USA v. Graham

• Decision Date: 21 September 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-5993.,08-5993.
• Citation: 622 F.3d 445
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Donald GRAHAM, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

622 F.3d 445

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.Donald GRAHAM, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 08-5993.

United States Court of Appeals,Sixth Circuit.

Argued: Jan. 22, 2010.

Decided and Filed: Sept. 21, 2010.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Dec. 1, 2010. ^*

ARGUED: Timothy J. McKenna, Law Office of Timothy J. McKenna, LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellant. Andrew Sparks, Assistant United States Attorney, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Timothy J. McKenna, Law Office of Timothy J. McKenna, LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellant. Andrew Sparks, James E. Arehart, Charles P. Wisdom, Jr., Assistant United States Attorneys, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee.

Before: MERRITT, MOORE, and GIBBONS, Circuit Judges.

MOORE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which GIBBONS, J., joined. MERRITT, J. (pp. 465-70), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge.

Donald Graham, convicted of three counts of a seven-count indictment for crack-cocaine offenses under 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846 and 18 U.S.C. § 2, appeals from the district court's denial of his Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29 motion for a judgment of acquittal, denial of his motion to disregard life sentence, and sentencing decision. Graham's main contention on appeal is that his life sentence, imposed for his third qualifying felony under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A), violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the district court's rulings on Graham's motions and his life sentence.

Graham was arrested as part of an investigation conducted by the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force (“NKDSF”) and the Kenton County Police Department (“KCPD”). Starting in September 2006, the NKDSF and the KCPD began a series of six controlled cocaine-base buys with a confidential informant to investigate the confidential informant's tip that Jermaine Goodwin was a drug supplier. ¹ The first four controlled buys occurred at various locations in northern Kentucky where the confidential informant was located. The last two controlled buys, on October 16 and 17, 2006, occurred at Goodwin's residence in northern Kentucky. On each of these days, Goodwin told the confidential informant when he arrived that the drugs were on their way. Graham then arrived and went with Goodwin to the back area of Goodwin's apartment (a bedroom), after which Goodwin returned to the living room with the drugs to complete the deal with the confidential informant. Following this sequence of events on the second day, October 17, the police stormed the apartment to execute a search warrant. Graham, Goodwin, and William Corey Howard, Graham's traveling companion on October 17, were all arrested and charged as co-defendants in a ten-count indictment.

Both Goodwin and Howard pleaded guilty under plea agreements requiring them to testify in Graham's trial. After a three-day trial, the jury convicted Graham of the three counts pertaining to him: Count One, conspiring with Goodwin, Howard, and others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute in excess of fifty grams of cocaine base (21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846); Count Six, distribution of greater than five grams of cocaine base, and aiding and abetting Goodwin, Howard, and others in this distribution (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 2); and Count Seven, distribution of greater than fifty grams of cocaine base, and aiding and abetting Goodwin, Howard, and others in this distribution (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 2). The district court had denied Graham's Rule 29 motions for judgment of acquittal at the close of the government's case and at the close of all the evidence. With new counsel appointed for sentencing, Graham filed a belated motion for a new trial and a motion to disregard life sentence. The district court denied both motions and sentenced Graham on August 1, 2008, to concurrent terms of life imprisonment (the mandatory minimum for Counts One and Seven under § 841(b)(1)(A)) and 168 months of imprisonment (Count Six).

Graham timely appeals the denial of his acquittal and life sentence motions and challenges the reasonableness of his sentence.

I. DISCUSSION

A. Denial of Graham's Motion for Judgment of Acquittal

Graham argues that the district court erred in denying his acquittal motions because “No One Saw Graham Do Anything,” making the government's evidence insufficient to support a conviction. Appellant Br. at 17. The district court denied Graham's motions on the record, stating, “A lot of the evidence is by people whose credibility isn't the greatest, but the Court has to ignore those issues, and the evidence taken at its face value is sufficient for it to go to the jury.” Dist. Ct. Doc. (“Doc.”) 125 (Trial Tr. # 3 at 37, 56). We review de novo the denial of a motion for acquittal, viewing the evidence in “a light most favorable to the prosecution, giving the prosecution the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the testimony.” United States v. McAuliffe, 490 F.3d 526, 537 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 552 U.S. 976, 128 S.Ct. 442, 169 L.Ed.2d 309 (2007). “The relevant question in assessing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. We may not “weigh the evidence presented, consider the credibility of witnesses, or substitute our judgment for that of the jury.” United States v. M/G Transp. Servs., Inc., 173 F.3d 584, 588-89 (6th Cir.1999).

