United States v. Jamie Henderson

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJuly 9, 2024
Docket23-4072
StatusPublished

This text of United States v. Jamie Henderson (United States v. Jamie Henderson) 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. Jamie Henderson, (4th Cir. 2024).

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 23-4072 Doc: 55 Filed: 07/09/2024 Pg: 1 of 17

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 23-4072

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

JAMIE CHRISTOPHER HENDERSON,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Wilmington. Louise W. Flanagan, District Judge. (7:20-cr-00088-FL-1)

Argued: May 8, 2024 Decided: July 9, 2024

Before AGEE and THACKER, Circuit Judges, and TRAXLER, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by published opinion. Senior Judge Traxler wrote the opinion, in which Judge Agee and Judge Thacker joined.

ARGUED: Paul K. Sun, Jr., ELLIS & WINTERS, LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. Lucy Partain Brown, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Kelly Margolis Dagger, ELLIS & WINTERS LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. Michael F. Easley, Jr., United States Attorney, David A. Bragdon, Assistant United States Attorney, John L. Gibbons, USCA4 Appeal: 23-4072 Doc: 55 Filed: 07/09/2024 Pg: 2 of 17

Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

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TRAXLER, Senior Circuit Judge:

Jamie Christopher Henderson (“Henderson”) appeals his convictions and sentence

following a jury trial for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, possession with

intent to distribute cocaine base, and possession of firearms in furtherance of his drug

trafficking crimes. Henderson argues that the evidence was insufficient to support these

convictions, and that his sentence is procedurally and substantively unreasonable. We

affirm.

I.

On April 30, 2019, law enforcement officers with the Robeson County, North

Carolina, Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Henderson’s residence. Just prior

to the arrival of the officers, a blue car pulled into the front yard of the residence and

Henderson walked out to it. As the officers approached the residence, they witnessed

Henderson open his hand and toss items underneath the vehicle, including a gun that he

retrieved from his back pocket or waistband. The officers recovered a loaded .45 caliber

Glock handgun, a plastic bag with 2.61 grams of powder cocaine and 3.37 grams of crack

cocaine, a cigarette lighter, and a glass crack pipe from underneath the vehicle. Henderson

was placed under arrest. Two men fled from the rear of the trailer when the officers arrived.

Inside the trailer, a third man, who was legally blind, was lying on the couch with a

loaded AR-15 style rifle next to him. Police found a loaded handgun, cocaine powder and

crack cocaine in a toilet tank, and a second loaded handgun was found in the bottom of a

kitchen trash can. Police also seized three digital scales, one of which contained white

powder residue, and a digital video recorder containing footage from security cameras

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located on the exterior of the residence. The videos spanned the week prior to Henderson’s

arrest and depicted Henderson and other men, armed with multiple handguns and an AR-

15 style rifle, standing in the front yard of the residence as cars and people would approach

it. On one occasion, Henderson is seen repeatedly aiming an AR-15 style rifle at a vehicle

approaching the residence. Other video clips depict an armed Henderson distributing crack

cocaine to various men through the backdoor of the residence, while another man is

positioned strategically to ensure that he is behind the customer during the transaction. Still

other clips show Henderson on the front porch of the residence conducting drug sales.

Henderson, who is often seated at a table, is seen measuring drugs on a scale, selling drugs

to customers with an easily accessible handgun placed on the table in front of him, and

counting money.

A few months after his arrest, Henderson sent word through his sister that he wanted

to speak with Major Damien McLean, a deputy sheriff with the Robeson County Sheriff’s

Office, who was married to one of Henderson’s family members. After executing Miranda

and Sixth Amendment waiver forms, Henderson provided a videotaped statement to Major

McLean and Lieutenant Terry Sampson, who was also with the Robeson County Sheriff’s

Office. During the interview, Henderson confessed to being a drug trafficking

“middleman” in a cocaine distribution ring that had been operating in the Robeson County

area from 2015 until his arrest in 2019. He identified several of his suppliers and told the

officers that he had obtained a total of approximately 25 kilograms of cocaine from the

suppliers during this time period. After one of his suppliers (“Leon, Jr.”) introduced him

to a drug trafficker by the name of “Red Cloud,” Henderson cut Leon, Jr., out of the chain

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and began dealing primarily with Red Cloud. Henderson admitted that he was dealing in

“major weight” drugs that he first obtained from Red Cloud and, if Red Cloud didn’t have

the drugs, he would go to the other local suppliers. Henderson stated that he had obtained

approximately 20 kilograms of cocaine from Red Cloud alone. When asked how he

became a middleman in the operation, Henderson stated that he would “get out and

network” in various places in the area. J.A. 486. Detective Sampson had worked in the

Narcotics Division at the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office for more than ten years and was

assigned to the ATF Task Force. He was personally familiar with Red Cloud, as well as at

least six of the other named drug suppliers and traffickers, and he confirmed that Henderson

had accurately identified the suppliers and their locations.

Henderson remained in custody after his arrest, during which time he wrote an

incriminating letter to his brother that was intercepted by jail personnel and turned over to

the prosecution. Among other things, Henderson tells his brother that “I could easy have

been a rat and told on everybody, but I’m going to trial.” J.A. 294. He asks his brother to

get “Chandler and Dusty and Nick” to “say that I did not live” in the trailer and “then [the]

case will be dismissed. They cannot go back and charge anyone.” J.A. 294. He goes on

to state that he “know[s] Nick and them gonna step up for me.” J.A. 294.

A grand jury returned a five-count superseding indictment against Henderson,

charging him with: (1) conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and a

quantity of cocaine base, from 2015 and continuing until on or about April 30, 2019, in

violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) and 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Count One); possession of a firearm,

in furtherance of the drug-distribution conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)

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(Count Two); possession with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine and a quantity of

cocaine base, on or about April 30, 2019, in violation of 21 U.S.C.

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