USA. v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 24 August 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-2025,98-2025
• Citation: 189 F.3d 502
• Parties: (7th Cir. 1999) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MONTEZ D. JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 502

189 F.3d 502 (7th Cir. 1999)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. MONTEZ D. JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 98-2025

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

Argued January 6, 1999

Decided August 24, 1999

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. No. 97 CR 30072--William D. Stiehl, Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before POSNER, Chief Judge, COFFEY and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

On November 6, 1997, the defendant-appellant, Montez D. Jackson ("Jackson"), was convicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois of two counts of distribution of crack cocaine and one count of possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. sec. 841(a)(1). The defendant appeals his conviction and sentence for possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In March of 1997, a confidential informant ("informant") contacted Agent Anthony Mino ("Mino") of the East St. Louis Police Department. Although Mino was employed by the East St. Louis Police Department, he was assigned to an Illinois State Police unit known as the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois, which is made up of Illinois State Police officers and local law enforcement officers temporarily assigned to work on undercover drug investigations. Agent Mino reported for work daily at Illinois State Police headquarters in Springfield, Illinois. The informant advised Agent Mino that the defendant Jackson was engaged in narcotics distribution and sales and offered to introduce Mino to Jackson for the purpose of making undercover drug purchases. Mino referred the informant to Sergeant Brian Latham ("Latham"), supervisor of the East St. Louis Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois office, to arrange the narcotics purchases.

On April 4, 1997, Latham and Mino met with the informant in Jones Park in East St. Louis to formulate a plan to purchase narcotics from the defendant Jackson. Later the same day, the informant and Latham met with Jackson at the informant's house. Latham advised the defendant that he was interested in purchasing a half-ounce of crack cocaine, and after the defendant handed Latham a rock of crack cocaine weighing 2.6 grams, Latham gave him $200. Five days later, on April 9, 1997, Latham again went to the informant's house where Jackson gave him 11.2 grams of crack cocaine for $400.

Several days later, Lieutenant Henry Williams ("Williams") of the East St. Louis Park Division Police Department, while on night patrol in Halls Park in East St. Louis, observed the defendant Jackson driving a light brown Pontiac Parisian and noted that Jackson's rear license plate light was nonoperational. Accordingly, Williams conducted a traffic stop. During the stop and interview, Williams became aware of the fact that the defendant's driver's license had been revoked and that the Pontiac he was operating was not registered to Jackson, but to another person named Lynette Hawkins ("Hawkins"). Williams did not cite the defendant for driving without a license at this time, but released him and returned to police headquarters to review Jackson's driving record. Late in the evening of June 13, 1997, Williams saw the defendant Jackson driving the same Pontiac in Halls Park after the park had closed. Williams stopped Jackson, who was accompanied by an unidentified female, and questioned the defendant and his companion as to why they were in the park after hours. After conducting a field interview, Williams released Jackson. Three days later, on June 16, 1997, Williams pulled the defendant over in Halls Park for operating the Pontiac while his driver's license was revoked. This time, the defendant was accompanied by Darrell Merit ("Merit"). After checking with police headquarters, the officer was informed that the defendant's driver's license was still classified as revoked, and Jackson was placed under arrest for driving without either a valid license or insurance and was advised of his Miranda rights. Williams placed Jackson in the back seat on the driver's side of his squad car. Chief Levoy Perry ("Perry"), Williams's supervisor, and Detective Ken Berry ("Berry") of the East St. Louis Police Department were called and arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. When the defendant learned that Berry, a member of the police narcotics division, had arrived, he asked: "What is he doing here? I don't do drugs." Lieutenant Williams, Detective Berry, and Chief Perry proceeded to perform an inventory search of the vehicle prior to conveying the vehicle to the police station to impound it, pursuant to the standard operating procedures of the East St. Louis Police Department. After checking the passenger compartment, Perry opened the trunk and he, Berry, and Williams discovered what they believed to be crack cocaine in a plastic bag in the trunk.¹ As a member of the narcotics division, Berry assumed control of the crime scene, arrested Merit for possession of a controlled substance, and told Jackson that he was also under arrest for possession of a controlled substance. Berry handcuffed Merit's hands behind his back and placed him in the backseat of his squad car behind the driver. Williams moved Jackson from his squad car to the rear seat of Berry's squad while Jackson's hands were cuffed behind his back. Berry then conveyed Jackson and Merit to police headquarters. After arriving with the subjects at the station, but before entering the same for booking, Berry searched the back seat of his patrol car, as he was required to do after transporting prisoners in his vehicle, and found a clear plastic vial containing 4.2 grams of crack cocaine underneath the squad car seat where Jackson had been.