“A defendant claiming insufficiency of the evidence bears a very heavy burden.” United States v. Abboud, 438 F.3d 554, 589 (6th Cir.) (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 976, 127 S.Ct. 446, 166 L.Ed.2d 309 (2006). We afford the same weight to both circumstantial and direct evidence. United States v. Gallo, 763 F.2d 1504, 1518 (6th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1017, 106 S.Ct. 1200, 89 L.Ed.2d 314 (1986). Because “ ‘[c]ircumstantial evidence alone may sustain a conviction,’ ” physical evidence is not a prerequisite to sustaining a conviction. United States v. Davis, 306 F.3d 398, 408 (6th Cir.2002) (quoting United States v. Adams, 265 F.3d 420, 423 (6th Cir.2001)), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1208, 123 S.Ct. 1290, 154 L.Ed.2d 1054 (2003). “Furthermore, it is well-settled that uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice may support a conviction in federal court.” United States v. Spearman, 186 F.3d 743, 746 (6th Cir.) (citing, inter alia, Krulewitch v. United States, 336 U.S. 440, 454, 69 S.Ct. 716, 93 L.Ed. 790 (1949)), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1033, 120 S.Ct. 560, 145 L.Ed.2d 435 (1999); accord United States v. Owens, 426 F.3d 800, 808 (6th Cir.2005), cert. denied, 546 U.S. 1119, 126 S.Ct. 1089, 163 L.Ed.2d 905 (2006). We may not rule on a challenge to witness credibility in reviewing the denial of a motion for acquittal because doing so “would invade the province of the jury as the sole finder of fact in a jury trial.” United States v. Bearden, 274 F.3d 1031, 1039 (6th Cir.2001) (internal quotation marks omitted). A defendant's attempt to attack witness credibility “simpl[y] challenges ... the quality of the government's evidence and not the sufficiency of the evidence.” United States v. Paige, 470 F.3d 603, 608 (6th Cir.2006) (internal quotation marks omitted).

Graham attacks all of his counts of conviction generally, arguing that there is no direct evidence tying him to Goodwin or the controlled buys because no one saw him with any drugs or marked money, and that Goodwin's statements about Graham are not enough. He does not attack specific elements of any of the counts of conviction, but rather points out broad problems with the government's evidence. Because the government must have presented sufficient evidence for each count of conviction such that a “rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” McAuliffe, 490 F.3d at 537, we set forth the elements required for each count.

1. The Elements Required for Conviction

a. Count One

To uphold a conviction on Count One, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute, the jury must have found that the government proved beyond a reasonable doubt:

(1) an agreement by two or more persons to violate the drug laws, (2) knowledge and intent to join in the conspiracy, and (3) participation in the conspiracy. [ United States v. Salgado, 250 F.3d 438, 446 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 916, 934, 122 S.Ct. 263, 306, 151 L.Ed.2d 192, 228 (2001) ]; United States v. Elder, 90 F.3d 1110, 1120 (6th Cir.1996).... It is not necessary that the government prove a formal agreement, and the existence of a conspiracy may be inferred from circumstantial evidence that can reasonably be interpreted as participation in a common plan. United States v. Avery, 128 F.3d 966, 970-71 (6th Cir.1997). A conspirator need not be an active participant in every phase of a conspiracy, so long as he is a party to the general conspiratorial agreement. Salgado, 250 F.3d at 447. While mere presence at the scene would be insufficient to establish participation, a defendant's participation in the conspiracy's common purpose may be inferred from the circumstances as well. Id.

Paige, 470 F.3d at 608-09; see also United States v. Gibbs, 182 F.3d 408, 420 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1051, 120 S.Ct. 592, 145 L.Ed.2d 492 (1999). “A defendant's guilty knowledge and voluntary participation may be inferred from surrounding circumstances,” including a close relationship between alleged conspirators, but participation requires more than “mere association with conspirators.” United States v. Brown, 332 F.3d 363, 372-73 (6th Cir.2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). A buyer-seller relationship with others is not enough, but evidence of a conspiracy or evidence linking a particular defendant to a conspiracy may be provided by:...