United States v. Collicott

92 F.3d 973, 96 Daily Journal DAR 10106, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6157, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 20644, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 449, 1996 WL 467070
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 19, 1996
DocketNo. 95-30140
StatusPublished
Cited by118 cases

This text of 92 F.3d 973 (United States v. Collicott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Collicott, 92 F.3d 973, 96 Daily Journal DAR 10106, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6157, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 20644, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 449, 1996 WL 467070 (9th Cir. 1996).

Opinion

ROBERT E. JONES, District Judge:

Appellant Edward P. Collicott, Sr. (“Colli-cott”) appeals from his conviction on three counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). We reverse and remand for a new trial.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. The Surveillance and Arrest

On June 9, 1994, Spokane County Sheriffs Office Detectives (“Sheriffs”) began surveil[976]*976lance of Collieott in Spokane, Washington. That day, Collieott rented a car in Spokane under a false name. Sheriffs observed Colli-cott driving this ear, accompanied by Melauni Zaidi (“Zaidi”).

At 9:52 p.m. that evening, Collieott checked into a motel with Zaidi in Yakima, Washington, under a false name. The surveillance team rented the room next door to Collieott. At 11:52 p.m., Sheriffs observed Collieott leaving the motel in his car. The surveilling officers followed Collieott and observed him exiting a convenience store with a white plastic bag. Collieott returned to the motel at 12:35 a.m.

Collieott and Zaidi checked out of the motel at 9:00 a.m. on June 10, 1994. Although two officers testified at trial that they observed Collieott put a white plastic bag into the rear passenger area of the rented car before driving away from the motel, neither officer stated that in their report.

Surveillance continued on the road. Shortly after Zaidi switched with Collieott as driver of the car, Sheriffs pulled them over. An officer observed Collieott reaching into the back seat of the car. When Sheriffs arrested Collieott, he falsely identified himself as William Collieott. Sheriffs obtained and executed a warrant, seizing $4,500 cash, syringes, balloons, and fake IDs, from Collieott’s person. They found a white plastic bag behind the driver’s seat containing 11 grams of heroin, 125 grams of methamphetamine, and 26.5 grams of cocaine.

Officer Chris Kehl (“Kehl”) interviewed Zaidi at the time of the arrest. She had no cash or drugs on her. She was not charged with any offense.

II. Trial Testimony

At Collicott’s trial, the Government called Zaidi as a witness. She testified that she is an unemployed mother and a drug addict who supports herself through prostitution. She denied dealing drugs, but explained that the only drugs she had sold in the past 10 years was one-eighth ounce of marijuana in 1986.

Regarding the evening she spent with Col-licott at the Yakima motel, Zaidi testified that Collieott placed a ‘pile of money’ on the bed in the motel room. Sometime later, Collicott’s friend, named Luis, allegedly entered the motel room while she was cooking and smoking cocaine in the room. After Luis left, she noticed a brown paper bag was in the room but the money that Collieott placed on the bed was gone. Zaidi also testified that she could not hear any discussions between Collieott and Luis, and admitted that she was impaired by cocaine at the time.

On cross-examination, defense counsel asked Zaidi whether she recalled telling arresting officer Kehl that Luis came to the motel room between midnight and 1:00 a.m. that morning. Zaidi did not remember making any such statement. The colloquy was as follows:

Q. All right. Well, do you remember a police officer Kehl, K-e-h-1, or Chris Kehl or something, interviewing you?
A. No, I don’t.
Q. You don’t remember telling him that this person you claim came to the room in Yakima came between midnight and 1:00 a.m.?
A. No, I do not remember saying that.
Q. You don’t remember saying that?
A. No, I don’t.

Tr. 194. Zaidi was excused after a brief redirect examination.

Collieott then called Officer Kehl to the stand. The direct testimony of Officer Kehl follows:

Q. Okay. You were interviewing Melauni Zaidi after she was- — the vehicle was stopped?
A. Yes.
Q. And as part of your interview * * * you wrote in your notes and I presume this is something she told you?
A. Yes.
Q. That sometime between midnight and one o’clock, a person allegedly arrived and delivered drugs to that room?
[977]*977A. Yes.

Tr. 326.

After this direct testimony, the Government attempted to examine Kehl about the remainder of the statements made by Zaidi to Kehl at the time of Collieott’s arrest. However, Collicott objected on the ground that the testimony was improper hearsay and beyond the scope of the direct. The court overruled the objection and allowed Kehl to answer the question. The following is the exchange between Kehl, counsel, and the court:

Q. Good afternoon. Did Melauni Zaidi give you any further information about what occurred in the motel room on June 9th, 1994?
A. Yes, she did.
Q. What else did she say happened?
[Defense Attorney]: Your Honor, I am going to object, it is beyond the scope of direct.
COURT: Overruled.
[Defense Attorney]: Can we have a sidebar so I could make a record?
COURT: All right.
[Defense Attorney]: Judge, I called [Kehl] for the one question and anything else is hearsay. * * *
COURT: I think you have opened it up when you asked him what she said regarding what transpired in the hotel room. I think we ought to get the whole story.
[Defense Attorney]: Well, I totally object, Your Honor, and there is no basis for it to come in at this point. There is no exception to it.
[Prosecutor]: Judge, this is under 609(b). Your Honor, extrinsic evidence to impeach a witness can come in and it is not subject to the hearsay rules.
COURT: Yeah.
[Defense Attorney]: I don’t believe that is the case here. This is not — this is hearsay of that person. There is no excep-
tion that applies here. She had a motive to fabricate her story right from the start.
It is not a prior inconsistent (sic) statement to rebut a charge of recent fabrication. It doesn’t fit in the mold. It is straight hearsay and it is beyond the scope of direct totally.
COURT: Well, in the first place, I don’t think it is beyond the scope of direct and what is it that you expect him to say?
[Prosecutor]: That she was in the room. A friend of Ed Collieott’s came in by the name of Luis. Luis had a brown paper bag and put the bag down. Ed Collicott spread money out on the bed and the money was given to Luis.
COURT: So she saw that?
[Prosecutor]: Yes.
* * *

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

Related

United States v. Charles Lynch
903 F.3d 1061 (Ninth Circuit, 2018)
Susan Mellen v. Marcella Winn
900 F.3d 1085 (Ninth Circuit, 2018)
State v. Azure
2017 ND 195 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 2017)
State of Iowa v. Vernon Lee Huser
894 N.W.2d 472 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2017)
United States v. Mikal Wilde
674 F. App'x 671 (Ninth Circuit, 2017)
United States v. Juan Meraz
663 F. App'x 580 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)
Robles (Fernando) v. State
Nevada Supreme Court, 2016
United States v. Teresa Demint
661 F. App'x 484 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)
United States v. Gerard Smith
659 F. App'x 908 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)
United States v. Jesus Quinones-Chavez
641 F. App'x 722 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)
State v. Jones
2015 UT 19 (Utah Supreme Court, 2015)
United States v. Anthony Gadson
763 F.3d 1189 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Wayne Mounts
584 F. App'x 482 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Jose Liera-Morales
759 F.3d 1105 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
['FLYTHE v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA']
4 F. Supp. 3d 222 (District of Columbia, 2014)
United States v. Eric Vallejos
742 F.3d 902 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Roman Rosas-Martinez
551 F. App'x 931 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
92 F.3d 973, 96 Daily Journal DAR 10106, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6157, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 20644, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 449, 1996 WL 467070, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-collicott-ca9-1996.