United States of America v. James Luvene

245 F.3d 651, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 5409, 2001 WL 310993
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedApril 2, 2001
Docket00-3593
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 245 F.3d 651 (United States of America v. James Luvene) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States of America v. James Luvene, 245 F.3d 651, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 5409, 2001 WL 310993 (8th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

MURPHY, Circuit Judge.

James Luvene was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and to distribute over 50 grams of crack cocaine and also of aiding and abetting another in possession with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(B), 846, and *653 18 U.S.C. § 2. The district court 1 sentenced Luvene to 151 months, and he appeals from the judgment. We affirm.

On April 13, 2000, Luvene was arrested after his involvement in a sale of crack cocaine to Minneapolis undercover police officer Kevin Angerhofer. Earlier that evening Angerhofer had received information from a woman arrested for selling heroin that Luvene and Bryant Cribbs were crack dealers. She agreed to arrange a drug deal with them. The informant made three taped telephone calls to Luvene and Cribbs. In the first call she told Luvene that she wanted to buy 4 /£ grams of crack for $4,500. She later arranged to meet Cribbs in the parking lot of a hotel. Angerhofer drove with her to the hotel lot where she joined Luvene and Cribbs in Luvene’s car while Angerhofer waited in his unmarked vehicle. Anger-hofer testified that through his open window he could hear the others discussing the crack deal since a window in Luvene’s car was also partially open. An agreement was reached, and Luvene and Cribbs told the informant and Angerhofer to wait in the parking lot until they returned. Surveillance officers followed Luvene and Cribbs to their apartment, where the two remained for approximately twenty minutes.

Luvene dropped Cribbs, off elsewhere before driving back to the hotel lot where he told Angerhofer that his friend had the crack at another location and that Anger-hofer should follow him there. Angerhofer expressed concern that Luvene was trying to cheat him, and Luvene said “No, no. We’re not trying to rip you off.” Anger-hofer told Luvene that he wanted to hold the crack to determine its quality. Luvene answered, “That’s not a problem, you can make sure it’s good.” Luvene then drove to the house where he had left Cribbs, and Angerhofer parked directly behind him. Luvene made a call on his cell phone, and Cribbs came out and walked over to An-gerhofer’s vehicle where the informant took the crack from Cribbs and passed it to Angerhofer. He then signaled waiting officers to arrest Cribbs and Luvene.

Luvene was searched after he was arrested. He was carrying a key to the apartment he shared with Cribbs, $295 in small denominations, and a cell phone. Officers obtained a search warrant for the one bedroom apartment. The officers found crack in a black backpack and in a jacket, a triple beam scale on the kitchen counter with crack residue on its balance, small plastic bags, another scale with razor marks and cocaine residue in the dining room, $900 cash in an unlocked safe in the bedroom closet, a bulletproof vest, ammunition, and a Glock pistol case.

Cribbs and Luvene were charged jointly, but several days before trial Cribbs pled guilty. Cribbs testified during his plea colloquy that both he and Luvene had possessed the crack with the intent to distribute it, and that they had conspired to do so.

Before trial Luvene hired an investigator to locate the informant. Counsel mentioned at oral argument that the investigator had talked to her on the phone, and Luvene himself had a telephone conversation with her. The investigator also spoke to members of her family, but he was not able to learn where she was. The government disclosed its witness list the week before trial, and the informant’s name was not on it.

On the day before trial Luvene moved in limine, asking the court to order the government to disclose the location of the informant. The court told the government *654 to disclose that information and offered Luvene a continuance if he should require more time to locate the informant. Lu-vene did not pursue the court’s offer, however. After the government turned over the informant’s name and last known address, Luvene complained to the court that she was no longer there and that the government must have additional undisclosed information. He requested an absent witness instruction. The court ordered the government to turn over all the information that it had on the informant, including phone numbers, and ruled that Luvene was not entitled to an absent witness instruction because of the untimeliness of his discovery request. The court inspected the government files in camera and found no undisclosed matter on the informant.

Luvene indicated he wanted to question Angerhofer about the whereabouts of the informant, and the court held an evidentia-ry hearing for that purpose. Angerhofer testified that the informant had called him the week after Luvene’s arrest to ask if she would be subpoenaed. She told An-gerhofer that she would not appear in court if she were subpoenaed and implied that she was afraid of being physically harmed. She refused to meet with Anger-hofer, but gave him a telephone number in Chicago. Later it was discovered that she could not be reached at that number. An-gerhofer had no other phone number or address for her.

Luvene’s theory of defense at trial was mere presence, and he testified before the jury. Neither Cribbs nor the informant testified. The jury found Luvene guilty on both counts. The court calculated his sentencing range at 151-188 months and sentenced him at the low point of the range. 2 On appeal Luvene asks that his conviction be reversed, arguing that his Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process and his Fifth Amendment right to due process were violated when the government failed to inform him of the location of the informant and that the district court abused its discretion by not giving an absent witness instruction.

Luvene claims that the informant’s testimony was important to his case because it would have shown that the drug negotiation was between her and Cribbs and that Luvene was merely present during their discussion. He claims that her testimony would have been especially important because Angerhofer’s version at trial about what happened when the informant got into the car with Luvene and Cribbs differed from his police report and from Luvene’s testimony. The Sixth Amendment provides that “[in] all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to ... have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.” U.S. Const. Amend. VI. The right to compulsory process is not absolute. Both the Sixth Amendment compulsory process and the Fifth Amendment due process clauses require that a defendant show that the witness “testimony would have been both material and favorable to his defense.” United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 U.S. 858, 867, 872, 102 S.Ct. 3440, 73 L.Ed.2d 1193 (1982). Material testimony is testimony that might affect the outcome of the trial. See id. at 868, 102 S.Ct. 3440.

There was ample evidence at trial that Luvene was involved in the drug transaction.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
245 F.3d 651, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 5409, 2001 WL 310993, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-of-america-v-james-luvene-ca8-2001.