United States v. Adam McClellan

436 F. App'x 479
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedAugust 24, 2011
Docket09-4423
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 436 F. App'x 479 (United States v. Adam McClellan) 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
United States v. Adam McClellan, 436 F. App'x 479 (6th Cir. 2011).

Opinions

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge.

On June 7, 2008, Christopher Roush was killed during the course of a robbery gone awry. That evening, Michael Haynie entered Roush’s home pursuant to a plan concocted by Adam C. McClellan and Elisha Lacy Dickens to rob Roush of money and drugs. After Haynie entered Roush’s home, a struggle ensued in which Haynie struck Roush twice in the head with a gun. The gun discharged and hit Roush in the back of the head, killing him.

McClellan was convicted by a jury on six counts of an indictment, charging him with interstate stalking, firearms crimes, and drug trafficking crimes. The district court sentenced McClellan to a total of 480 months’ imprisonment. McClellan appeals his conviction, arguing (1) the district court erred by denying his motion for judgment of acquittal, and, in the alternative, the jury verdicts were against the manifest weight of the evidence; and (2) the district court erred in failing to dismiss one count of the indictment. For the following reasons, we affirm McClellan’s conviction.

I.

In the summer of 2007, defendant-appellant Adam McClellan went from Columbus, Ohio, to Meigs County, Ohio, to cultivate marijuana. McClellan first lived in the Mason Motel in Mason, West Virginia but soon moved into a trailer park with a woman named Tangy Laudermilt. Prior to McClellan, Laudermilt dated the victim, Christopher Roush, and they lived together in the same trailer park from about December 2005 until March 2007. During this time, Laudermilt and Roush purchased crack cocaine from Frank Dickens.1 [481]*481During the summer of 2007, McClellan met Frank. The two became friends, and McClellan spent time at Frank’s house and sold Frank marijuana. After a brief return to Columbus in the fall of 2007, McClellan and Frank’s business relationship resumed in 2008 when McClellan sold marijuana and cocaine to Frank. Frank purchased cocaine from both McClellan and another dealer, and, at this time, Christopher Roush was Frank’s “number one customer.”

In the spring of 2008, McClellan returned to Meigs County and stayed with Frank for about three weeks. McClellan had no money and, according to Frank, often spoke about selling marijuana and “hitting a lick” — meaning doing something illegal to get money for drugs, such as robbing someone. While staying with Frank, McClellan met Frank’s brother, Elisha “Lacy” Dickens. McClellan and Frank subsequently had a disagreement, which Frank attributed to McClellan’s lack of money and talk of his drug business in front of Frank’s children (although McClellan testified that there was no “falling out”).

McClellan then went to stay with Lacy. About a week before Roush was killed, Frank went to Lacy’s house to confront McClellan because he had heard that McClellan informed Frank’s wife and girlfriend about Frank’s interest in a third woman, Stacy Stewart. During the confrontation, Frank hit McClellan in the face giving him two black eyes, and McClellan cut Frank with a knife. According to Stewart, after the fight McClellan said that he wanted to “hurt Frank’s pocket.” The fight also caused problems between Frank and Lacy Dickens because Frank felt betrayed that Lacy still allowed McClellan to stay with him after the fight.

After the fight, Lacy and McClellan began to make progress on a plan to set up a “trap house” for the sole purpose of selling drugs. Neither McClellan nor Lacy wanted to stay in the house, so McClellan contacted Michael Haynie, whom he had met in the spring of 2008. Haynie informed McClellan that he needed a place to stay because he was out of work; McClellan offered him a place to stay, a few meals, and an introduction to Lacy. Haynie came to Meigs County in his girlfriend’s white 1992 Dodge Spirit. On Friday, June 6, 2008, the day before Roush was killed, McClellan picked Haynie up in a green pickup truck, and they later met Lacy. Haynie understood that they were “going to hit a lick” but was unsure of what that would be — there was talk of breaking into a veterinary clinic, stealing drugs, and robbing someone who sold drugs. Haynie testified that the men suggested that Roush was a good target because he was gun shy, and that “[i]f you go in and show a gun, he’s going to comply with your demands” and not report the robbery. The three men went to pick up Haynie’s car and drove the 1992 Dodge Spirit back and forth between Ohio and West Virginia, where Lacy and McClellan pointed out “dope houses,” including Roush’s home in West Virginia. According to Haynie’s testimony, the three went to pick up Lacy’s car and met at Lacy’s house, where Lacy “provide[d] a [black automatic] .45 [caliber handgun], and he wanted [Haynie] and [McClellan] to do a run, go over there and hit it.” According to Haynie, the plan was that he would keep the money from robbing Roush, and the drugs would go to McClellan and Lacy. At trial, McClellan denied that he participated in the planning of this robbery.

After getting the gun on the night of June 6, Haynie testified that he and McClellan went to Roush’s house. Haynie approached the house with the gun and knocked; when there was no answer, Hay-nie returned to the car. The two returned to Lacy’s home in Ohio. In the early hours [482]*482of June 7, McClellan and Haynie left Lacy’s and drove the Dodge Spirit to the Mason Hotel in West Virginia. McClellan used a false name to rent the room, which Haynie testified was paid for by Lacy.

After sleeping, on the morning of June 7, McClellan woke up sick. At this point, the testimony of Haynie and McClellan begins to differ greatly. Both testified that McClellan went to get morphine. McClellan testified that he fell asleep shortly after taking the morphine pills and when he awoke, Haynie was gone and had already committed the robbery.

Haynie testified that later in the evening of June 7, he, McClellan, and Lacy were together in the hotel in West Virginia planning the robbery. McClellan had the .45 in his bag, and Lacy came to the hotel with bandanas. When it was dark and after Lacy left, McClellan and Haynie dressed in dark clothes, baseball caps, and bandanas. McClellan gave the gun to Haynie, and Haynie checked to see that it was loaded. The two drove the Dodge Spirit to Roush’s house at approximately 10:00-10:30 p.m. Haynie went to the door of Roush’s house while McClellan waited in the car. Shane Leach answered the door, and Haynie instructed him to give him drugs and money. When Leach said there were none, Haynie racked the slide of the gun and struck Leach, causing Leach to run from the house. When Haynie was inside the house, he struck Roush with the gun and knocked him to the floor. This strike caused the gun to discharge into the ceiling. When Roush got up from the floor, Haynie struck him .again with the gun, which discharged a second bullet into Roush’s head. Haynie fled, and McClellan went back to Ohio with him. Roush died as a result of the bullet wound.

McClellan’s testimony was that he missed the entire robbery and that as he was walking out of the hotel to purchase cigarettes, Haynie drove up. Both McClellan and Haynie testified that McClellan showed Haynie the pond in Meigs County in which Haynie disposed of the gun. The two then drove to Athens, Ohio, and Haynie dropped McClellan off so McClellan could meet Lacy. McClellan purchased new clothes, and after he failed to find a ride, he called Haynie to come back to Athens and pick him up.

Haynie was arrested on July 29, 2008, and McClellan surrendered himself to authorities on July 31, 2008.

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Related

United States v. Matthews
58 F. Supp. 3d 115 (District of Columbia, 2014)
McClellan v. United States
181 L. Ed. 2d 780 (Supreme Court, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
436 F. App'x 479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-adam-mcclellan-ca6-2011.