United States v. Lee

346 F. App'x 878
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Lee. Read the opinion of the Court — 612 F.3d 170
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided September 24, 2009·No. No. 09-1305·Published

Opinion

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

In March of 2003, a grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania returned a superseding indictment against appellant Gary Lee, Omari Patton, and 21 other individuals. In pertinent part, Count One charged that from 1998 until April 18, 2002, Lee, Patton, and others conspired to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, more than one kilogram of heroin, and more than fifty grams of crack cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. Count Fifteen charged Lee with possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). In late 2004, Lee, along with Patton, proceeded to trial. The Government filed an Information giving notice of its intent to seek an increased penalty under 21 U.S.C. § 851.1 The jury returned a verdict of guilty as against Lee on both counts. On February 22, 2005, the District Court sentenced Lee to a term of imprisonment of 240 months, to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release. Lee timely appealed.

On April 10, 2007, and while his direct appeal was pending in this Court, Lee filed a motion for anew trial pursuant to criminal Rule 33.2 On September 5, 2008, we [880]*880affirmed Lee’s judgment of conviction and sentence in United States v. Patton, 292 Fed.Appx. 159 (3d Cir.2008). Following issuance of the mandate, the District Court denied Lee’s Rule 33 motion, see Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33(b)(1) (noting that if appeal is pending when motion for new trial is filed, “the court may not grant a motion for a new trial until the appellate court remands the case”). Lee appeals.

We will affirm. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Our standard of review for the denial of a Rule 33 motion is abuse of discretion. United States v. Iannelli, 528 F.2d 1290, 1292 (3d Cir.1976). To win a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence, a defendant must meet these requirements: (1) the evidence must be newly discovered, that is, discovered since the trial; (2) the defendant must have been diligent in discovering the new facts; (3) the evidence must not be merely cumulative or impeaching; (4) the evidence must be material to the issues involved; and (e) the evidence must be such that, in a new trial, it would probably produce an acquittal. See id.; United States v. Adams, 759 F.2d 1099, 1108 (3d Cir.1985).

Lee was a member of a large-scale drug conspiracy based in Pittsburgh, with ties to New Jersey, New York and Georgia. Government witness Edward Myrick was associated with Lee and developed a source of cocaine in Georgia and that source supplied the conspiracy with hundreds of kilograms of cocaine. In addition to his dealings with Lee and his co-conspirators, Myrick dealt cocaine with Terrance Cole, another Pittsburgher. In April of 2002, a grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania returned an indictment against Myrick and others. One month later, Myrick pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. In October of 2002, the District Court sentenced Myrick to a term of imprisonment of 188 months. In exchange, Myrick became a key witness in the Government’s case against Lee in D.C.Crim. No. 02-cr-00093, and Terrance Cole in D.C.Crim. No. 04-cr-00109.

At his November 2004 trial, Lee premised his defense on the credibility of the Government’s witnesses, in that they had made deals with the Government. Lee sought to establish this defense through the cross-examination of Myrick, among others. Under direct examination by the Government, Myrick admitted that he was currently incarcerated as a result of his conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. See N.T., 11/12/04, at 23. He told the jury that, as a result of that conviction, he had received a sentence of 188 months. Id. He then admitted that he had a plea agreement with the United States in which he agreed to cooperate with the Government in exchange for a reduced sentence. Id. at 23-24. Lee’s counsel then cross-examined Myrick and got him to admit that, because he was charged with dealing in excess of five kilograms of cocaine, he was facing a mandatory ten years in jail, and, because he had a prior felony drug conviction, that mandatory minimum of ten years would be doubled to twenty years. Id. at 103-04. After obtaining Myrick’s agreement that he would have qualified as a career offender, id. at 104, Lee’s counsel got Myrick to admit that he could have been sentenced [881]*881to 262 to 327 months imprisonment, id. at 105. He asked, “So you got a break from 262 to 327 down to 188 already, right?,” and Myrick answered, “Yes.” Id. at 106.

In February of 2005, Cole and one co-defendant proceeded to trial. Myrick also testified at this trial. After a five-week trial, the jury convicted the co-defendant but, with regard to Cole, the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Cole’s second trial, conducted in the Fall of 2005, ended in a guilty verdict. (Myrick also testified at this trial.) In the first trial, Myrick told the jury that he was serving a sentence of 188 months in a federal prison, following a guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. See N.T., 3/3/05, at 88-90. Explaining that he had entered into a plea agreement with respect to a drug conspiracy, Myrick told the jury that he had agreed to fully cooperate with the Government in the hope that he might receive a sentence reduction. Id. at 89. Myrick also testified that the plea agreement contained a stipulation that the amount of drugs involved in his offense was 50 to 150 kilograms of cocaine. Id. at 90-91. On cross-examination, Cole’s counsel got Myrick to repeat that the Government was going to, or had, limited his participation in the conspiracy to 50 to 150 kilograms of cocaine and no heroin. Id. at 145.

In his Rule 33 motion, Lee argued that Myrick’s testimony at Cole’s first trial constituted newly discovered evidence relevant to his trial. Specifically, he claimed that he did not know, until Myrick was cross-examined at Cole’s trial, that the Government had decided not to file a motion for an enhancement based on Myrick’s prior conviction, see 21 U.S.C. § 851. In rejecting this claim as meritless, the District Court concluded, after reviewing the transcript, that Lee and his counsel were well aware of Myrick’s prior drug conviction and the fact that the Government had chosen not to file an Information for an enhancement based on that prior conviction. Therefore, the evidence was not new.

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United States v. Lee, 346 F. App'x 878 (3d Cir. 2009).

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