United States v. Gary Dean Boone

245 F.3d 352, 2001 WL 308965
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedApril 16, 2001
Docket98-4628
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 245 F.3d 352 (United States v. Gary Dean Boone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth 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. Gary Dean Boone, 245 F.3d 352, 2001 WL 308965 (4th Cir. 2001).

Opinions

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge WIDENER wrote the opinion, in which Judge LUTTIG concurred. Senior Judge KISER wrote an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

OPINION

WIDENER, Circuit Judge:

Gary Dean Boone (Boone) appeals the district court’s failure to appoint a second lawyer to represent him under 18 U.S.C. § 3005 (2000) in his trial for violating 18 [355]*355U.S.C. § 844(i) (2000), damaging or destroying a vehicle by explosive, Count II of the indictment. For the reasons that follow, we vacate his conviction under Count II and remand this case to the district court for retrial. Boone also alleges that the district court erred under the Fourth Amendment in denying his motion to suppress a rifle seized from his home and used in his trial under Count I of the indictment, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the conviction on Count I, but remand for reconsideration of the sentence on that count.

I.

Boone and his wife, Sharon Boone, practiced an alternative-lifestyle marriage, in which both had sexual relations with other people. In October 1996, Sharon Boone, with Boone’s knowledge, began a relationship with Jessie Pressley (Pressley). She fell in love with Pressley, and in March or April 1997, Sharon Boone told Boone that she wanted a divorce. Boone, however, did not want a divorce. During one weekend in August 1997, Boone told Sharon Boone that he had purchased a gun and that if she left him he would kill her, write a letter to their daughter explaining why he acted this way, and commit suicide.

Sharon Boone subsequently moved out of their marital home and sought legal protection from Boone. On August 29, Sharon Boone filed a petition for a restraining order against Boone in a local family court. On September 6, Sharon Boone moved into a women’s shelter and on September 10, the family court issued a restraining order against Boone.

During late August and early September, Pressley spoke with a state court judge about issuing a restraining order against Boone and informed the court of the history between himself and Boone. On September 16, Boone called Sharon Boone and read the contents of a birthday card that Sharon Boone had sent to Press-ley. Sharon Boone notified Pressley, and Pressley then subsequently reported to the police that his home had been burglarized and that several birthday cards he received from Sharon Boone were missing. Deputy Sheriff Gary Deaver arrived at Pressley’s home to investigate the call. Deaver advised Pressley to obtain a restraining order. On September 17, Press-ley filed an application for a restraining order against Boone. This application stated that: 1) on August 5, Boone told Pressley not to see Boone’s wife and that he would kill Pressley if he did; 2) in September, Boone told Pressley that Pressley’s days were numbered; and 3) on September 15, Pressley believed that Boone burglarized his home. On September 18, the state court issued restraining orders against both Boone and Pressley.

On September 17, at Sharon Boone’s request, an arrest warrant and mental evaluation order were issued for Boone. Law enforcement agents took Boone to a mental evaluation center in Columbia, South Carolina, and he was discharged from the hospital about a week later. Boone admitted to breaking the restraining order previously obtained by Sharon Boone.

On October 10, 1997 at around 7:15 a.m., a 1993 Chevrolet pickup truck1 driven by [356]*356Pressley exploded in Cheraw, South Carolina. A pipe bomb was hidden under the truck, and when it exploded, it killed Pressley instantly. Sharon Boone learned of Pressley’s death while she was at work on October 10. Boone called Sharon Boone at work, and she accused him of the bombing. Boone either laughed, or said that she was “bullshitting” and hung up. After learning of Pressley’s death on the morning of October 10, Sharon Boone called the state court judge that issued the restraining orders and demanded an investigation into Boone’s whereabouts. Members of the Chesterfield County Sheriffs Department, Ronnie Huntley and C. Kenneth Welch, subsequently went to Sharon Boone’s workplace. Sharon Boone told them that she had received a couple of phone calls from Boone and that she accused Boone of the bombing. Sharon Boone said that she feared for her life because Boone had threatened her. As the officers were talking with Sharon Boone, they witnessed Boone drive slowly by her workplace. The officers then followed Boone and directed him to stop.

The officers approached Boone with guns drawn, ordered Boone to exit from his truck, frisked him for firearms, and read the Miranda rights to him. The primary purpose in stopping Boone was to ascertain whether he possessed any weapons or explosive devices. Deputy Huntley handcuffed Boone, and the officers notified the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) of Boone’s whereabouts. SLED agents asked Huntley to detain Boone until they could arrive. Boone told the agents that he heard about the bombing and that he hoped he was not a suspect. Boone agreed to stay and talk with the SLED agents when they arrived. Boone was never told he could leave, but he was cooperative. About 1 to 1-1/2 hours after Boone was stopped, SLED agents Billy Joe Abercrombie and William Poole arrived with a bomb-sniffing dog. Boone signed a consent to search form for a search of his truck. Agent Poole and a bomb-sniffing dog searched the truck. The dog alerted on the glove compartment, resulting in the discovery of some shells. After the search of the truck, Deputy Huntley removed the handcuffs from Boone.

The agents then asked Boone to consent to a search of his house. Boone signed a consent to search form for his residence, which limited the search to explosives only. Boone and the agents then drove to Boone’s house. During the search for explosives, Agent Poole observed a Marlin s%o caliber rifle and some bullets in a closet in the bedroom. Agent Poole did not seize the rifle. Boone then accompanied the SLED agents to a local jail, where Boone admitted to an agent that he had purchased the ‘ rifle that was in his house. Later that day,.the state officers briefed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire-arms (BATF) agent David Lazar about the search of Boone’s residence. After learning that Boone was a convicted felon, BATF agents Lazar and Raymond Glover applied to a federal magistrate judge for a search warrant of Boone’s house for firearms, explosives, and computers.2

1) Pressley had been killed by a pipe bomb; 2) Boone made threats to kill Pressley because of his love affair with Sharon Boone; 3) state agents stopped Boone’s car shortly after the bombing; 4) a consent search of Boone's residence resulted in the observation of a rifle; 5) and Boone, a convicted felon, had admitted that he owned the rifle. The affidavit also stated that: 1) Boone's daughter said she had seen a pair of gloves and small wires at Boone’s house one week earlier; 2) she overheard Boone making threats to kill Press-[357]*357ley; 3) the day before, there was a car backed up by the house "as if trying to hide;” and 4) in Glover’s opinion, small wires and gloves are used to make explosives.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
245 F.3d 352, 2001 WL 308965, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gary-dean-boone-ca4-2001.