United States v. Curtis Jones

657 F. App'x 938
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedSeptember 21, 2016
Docket15-14514
StatusUnpublished

This text of 657 F. App'x 938 (United States v. Curtis Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Curtis Jones, 657 F. App'x 938 (11th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Curtis Jones appeals his conviction for one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A), 846, and his 180-month sentence. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In early January 2013, agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) began a wiretap investigation of a suspected cocaine trafficker, Jonathan Crutcher. On January 15, 2013, agents intercepted a call between Crutcher and another male, later identified as Curtis Jones, in which Jones advised Crutcher he had just received some drugs. Agents intercepted another call between Crutcher and Jones on January 29, 2013, in which they arranged for a *940 drug transaction to take place later that day. The agents established surveillance on Crutcher and observed him meeting with Jones in a convenience-store-parking lot. After he met with Crutcher, the agents followed Jones to a residence located at 3964 Stonewall Tell Road in Atlanta, Georgia, and observed a number of vehicles coming and going from that residence over the course of the afternoon, including Crutcher’s vehicle and a red Dodge Ram.''

Based on several intercepted calls between Jones and Crutcher during that time period, the agents learned Crutcher had turned over a large sum of money to Jones. In turn, Jones provided the drug proceeds to his source of supply, whom agents believed was driving the Dodge Ram. When the Dodge Ram left the Stonewall Tell Road residence, agents directed a local police officer to conduct a traffic stop of the vehicle. Three large bags of money were recovered from the vehicle, containing $614,811 in cash. The following day, January 30, 2013, agents intercepted a call between Jones and Crutcher in which Crutcher asked Jones for another four or five kilograms of cocaine. Following that call, the agents sought and obtained a wiretap for Jones’s phone.

On February 16, 2013, agents intercepted a call between Jones and an unidentified male, in which they discussed a future drug transaction. Two days later, on February 18, 2013, agents intercepted several calls between Jones and a person identified as “Dee,” which led them to believe the planned drug transaction would take place that day. The agents established surveillance on Jones at 2170 High View Road in Atlanta. Agents observed a number of vehicles coming and going from the High View Road residence, including a blue Chrysler Pacifica and a gray Nissan Maxi-ma. When the Pacifica left the High View Road residence, the agents directed local law-enforcement officers to conduct a traffic stop of the vehicle. The officers recovered a one-kilogram package of powder cocaine and a bag containing crack cocaine in the backseat of the vehicle. The agents likewise directed local law enforcement to conduct a traffic stop of the Maxima, when it left the High View Road residence. The officers recovered two kilograms of cocaine under the hood of the vehicle and eight kilograms of cocaine from trap compartments under the floorboards.

Following the conclusion of the wiretap investigation, DEA agents conducted a “takedown,” in which they simultaneously arrested the various individuals involved in the investigation. R. at 1038. The takedown took place on January 15, 2014; DEA Special Agent Michael Connolly, the co-case agent for the investigation, was assigned arresting Jones. Special Agent Connolly arrested Jones at a Hampton Inn in East Point, Georgia. He subsequently took Jones to 515 Platoro Court, Jones’s residence, because Special Agent Connolly had a seizure warrant for Jones’s BMW, which was located at that address. When they arrived at Platoro Court, Special Agent Connolly advised Jones of his Miranda 1 rights. Jones waived his rights and gave Special Agent Connolly consent to search his Platoro Court residence.

In the family room of the residence, the agents found a home-security-system monitor, a loaded firearm, and extra magazine under the couch cushions. In one of the kitchen cabinets, the agents found a money counter. They also recovered a number of plastic baggies from the residence. In the master bedroom, agents found another security-system monitor, a collection of watches, and a collection of sneakers that *941 Jones stated was worth approximately $10,000.

Jones told Special Agent Connolly he lived at Platoro Court, and a barber and his son also had stayed there. When asked whether there were any firearms in the house, Jones stated the barber may have left a gun in the house. When Special Agent Connolly asked Jones about his involvement in narcotics trafficking, Jones admitted he was a marijuana trafficker. Jones initially denied any involvement in cocaine trafficking but later stated he could get five to ten kilograms of cocaine from “the Mexicans.” R. at 1064.

Special Agent Connolly asked Jones about a house located at 1980 Childress Drive, which Jones had stated he owned. Special'Agent Connolly requested permission to search that residence; Jones gave his consent. After the search at Platoro Court concluded, Special Agent Connolly drove Jones to the Childress Drive residence.- On the ride there, Special Agent Connolly asked Jones whether he had a large stash of money somewhere; Jones admitted there was approximately $250,000 in the trunk of his BMW. Agents later searched the BMW and found three bags in the trunk of the car containing a total of $274,668 in cash.

At Childress Drive, Special Agent Connolly observed a security-system monitor in the living room of the residence. In the kitchen, agents discovered marijuana in the oven and in a hidden compartment behind the kick plate on the cabinets. They also found a scale in one of the. cabinets and a firearm on top of one of the cabinets. In a kitchen drawer, Special Agent Connolly found a money ledger of the type commonly seen in drug-trafficking cases. Based on the wiretap investigation, a federal grand jury indicted Jones on one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A), 846 (Count 1), and one count of distribution of and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A) (Count 2). Jones pled not guilty and proceeded to trial.

Prior to trial, Jones’s counsel moved for a Daubert 2 hearing on the admissibility of the proposed expert testimony of government witness Lieutenant David Noe on drug trafficking. At the hearing, Jones’s counsel objected to the proposed testimony to the extent the government sought to have Lieutenant Noe testify a certain code referred to specific drugs. He did not object to a general explanation regarding the use of code words in wiretapped conversations. The government represented Lieutenant Noe would not interpret any of the intercepted calls in this case, and it did not intend to ask him whether specific terms in those calls commonly referred to a particular drug.

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Bluebook (online)
657 F. App'x 938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-curtis-jones-ca11-2016.