United States v. David Earl Allen

564 F. App'x 550
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMay 5, 2014
Docket13-12510
StatusUnpublished

This text of 564 F. App'x 550 (United States v. David Earl Allen) 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. David Earl Allen, 564 F. App'x 550 (11th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

*552 PER CURIAM:

David Earl Allen appeals his convictions and sentence of 97 months of imprisonment for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five grams or more of methamphetamine, see 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(B), 846, and distributing five grams or more of methamphetamine, see id. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B). Allen argues for relief from his convictions on the ground that the district court erred when it refused to accept his plea of guilty to the distribution offense and later when it denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal on the charge of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. Allen also challenges the enhancement of his sentence for obstruction of justice and the denial of relief under the safety valve. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Allen and his coconspirators were charged, in a six-count indictment, for crimes related to their conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Allen was indicted for two crimes: conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine between January 24, 2011, and August 19, 2011, id. § § 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A), 846, and distributing five grams or more of methamphetamine on August 19, 2011, id. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B). Allen initially pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Allen entered a written agreement to plead guilty to distributing methamphetamine in exchange for the dismissal of his charge for conspiracy and for recommendations by the government to reduce his offense level for his acceptance of responsibility and to impose a sentence at the low end of the advisory guidelines range. The factual basis stated that Allen agreed to sell a confidential informant $1,600 of methamphetamine; the informant delivered the cash to Allen at his tile shop; Allen handed the money to Andres Hernandez, who left the shop in Allen’s truck to obtain the methamphetamine; the informant also left Allen’s shop and later returned after Allen notified him that the drugs had been delivered; the informant collected the methamphetamine, which was lying on the floor of the shop wrapped inside a towel; and Allen also sold the informant half of a pound of marijuana for $650, which was wrapped in a towel. When tested, the methamphetamine weighed 22.2 grams.

At the change of plea hearing, Allen tendered a plea of guilty and stated that he had not been coerced to change his plea to guilty. But when asked if he was tendering his plea of guilty voluntarily, Allen stated that his father had received a telephone call in which the caller threatened to harm Allen’s family if he did not plead guilty.

THE COURT: Other than the terms of the plea agreement we have just briefly discussed, has anybody promised you anything or given you any other assurance of any kind in an effort to induce you to enter this plea of guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: No, sir.
THE COURT: Has anyone attempted in any way to force you to plead guilty in this case?
THE DEFENDANT: No, sir.
THE COURT: Are you pleading guilty voluntarily and of your own personal decision to do so?
THE DEFENDANT: Well, can I say something, Your Honor? THE COURT: Yes, sir.
THE DEFENDANT: My and my dad’s name are the same. And I was — I was kind of — somebody called my dad and threatened if I didn’t plead into it, you *553 know, or that they were going to harm my family. And they called his number thinking that was me, because I’m a junior and it’s not listed in the phone book as a junior. So, but I understand, yes, sir.
THE COURT: Well, are you pleading guilty because somebody made a threat on your life, or your father’s, or your family’s, or are you pleading guilty because you are, in fact, guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: It was today when they called.
THE COURT: No. That’s not my question.
Are you pleading guilty because you are, in fact, guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: No, sir. I’m guilty. I’m guilty, sir, you — but, you know, I’m guilty, yes, sir.

When asked to state a factual basis for his plea, Allen stated that he participated in the drug transaction because he worked as a confidential informant for the Etowah County Drug Task Force. Allen stated that he had worked for the task force for years and that he was trying to gain the confidence of drug dealers and infiltrate a drug organization to “work off’ criminal charges incurred by his son.

THE DEFENDANT: I was working — I sold narcotics — I worked for Etowah County for seven years. I have worked for Etowah County as a C.I.
THE COURT: C.I.?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir. And to the point — to the point I have listed things I have done for them that I was under the influence of whatever I had to do to get to the Avilas is what I was asked to do.
And I got — I was also in a process, these other guys here with me, I have cases on them that I — I was actually trying to work something off for my son. My son was in some trouble. And I got involved in it and was trying to help him in on it.
And when the physical evidence come back against my son, I couldn’t — they said it wouldn’t count. So all this that I have done for — for my son, the trafficking cases with these guys here that are listed on this, they don’t count.
So I was still trying to get to the Avilas through Andres and the other Mexican trying to bring down an organization that Etowah County’s been trying to get for the past 10 or 15 years, I guess, maybe longer. And I got caught up in it too much and — and was trying to do whatever I had to do, do whatever I had to do to get involved in it. And I got caught selling also.
THE COURT: Well—
THE DEFENDANT: Without — without the — then- authorization, but was under the influence that I was told specially to do what I had to do, we went to Avilas.
THE COURT: So did you think you were working for the drug task force, or were you doing it for your own profit?
THE DEFENDANT: There was no profit involved, sir. I was trying to further more — my influence of getting involved with them, you know. They come to my shop, like a few days before that, five of them did, with Andres. Come to my shop. And Steve Guthrie knows about that the — of Etowah— Steve Guthrie and [sic] narcotic agent that I have been working for, for the past five years and brought down big cases for them all over Georgia, Alabama, you know. I was in the other states, too, doing work for them.
But he knew about them coming to the shop, meeting with me. And this was exact words, the organization....

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Bluebook (online)
564 F. App'x 550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-david-earl-allen-ca11-2014.