United States v. Clark

112 F. App'x 481
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit·Decided October 13, 2004·No. 02-6251·Unpublished·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

OPINION

This case arises from the indictment, trial and conviction of Defendant-Appellant William Earl Clark on charges of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a) and 841(b)(1)(C). On appeal, Clark attacks the sufficiency of the indictment, alleging that it failed to state an essential element of the charge against him, to wit, the quantity of crack cocaine attributed to him, in violation of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Clark also challenges the Eastern District of Tennessee’s jury selection process, citing the absence of blacks from both the jury venire and the petit jury that convicted him. See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Finally, Clark asserts that the district court’s admission of video and testimonial evidence of Clark’s prior bad acts violated Rules 403 and 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. For the reasons stated below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On April 10, 2001, Knoxville Police Department Officers Greg Womac, Terry Clowers, Felix Yess, and John Williams entered Apartment 266 of the Lonsdale Housing Development in Knoxville, Tennessee, to serve Clark with several outstanding warrants for his arrest. Upon entering the apartment’s bedroom, Officer Clowers and Officer Womac observed Clark attempting to hide underneath a table next to the bed. Following the officers’ instructions, Clark slid out from underneath the table and remained lying on the floor face down while Officer Womac hand-cuffed him. When Officer Womac attempted to assist Clark to his feet, a prescription bottle fell from Clark’s waist area and rolled against the dresser. Recovering the bottle, Officer Womac observed what appeared to be approximately twenty rocks of crack cocaine inside. A lab test later confirmed that the prescription bottle contained 3.58 grams of cocaine base, also known as “crack” cocaine.

On December 19, 2001, a federal grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville returned a one-count drug trafficking indictment against Clark, charging him with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a) and 841(b)(1)(C). The indictment failed to specify a drug quantity.

Prior to trial, the government provided notice of its intent to introduce evidence of other acts pursuant to Rule 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Specifically, the government gave notice that it intended to introduce testimony and video-taped surveillance of Clark distributing crack cocaine within the 18 months preceding his April 10, 2001 arrest. Clark objected by filing two motions in limine, and, on the morning of the first day of trial, the district court heard argument from counsel on the motions. Following argument, the *483 court orally overruled Clark’s motions in limine and admitted the 404(b) evidence.

The court then called the jury venire into the courtroom and conducted voir dire. Following completion of voir dire, defense counsel objected to the lack of any African-Americans in the venire, and stated that he would be looking into the issue. The court advised that it would entertain the issue at the end of the day.

Following opening arguments, Officer Womac took the stand and testified as to the details of Clark’s arrest and the confiscation of the prescription bottle. A laboratory technician from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory later testified that the rocks inside the bottle constituted 3.58 grams of crack cocaine.

Further evidence focused on whether Clark had the requisite intent to sell the crack cocaine found in the prescription bottle. Dave Lewis, a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, testified that, in his expert opinion, the packaging and number of rocks inside the pill bottle indicated possession with intent to sell. Specifically, Lewis testified that:

A person that’s possessing drugs for personal use in no way would possess 20 to 23 rocks of crack cocaine at any one time; and [further], the size of the rock itself, along with the quantity of the rocks, shows me this is crack cocaine that’s possessed for the purpose of distribution.
These are 20-dollar rocks on the street. A person would drive up to the distributor, “I need a 20,” and this would be what they were referring to. The particular size of the rock that’s a commonly purchased size that a person would purchase for use, they would purchase one, maybe two rocks at one time; usually one rock.
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[O]ne thing you should not be confused about is the amount that’s possessed for personal use and the amount that’s possessed for distribution. And in my investigations, there’s no — it’s very easy to discern that.

(Joint Appendix, at 184-86).

A former girlfriend of Clark’s, Cari Ramsey, testified that, while living in the Lonsdale Housing Development, she frequently observed Clark selling crack cocaine from the porch of a nearby apartment building. Immediately following her testimony, the court gave the following limiting instruction to the jury:

Members of the jury, you have just heard testimony from Ms. Ramsey that the defendant committed an act or acts other than the ones charged in the indictment. You cannot consider this testimony as evidence that the defendant committed the crime that he is on trial for now. Instead you can only consider it in deciding whether the defendant possessed the requisite specific intent to distribute the cocaine base that is charged in this indictment, but do not consider it for any other purpose. And remember that defendant is on trial here only for the offense charged in this indictment.

(Joint Appendix, at 200).

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United States v. Clark, 112 F. App'x 481 (6th Cir. 2004).

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