple buyer/seller transaction from a conspiracy to distribute. The court denied their motions for judgment of acquittal. After they were each found guilty, they were sentenced to 60 months imprisonment. Thereafter they filed these appeals.

II.

A.

Manes appeals the denial of his motion to suppress the statements he made to law enforcement officers, as well as evidence found in his truck and on his person. That evidence included three glass pipes, approximately $1950 in cash, and a sheet of paper with what appeared to be drug notes. He contends that the evidence had been obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment as the result of a stop not supported by a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

On appeal from the denial of a motion to suppress, we review the district court's factual rulings for clear error and its conclusions of law de novo. United States v. Pruneda, 518 F.3d 597, 603 (8th Cir.2008). "We must affirm . . . unless the decision is unsupported by substantial evidence, is based on an erroneous view of the applicable law, or in light of the entire record, we are left with a firm and definite conviction that a mistake has been made." United States v. Rodriguez-Hernandez, 353 F.3d 632, 635 (8th Cir.2003).

The Fourth Amendment is not violated when a law enforcement officer briefly detains an individual to investigate circumstances which gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was underway. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); United States v. Stephens, 350 F.3d 778, 779 (8th Cir.2003). A reasonable suspicion arises when specific and articulable facts and rational inferences therefrom would lead "a person of reasonable caution" to believe that an investigatory stop would be appropriate because, for example, the suspect may be in the process of committing a crime. Terry, 392 U.S. at 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868 (quoting Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925)). We review the totality of the underlying circumstances to determine whether an investigatory stop was predicated on the required level of suspicion. United States v. Beck, 140 F.3d 1129, 1136 (8th Cir.1998).

A confidential informant's tip may support a reasonable suspicion if it has sufficient indicia of reliability, United States v. Hill, 91 F.3d 1064, 1069 (8th Cir.1996), such as the informant's track record as a reliable source or independent corroboration of the tip, see United States v. Williams, 10 F.3d 590, 593 (8th Cir. 1993). As the Supreme Court has made clear, "when an informant is shown to be right about some things, he is probably right about other facts that he has alleged, including the claim that the object of the tip is engaged in criminal activity." Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 331, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990) (citing Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 244, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). The reasonableness of such an inference is bolstered if the tip is corroborated not only by matching an identity or description, but also by accurately describing a suspect's future behavior. Id. at 332, 110 S.Ct. 2412; Hill, 91 F.3d at 1069.

All of these factors were present here. A confidential informant who had provided reliable information in the past indicated that at approximately 10 a.m. on March 2, 2008 an Hispanic male suspect would be traveling in a green Ford Explorer on Highway 74 in Searcy County from the direction of Batesville to deliver 3 ounces of methamphetamine to two white males in a red or maroon truck. The investigating officers corroborated the tip when they observed vehicles and passengers matching the informant's description make contact with one another at the predicted time and location.

The officers confirmed that the green Ford Explorer had license plates...