The following day, June 17, 1997, Detective Delbert Marion ("Marion") removed the defendant Jackson from his cell and advised him of his Miranda rights for the purpose of getting a statement. Jackson told Marion that he would not make a statement unless a lawyer was present, and Marion returned Jackson to his cell. The next day, Mino visited the East St. Louis Police Department and noticed that Jackson's name was on the previous day's arrest sheet. Berry told Agent Mino that when Jackson was stopped for a traffic violation on June 16, 1997, cocaine was found in his car. Mino asked Berry if he could speak with the defendant about Mino's ongoing investigation stemming from the two earlier drug sales in April of 1997. Berry agreed and brought the defendant to an interview room where Mino was waiting. Prior to the interview, Jackson signed a department form which set forth his Miranda rights. The form, in part, provided that Jackson had been advised of his constitutional rights "and fully understanding these, [he] waive[d] them freely and voluntarily, without threat or intimidation and without any promise of reward or immunity."

During the interview, Mino identified himself as a Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois narcotics agent and explained to Jackson that he was not concerned with any of the details of Jackson's arrest of June 16, 1997. Mino also advised Jackson that he was the subject of an ongoing drug investigation and that he (Mino) had knowledge that he had sold crack cocaine on two separate occasions to an undercover officer.² Mino also told the defendant that he was not interested in obtaining any statement from him and that he was a "little fish" who could help the police catch his supplier. Mino allegedly told Jackson: "I am coming to you to see if you would like to assist in different avenues of investigation that [you] could help us on. That was as far as the conversation went." Mino gave the defendant his pager number and told the defendant to call him if he was interested in cooperating after his release from jail. The defendant stated that he would call Mino upon his release. Mino's conversation with defendant lasted approximately twenty minutes. Mino exited the interview room and told Berry that he was finished. As Berry escorted the defendant back to his cell, Jackson mentioned to Berry that after speaking to Mino, he realized "that he was in a lot of trouble. He stated that he wanted to clear up an earlier matter of the traffic stop in the park." Jackson proceeded to tell Berry about the June 16 traffic stop, and Berry took notes.

During the ensuing conversation, the defendant volunteered information to Berry concerning the June 16 traffic stop, none of which related to Mino's narcotics distribution investigation. Jackson stated that the bag of crack found in the trunk of Hawkins's car was his and took responsibility for placing the cocaine vial beneath the seat of the squad car. After reducing Jackson's statement to Berry to a typewritten document, Berry asked Jackson to read it and to feel free to change anything in it with which he disagreed. The defendant read and signed the statement without making any changes. The statement form also contained a short recitation of Jackson's constitutional rights, which the defendant initialed. The form provided, in part:

I have the right to remain silent and . . . I do not have to make a statement, answer an [sic] questions or talk to anyone nor answer any questions directed to me; I further have been advised that anything I say or any statement I give can and will be introduced into evidence in Court against me; I have been further advised that if I want an attorney to be present at this time or anytime hereafter, I am entitled to such attorney, and that if I cannot afford to pay for an attorney that an attorney will be furnished to me if I so desire, and that if I do desire an attorney I do not have to make any statement or answer any questions until such time as an attorney has consulted with me. Having been advised of these rights as above, I hereby voluntarily agree to make a statement...