United States v. McFadden

15 F. Supp. 3d 668, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132142, 2013 WL 8339005
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedMay 10, 2013
DocketCriminal Action No. 3:12CR00009
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 15 F. Supp. 3d 668 (United States v. McFadden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. McFadden, 15 F. Supp. 3d 668, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132142, 2013 WL 8339005 (W.D. Va. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GLEN E. CONRAD, Chief Judge.

This case is presently before the court on the defendant’s motion for judgment of [671]*671acquittal. For the reasons set forth below, the motion will be denied.

Background

On November 14, 2012, the defendant, Stephen Dominick McFadden, was charged in a nine-count superseding indictment returned by a grand jury in the Western District of Virginia. Count One charged the defendant with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute, for human consumption, controlled substance analogues, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 846. Counts Two through Nine charged the defendant with distributing controlled substance analogues, for human consumption, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).

The charges stemmed from McFadden’s sale and distribution of products marketed as “bath salts,” which contained one or more of the following substances: 3,4— methylenedioxymethcathinone (commonly known as “methylone” or “MDMC”); 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (commonly known as “MDPV”); and 4-methyl-ethyl-cathinone (commonly known as “4-MEC”). The indictment alleged that methylone, MDPV, and 4-MEC were controlled substance analogues during the time periods charged in the indictment, and that McFadden’s activities were therefore unlawful under the Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act of 1986 (“Analogue Act”). See 21 U.S.C. §§ 802(32), 813.1

McFadden’s co-defendant, Lois McDaniel, began selling bath salts from her video store in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2011. During the course of investigating McDaniel, law enforcement agents determined that she was purchasing the bath salts from a supplier in New York, later identified as McFadden. On February, 15, 2012, a search warrant was executed at an office unit occupied by McFadden in Staten Island, New York. During the search, agents recovered bath salts, scales, plastic bags, and other items associated with the distribution of these substances.

McFadden went to trial, and, on January 10, 2013, a jury returned a verdict of guilty on all nine counts. McFadden subsequently filed a motion for judgment of acquittal, in which he challenges the constitutionality of the Analogue Act; the propriety of the court’s instructions to the jury; the admission of certain expert testimony; and the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions.

Discussion

I. The Constitutionality of the Analogue Act

McFadden contends that the Analogue Act is unconstitutionally vague as applied to him. The Act defines a “controlled substance analogue” as:

a substance—
(i) the chemical structure of which is substantially similar to the chemical structure of a controlled substance in schedule I or II;
(ii) which has a stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogenic effect on the central [672]*672nervous system that is substantially similar to or greater than the stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system of a controlled substance in schedule I or II; or
(iii) with respect to a particular person, which such person represents or intends to have a stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system that is substantially similar to or greater than the stimulant, depressant, or hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system of a controlled substance in schedule I or II.

21 U.S.C. § 802(32)(A).2 The Act further provides that “[a] controlled substance analogue shall, to the extent intended for human consumption, be treated, for the purposes of any Federal law as a controlled substance in schedule I.” 21 U.S.C. § 813.

“Due process requires that a criminal statute provide adequate notice to a person of ordinary intelligence that his contemplated conduct is illegal, ‘for no man shall be held criminally responsible for conduct which he could not reasonably understand to be proscribed.’ ” Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 77, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976) (quoting United States v. Harriss, 347 U.S. 612, 617, 74 S.Ct. 808, 98 L.Ed. 989 (1954)). Thus, “[t]he void-for-vagueness doctrine requires that penal statutes define the criminal offense with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and in a manner that does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforeement.” Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 357, 103 S.Ct. 1855, 75 L.Ed.2d 903 (1983). “[V]agueness challenges to statutes which do not involve First Amendment freedoms must be examined in the light of the facts of the case at hand.” United States v. Mazurie, 419 U.S. 544, 550, 95 S.Ct. 710, 42 L.Ed.2d 706 (1975).

Under existing circuit precedent interpreting the Analogue Act, McFadden is unable to establish that the Act lends itself to arbitrary enforcement. In United States v. Klecker, 348 F.3d 69 (4th Cir.2003), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that “[t]he requirement of preventing arbitrary enforcement is easily satisfied” by the Analogue Act. Id. at 71. In reaching this conclusion, the Fourth Circuit explained as follows:

In order to show an Analogue Act violation, the Government must prove (1) substantial chemical similarity between the alleged analogue and a controlled substance; see 21 U.S.C. § 802(32)(A)(i); (2) actual, intended, or claimed physiological similarity (in other words, that the alleged analogue has effects similar to those of a controlled substance or that the defendant intended or represented that the substance would have such effects), see id. § 802(32)(A)(ii), (ni); and (3) intent that the substance be consumed by humans, see id. § 813. The intent requirement alone tends to defeat any vagueness challenge based on the potential for arbitrary enforcement.

Id. (emphasis in original) (additional internal citations omitted); see also United States v. Hofstatter, 8 F.3d 316, 322 (6th [673]*673Cir.1993) (rejecting a similar vagueness challenge and holding that the intent requirement set forth in 21 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
15 F. Supp. 3d 668, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132142, 2013 WL 8339005, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mcfadden-vawd-2013.