Kevin Wright v. United States

182 F.3d 458, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 14180, 1999 WL 427427
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJune 28, 1999
Docket97-6255
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 182 F.3d 458 (Kevin Wright v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kevin Wright v. United States, 182 F.3d 458, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 14180, 1999 WL 427427 (6th Cir. 1999).

Opinion

*461 NATHANIEL R. JONES, Circuit Judge.

In 1992, a jury convicted petitioner-appellant Kevin Wright of conspiring to distribute cocaine base; distributing and possessing cocaine base with intent to distribute; using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime; and aiding and abetting the commission of the aforementioned crimes. Wright was subsequently sentenced to 535 months of imprisonment, and we affirmed his conviction and sentence on appeal. See United States v. Wright, 16 F.3d 1429 (6th Cir.1994). Wright thereafter filed a motion to vacate his sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, and now appeals from the district court’s order denying in part that motion. For the reasons stated herein, we AFFIRM.

I.

On March 4, 1992, a federal grand jury for the Middle District of Tennessee returned a Superseding Indictment charging Wright with the following: conspiring to knowingly and intentionally distribute cocaine base from July 25, 1991 to August 23, 1991, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846 (Count 1); knowingly and intentionally distributing, or possessing with intent to distribute cocaine base from July 27, 1991 to July 31, 1991, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Count 2); using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime from July 27, 1991 to July 31, 1991, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c) and 2 (Count 3); knowingly and intentionally possessing with intent to distribute cocaine base on August 23, 1991, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Count 4); and using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime on August 23, 1991, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c) and 2 (Count 5). The Superseding Indictment also named Aaron Bray, Rosco Kidd, Jr., David McWhorter, Dwight Gober and Samson Wright as co-conspirators.

Wright proceeded to a jury trial, at which several of his co-defendants and various other individuals testified to his involvement in the dealing, selling and distribution of crack cocaine. 1 Specifically, Connie Daniels, who lived in an apartment in a Clarksville, Tennessee housing project, testified that during July 1991 she allowed Wright and his co-conspirators to use her apartment to deal and sell crack cocaine. She further testified that she then saw three of Wright’s co-conspirators in possession of various weapons. 2 Although she testified to seeing Wright handle crack cocaine on several occasions, she did not state that he possessed any weapons during July 1991. Daniels’s testimony was corroborated by Anita Watkins, who went to Daniels’s apartment during that time period to purchase crack cocaine. 3 Watkins also testified that she saw Wright and two or three other individuals in the back bedroom of Daniels’s apartment “cutting” crack cocaine. She further stated that one of the individuals came out of the back room, into the living room, with a gun. At no point in her testimony, however, did Watkins state that she specifically saw Wright using or carrying any weapons during July 1991. 4 Similarly, Michael *462 Fields testified that Wright hired him in June of 1991 to work as a “runner.” 5 Fields further testified that on three days in July, he went to Daniels’s apartment to pick up crack cocaine from Wright to sell. Fields also stated that he saw several individuals with weapons at Daniels’s home. Specifically, Fields stated that when he went to Daniels’s apartment, he would go to the back room and knock on the door. The person at the door would then “open the door [with] a gun in his hand.” J.A. at 369. Fields further identified a gun at trial as similar to one of the weapons Wright and his co-conspirators had in the back room of Daniels’s apartment. According to Fields, the gun was, at the most, three feet away from the crack cocaine. Moreover, Fields testified that on July 31, 1991, four individuals, but apparently not Wright, exchanged gunfire with a drug customer.

The jury also heard from Dwight Gober, who testified that in order to obtain money to pay his college tuition, he agreed to accompany Wright to Clarksville to sell crack cocaine. Gober specifically testified regarding Wright’s involvement in the crack cocaine operation during August 1991. Finally, Aaron Bray testified that during July 1991, he and other co-conspirators, including Wright, distributed crack cocaine from Daniels’s apartment. Bray and other co-conspirators carried the weapons, while Wright handled the crack cocaine in the back room. Bray also stated that he “worked the door” at Daniels’s apartment, and provided protection for the drug activities that occurred in the back room of the apartment. J.A. at 342. He stated that although no one specifically told him to provide such protection, he knew or understood that this was his role from his past experiences in drug operations. Bray also testified that on July 29, 1991, he, Wright and other co-conspirators had three firearms in a “pink gym bag.” 6

In 1992, a jury convicted Wright on all five counts, and Wright was subsequently sentenced to 535 months of imprisonment. 7 On appeal, this court affirmed his conviction and sentence. Wright, 16 F.3d at 1431. On November 4, 1996, Wright filed in the district court a § 2255 motion to vacate his sentence, alleging, among other things, that: 1) insufficient evidence existed to support his two § 924(c) convictions in light of Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137, 116 S.Ct. 501, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995); 2) his appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to challenge the quantity of drugs used to determine his relevant conduct and his sentencing enhancement for a leadership role in the offense; and 3) the government failed to prove that he distributed crack cocaine, as opposed to another form of cocaine *463

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Young v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2025
Montejo v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2025
Birdsong v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2025
Kettles v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2024
Onyebuagu v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2024
Suggs v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2024
Brooks v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2024
Vance v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2023
Woodley v. United States
E.D. Tennessee, 2021
Lee v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2020
Bright v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2020
Wallace v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2020
Bradley v. United States
M.D. Tennessee, 2020
Barnes v. USA (TV2)
E.D. Tennessee, 2019
Taylor v. United States
E.D. Tennessee, 2019
United States v. David Donadeo
910 F.3d 886 (Sixth Circuit, 2018)
Antwone Shaw v. United States
604 F. App'x 473 (Sixth Circuit, 2015)
Darron Howard v. United States
743 F.3d 459 (Sixth Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Michael Cicchetti
541 F. App'x 556 (Sixth Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Robert Velez
485 F. App'x 793 (Sixth Circuit, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
182 F.3d 458, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 14180, 1999 WL 427427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kevin-wright-v-united-states-ca6-1999.