United States v. Maurice Williams

461 F. App'x 483
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 13, 2012
Docket10-4326
StatusUnpublished

This text of 461 F. App'x 483 (United States v. Maurice Williams) 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. Maurice Williams, 461 F. App'x 483 (6th Cir. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Maurice Williams (“Williams”) was convicted of operating a continuing criminal enterprise (“CCE”) and twenty-nine other counts. On appeal, Williams alleges four errors. We AFFIRM.

*485 I. BACKGROUND

On February 26, 2009, Williams was charged with thirty-two federal drug-related offenses in a superseding indictment along with twenty-eight co-defendants. At trial, more than twenty witnesses testified for the Government regarding Williams’s leadership role in an international drug trafficking organization. See R. 1139-48, Trial Transcript. Trial testimony revealed that Williams was involved in cocaine trafficking back in the 1990s. R. 1148, p. 103— 04. Williams worked “together as a team” with Kenyatta Powell beginning in 2001. Id. at 112. Williams and Powell would pool their money to buy cocaine from Albert Bean and sell it to lower-level dealers. Id. at 105, 108, 113-15. Before long, Powell introduced Williams to Terrence Pfeif-fer so that he could join the cabal. Id. at 128. Pfeiffer subsequently introduced Williams to Antonio Carlton, who similarly assumed a role in the organization. R. 1140, p. 397. Williams and Powell jointly assigned drug-related tasks to Pfeiffer and Carlton, id., until Powell went to prison in 2001. R. 1139, p. 131.

Once Powell was in prison, Williams took control of the entire operation. Id. at 133. In doing so, Williams supervised numerous additional individuals. To begin, under Williams’s business model, Williams supplied other cocaine dealers, such as Kevin Cook, Cheo Greenhow, and Casey Drake, with cocaine on consignment. See R. 1141, p. 665; R. 1144, p. 1150; R. 1142, p. 731-32. Williams also hired multiple people to facilitate the smooth operation of his organization. First, there was Darrell Evans, who was responsible for transporting the cocaine. See R. 1141, p. 607-09. Later, when Williams worried that Evans might cooperate with police, Williams hired a woman named Crystal to make drug runs. R. 1144, p. 1156. Ultimately, Williams expanded his operation, and he hired Demetrius Slaughter and Marlon West to help transport the cocaine. R. 1139, p. 153; R. 1144, p. 1060. Kevin Cook, acting on Williams’s behalf, also hired Wayne Marshall to help facilitate the cocaine delivery. R. 1143, p. 967-76. This rotating cast of characters facilitated Williams’s cocaine and marijuana organization, but Williams also hired individuals exclusively for the purpose of selling marijuana, such as Malcom Ross. R. 1143, 928-32.

Unbeknownst to Williams, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) began investigating his organization in January 2008. R. 1148, p. 33. In May, FBI agents received court permission to tap Cook’s phone, and by June, additional wiretaps were authorized for a phone number identified in the first wiretap. Id. at 37, 44-45. In July, FBI agents executed search warrants at four locations deemed likely to contain evidence of illicit activity, including Williams’s residence in Charter Oak. Id. at 75.

Several months later, Williams organized a “business” trip to the Mexican border accompanied by six individuals: “Drake, Powell, West, a woman called Purple, Jeff Williams, and a Jamaican associate of Williams named John.” Appellee Br. at 16. On February 26, 2009, the grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Williams and his co-defendants. R. 33, Superseding Indictment. By March 29, 2009, FBI agents arrested everybody but Williams. R. 1148, p. 77. Williams continued to elude capture until August 2009. Id. at 73, 93.

Williams’s trial began on March 22, 2010. R. 1148. The jury returned a guilty verdict with respect to 30 counts: operating a CCE in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(a); conspiracy to distribute, possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine in viola *486 tion of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(l)(A)(ii), and 846; conspiracy to distribute, possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(C) and 846; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(l)(A)(i); and twenty-five counts of the use of a telecommunications device to facilitate a drug transaction in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843. Appellant Br. at 2.

On October 14, 2010, the district court sentenced Williams to 25 years’ imprisonment on the CCE; five years’ imprisonment for the firearm, to be served consecutively with the CCE; and four years on each of the telecommunications charges, to be served concurrently with the CCE. R. 1272, Sentencing Transcript. Williams timely appealed.

On appeal, Williams alleges four errors. First, Williams argues that the district court erred in “failing to instruct the jury that it must unanimously agree on the five individuals that appellant managed, supervised, or organized” during the CCE. Appellant Br. at 1. Second, Williams asserts that the district court “erred in denying Appellant’s motion to suppress evidence” seized from the Charter Oak residence (the “residence”). Id. Third, Williams contends the district court erred in “denying Appellant’s motion to suppress wiretapped communications....” Id. Finally, Williams claims that the district court “erred by giving an improper instruction on venue to the jury as to the telecommunications offenses.” Id. at 2.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Continuing Criminal Enterprise

The first issue Williams raises on appeal is his continuing criminal enterprise (“CCE”) conviction. There are five elements in a CCE offense:

(1) that the defendant committed a felony violation of federal narcotics laws; (2) that the violation was part of a continuing series of three or more drug offenses committed by the defendant; (3) that the defendant committed the series of offenses in concert with five or more persons; (4) that the defendant acted as an organizer, supervisor, or manager with regard to these five or more persons; and (5) that the defendant obtained substantial income or resources from this series of violations.

United States v. Burns,

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228 F.3d 751 (Sixth Circuit, 2000)
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298 F.3d 523 (Sixth Circuit, 2002)
United States v. Bernard Chester Webb
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United States v. Terry
522 F.3d 645 (Sixth Circuit, 2008)
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306 F.3d 295 (Sixth Circuit, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
461 F. App'x 483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-maurice-williams-ca6-2012.