United States v. Jimmie White, II

679 F. App'x 426
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 16, 2017
Docket16-1009
StatusUnpublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 679 F. App'x 426 (United States v. Jimmie White, II) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Jimmie White, II, 679 F. App'x 426 (6th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

GRIFFIN, Circuit Judge.

In this direct criminal appeal, defendant Jimmie White, II, appeals his convictions for drug distribution and firearms crimes. He alleges violations of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161 et seq., and the Sixth Amendment’s Speedy Trial Clause. White also maintains the district court erred in failing to suppress the tracking information for his cell phone, and challenges the sufficiency of the evidence in support of his firearms convictions. We affirm the district court’s judgment.

I.

After a months-long investigation into ecstasy trafficking in Detroit, Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) agents executed a search warrant at White’s home on May 14, 2010. From a locked safe, they recovered over $25,000 in cash, 898 N-Benzylpiperazine Dihydrochloride (“BZP”) pills, an unloaded Cobray 9 mm handgun with an obliterated serial number, and an extended magazine loaded with twenty-five rounds of ammunition for the handgun. The safe was divided into two immediately-accessible compartments with the gun and ammunition on one side, and the pills and cash on the other.

The investigation precipitating the search involved several investigation techniques, including a Title III wiretap interception of White’s cell phone conversations, and state-issued search warrants to track the location of his cell phone. The Title III wiretap authorized agents to monitor White’s calls from early February to early March 2010. During that time, the agents recorded White arranging a series of drug deals. For example, on February 17, 2010, White spoke with an unidentified male calling to “see what the play is,” and then requesting “a nickel” of “the fine.” White called back the next day, saying he had pills imprinted with airplanes. The client said he wanted “the chalky ones” and “some hitters” because he “d[id]n’t want no more complaints[.]” White advised that the “airplanes” and “transformers” were a “good combo,” and the two arranged to meet that Saturday.

The agents also obtained search warrants to track the location of White’s'cell phone. 1 A DEA agent signed the affidavit presented in support of the May 28, 2009, warrant request. A Dearborn Heights, Michigan police officer assigned to the DEA as a task force officer signed the affidavit presented in support of the February 5, 2010, warrant request. To justify the request, the affiants each swore that:

*429 [I]n order to determine where the cellular phone is being used, it is necessary that the above stated records be furnished to your Affiant on a continuous basis until the account is closed, or until known are [White’s] drug trafficking activities, his residence, his vehicles and his narcotics distribution associates.

A state magistrate judge issued these warrants for 30 days for the searching of

[a]ny and all records relating to the location of cellular phone tower(s) including specific active GPS precision tracking of cellular phone number (313) 674-6225. Said records shall include the time period from [date], on a continuous basis until [date].

Based primarily on information obtained through calls intercepted under the Title III wiretap and physical surveillance, a magistrate judge issued a warrant to search White’s home. When the search began, White’s mother and brother were home. White was also home, asleep in the master bedroom with a female acquaintance. After White emerged from his bedroom undressed, the agents allowed him to return to get some clothing. In addition to White’s clothes, the master bedroom contained many other personal items, including his bank statements, debit card, passport, social security card, two driver’s licenses, and cell phone. The safe was also in White’s bedroom, but the agents had to take it outside and pry it open because neither White nor anyone else in the home would surrender a key or divulge the combination.

While the search was ongoing, DEA agents arrested White and took him to their Detroit office to interview him. The arrest form states White was arrested for “probable cause” and on an outstanding Ohio warrant. White waived his Miranda rights at the DEA office and spoke with the agents. He admitted selling ecstasy for about one year and estimated that he had sold around 10,000 pills. He also admitted the safe was his, and volunteered that it contained about 900 pills and around $25,000 in cash. White denied knowing about the gun, however, and speculated that someone must have put it in the safe during a party he hosted the previous weekend.

The government did not formally charge White at that time, in part because he promised to cooperate with the DEA. Instead, White was released into state custody and held at the Wayne County jail on the Ohio warrant until he was extradited to Ohio to face state charges pending against him there. He was sentenced in Ohio on October 12, 2010, to time served and released.

On April 29, 2013, the government filed a complaint against White charging him with drug distribution and firearm crimes related to the May 14, 2010, search and seizure. White was arrested on those charges, and an order of temporaiy detention was entered, on May 2, 2013. He made his initial appearance the next day and was released on bond.

After his arrest, the parties engaged in pre-indictment plea negotiations. To that end, they filed a stipulation with the district court on May 17, 2013, agreeing to adjourn White’s preliminary hearing and exclude the time between May 23, 2013, and June 7, 2013, from White’s Speedy Trial Act clock. Plea negotiations were not successful, and a grand jury indicted White on June 4, 2013, on the following four counts:

Count I: conspiracy to distribute BZP and ecstasy or MDMA, 21 U.S.C. § 846;
Count II: possession of BZP with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1);
*430 Count III: possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A); and
Count IV: possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

White was arraigned on June 12, 2013.

As his case progressed, White filed more than twenty motions, both pro se and through counsel. Among them was his motion through counsel to dismiss the indictment for violations of the Speedy Trial Act and the Sixth Amendment’s Speedy Trial Clause, and his pro Se motion to suppress the tracking information derived from the warrants issued for his cell phone. The district court held a hearing on each and denied both.

The district court held a three-day trial. White stipulated to having a prior felony conviction. The government played several of White’s cell phone calls for the jury.

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Related

United States v. Jimmie White
920 F.3d 1109 (Sixth Circuit, 2019)

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Bluebook (online)
679 F. App'x 426, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jimmie-white-ii-ca6-2017.