United States v. Dunnigan

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedFebruary 12, 2025
Docket23-6353 mtn
StatusUnpublished

This text of United States v. Dunnigan (United States v. Dunnigan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second 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. Dunnigan, (2d Cir. 2025).

Opinion

23-6353 United States v. Dunnigan

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

SUMMARY ORDER

RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUM- MARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FED- ERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.

1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, held at the 2 Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, in the City of New York, on the 3 12th day of February, two thousand twenty-five. 4 5 Present: 6 DEBRA ANN LIVINGSTON, 7 Chief Judge, 8 DENNIS JACOBS, 9 GUIDO CALABRESI, 10 Circuit Judges, 11 _____________________________________ 12 13 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 14 15 Appellee, 16 17 v. 23-6353 18 19 ROMAN DUNNIGAN, 20 21 Defendant-Appellant. 22 _____________________________________ 23 24 For Defendant-Appellant: MARK BYRNE, Law Office of Mark J. Byrne, Buffalo, 25 NY. 26 27 For Appellees: SEAN C. ELDRIGE (Tiffany H. Lee, Katherine A. Greg- 28 ory, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, on the brief), for Trini E. 29 Ross, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New 30 York, Buffalo, NY. 31 32

1 1 Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New

2 York (Arcara, J.).

3 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND

4 DECREED that the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

5 Defendant-Appellant Roman Dunnigan (“Dunnigan”) appeals a final judgment of convic-

6 tion entered by the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Arcara, J.)

7 for conspiring to traffic 500 grams or more of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a),

8 (b)(1)(b), and sentencing him to 264 months of incarceration. On appeal, Dunnigan alleges an

9 omnibus of errors warranting reversal of his conviction or resentencing. He principally contends

10 that evidence from a car search should have been suppressed, his speedy trial rights were violated,

11 the evidence was insufficient to convict him, and his sentence was procedurally unreasonable.

12 We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts of the case, procedural history, and arguments,

13 repeating only what is necessary to explain our decision to AFFIRM.

14 I. Motion to Suppress

15 Dunnigan contests the admission of evidence found during a car search. That warrantless

16 search was initiated after a narcotics dog jumped into an open door of Dunnigan’s car and alerted.

17 On appeal, Dunnigan contends the district court improperly credited the testimony of the K-9 han-

18 dler, Officer Fisher, who testified that he did not encourage his dog to jump into Dunnigan’s car. 1

19 We review the district court’s findings for clear error. United States v. Smith, 967 F.3d 198, 204–

20 05 (2d Cir. 2020).

The parties agree that a dog’s jump into the car on its own volition does not violate the Fourth 1

Amendment.

2 1 Upon review, we are not left with “the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been

2 committed.” United States v. Martinez, 110 F.4th 160, 174 (2d Cir. 2024) (citations omitted);

3 United States v. Bershchansky, 788 F.3d 102, 110 (2d Cir. 2015). Any inconsistent testimony

4 Fisher gave as to the dog’s “alerts” and “indications” arose out of a confusion of vocabulary rather

5 than lack of credibility, as made evident by the district court’s request that Fisher clarify and not

6 conflate the terms. We have taken care to distinguish inconsistencies evincing a lack of credibil-

7 ity from those demonstrating “confusion, mistake, or faulty memory.” United States v. Jo-

8 sephberg, 562 F.3d 478, 494–95 (2d Cir. 2009). The district court drew this distinction and found

9 Fisher credible by pointing to his experience, candor, and expertise. It did not clearly err in doing

10 so. Mathie v. Fries, 121 F.3d 808, 812 (2d Cir. 1997) (expressing “particularly strong deference”

11 where “the district court premises its findings on credibility determinations” (citations omitted)).

12 II. Speedy Trial Rights

13 This Court reviews a district court’s decision on a motion to dismiss for a violation of

14 speedy trial rights for abuse of discretion. United States v. Hoskins, 44 F.4th 140, 153 (2d Cir.

15 2022). To determine if a defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights have been violated, a court must

16 consider the length of the delay, reason for delay, defendant’s assertion of his right, and prejudice

17 to the defendant. Id.; Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 533 (1972).

18 We discern no abuse of discretion in the district court’s weighing of the Barker factors.

19 The district court correctly found that the length of delay favored Dunnigan, as approximately

20 three years had passed since the indictment. But delay alone is not sufficient to establish a Sixth

21 Amendment violation. United States v. Cabral, 979 F.3d 150, 157 (2d Cir. 2020); Doggett v.

22 United States, 505 U.S. 647, 655–56 (1992). That is true here, where Dunnigan’s assertions of

23 his rights were “too belated to weigh significantly in his favor,” occurring over two years after the

3 1 indictment and after he sought extensions, requested changes of counsel, and did not object to

2 several continuances. Rayborn v. Scully, 858 F.2d 84, 92–93 (2d Cir. 1988); United States v.

3 Reyes-Batista, 844 F. App’x 404, 408 (2d Cir. 2021) (summary order) (concluding a defendant did

4 not sufficiently assert his rights where he “sought extensions, agreed to continuances, routinely

5 filed motions to terminate counsel, and did not assert his speedy trial right for an entire year”). 2

6 Much of the delay was attributable to Dunnigan, who, shortly before his case was to be tried,

7 requested new counsel and filed additional motions. United States v. Aquart, 92 F.4th 77, 98 (2d

8 Cir. 2024) (“[T]he reasonable time required to . . . respond to, and resolve [pretrial] motions is

9 valid delay not raising speedy trial concerns.”). The other notable delay—the district court “over-

10 look[ing]” Dunnigan’s venue motion—although attributable to the prosecution, was “more neu-

11 tral,” and did not account for the majority of the elapsed time. Barker, 407 U.S. at 531. Finally,

12 as to prejudice, Dunnigan has not shown that “the prejudice at the core of the Speedy Trial right—

13 that the delay of the trial itself”—“caused prejudice, such as through the fading of memories or

14 unavailability of witnesses.” United States v. Ghailani, 733 F.3d 29, 51 (2d Cir. 2013); United

15 States v. McGrath, 622 F.2d 36, 41 (2d Cir. 1980). For these reasons, the district court did not

16 abuse its discretion in concluding that Dunnigan’s Sixth Amendment rights were not violated. 3

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