United States v. McKinney

3 F. Supp. 3d 664, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33914, 2014 WL 960820
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedMarch 12, 2014
DocketCase No. 13-20182
StatusPublished

This text of 3 F. Supp. 3d 664 (United States v. McKinney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. McKinney, 3 F. Supp. 3d 664, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33914, 2014 WL 960820 (E.D. Mich. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT OF ACQUITTAL

DAVID M. LAWSON, District Judge.

Defendant Brent McKinney was convicted by a jury of (1) conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine; (2) conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine on a premises where a child is present; (3) maintaining a drug-involved premises; (4) endangering life while manufacturing methamphetamine; and (5) unlawful possession of material or equipment used to manufacture methamphetamine. Presently before the Court is his renewed motion for judgment of acquittal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29(c), in which he argues that the government did not offer sufficient evidence to convict him of the various crimes, and his convictions of both conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine where a child is present violates the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause. McKinney also argues that the cooperating witnesses were inherently unbelievable and moves for a new trial on all counts under Rule 33(a). The Court heard oral argument from the parties on February 20, 2014, and now determines that the motion must be denied.

I.

The facts of the case are well known to the parties. At trial, witnesses testified that McKinney resided in a bedroom located in the basement of a house in Port Huron, Michigan owned by Robert Folli-ard and Amber King. Folliard and King lived on the first and second floors of that house with Folliard’s six-year-old daughter. They had been charged as co-defendants with McKinney, but they pleaded guilty and testified against McKinney at trial. Together with other witnesses — also former co-defendants — they testified that they purchased pseudoephedrine at McKinney’s request and furnished it to him as an ingredient for the methamphetamine he manufactured in the basement of Folliard’s home. The manufacturing operation was discovered when a federal drug task force searched the home with a search warrant obtained on the strength of a tip from an informant.

The grand jury charged McKinney with the crimes listed above, in addition to possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. The trial jury acquitted him of that charge. Also at trial, the cooperating witnesses described the leniency agreements they made with the government and were subject to cross-examination about them.

The defendant contends that the verdict on each of the counts of conviction is defective. The Court will address each of his arguments in turn.

II.

When deciding a motion for judgment of acquittal under Rule 29(c), the Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and determine whether there was sufficient evidence offered at trial to convince a rational trier of fact beyond a reasonable doubt that all of the elements of the charged crimes had been established. United States v. Graham, 622 F.3d 445, 448 (6th Cir.2010); see also Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-19, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). “The relevant question in assessing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. [668]*668McAuliffe, 490 F.3d 526, 537 (6th Cir.2007); see also Jackson, 443 U.S. at 318, 99 S.Ct. 2781. The evidence need not exclude every theory of innocence. Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781. The testimony of a single witness is generally sufficient to demonstrate guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. “The prosecution, however, must present substantial evidence as to each element of the offense from which a jury could find the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” Brown v. Davis, 752 F.2d 1142, 1145 (6th Cir.1985) (internal citation omitted).

“Substantial evidence is more than a scintilla. It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept to support a conclusion. It is evidence affording a substantial basis of fact from which the fact in issue can be reasonably inferred.” United States v. Martin, 375 F.2d 956, 957 (6th Cir.1967). But where the evidence is at least as indicative of innocence as guilt, the Court must direct a verdict of acquittal. United States v. Berger, 224 F.3d 107, 116 (2d Cir.2000).

“Upon the defendant’s motion, the court may vacate any judgment and grant a new trial if the interest of justice so requires.” Fed.R. Crim.P. 33(a). “The decision whether to grant a new trial is left to the sound discretion of the district court.” United States v. Pierce, 62 F.3d 818, 823 (6th Cir.1995). “A reversal based on the verdict being against the manifest weight of the evidence is proper when the government has presented sufficient evidence to convict, but the judge disagrees with the jury’s resolution of conflicting evidence.” United States v. Lutz, 154 F.3d 581, 589 (6th Cir.1998). “A district judge, in considering the weight of the evidence for purposes of adjudicating a motion for new trial, may act as a thirteenth juror, assessing the credibility of witnesses and the weight of the evidence.” United States v. Hughes, 505 F.3d 578, 593 (6th Cir.2007) (quoting Lutz, 154 F.3d at 589). Moreover, “it is widely agreed that Rule 33’s ‘interest of justice’ standard allows the grant of a new trial where substantial legal error has occurred.” United States v. Munoz, 605 F.3d 359, 373 (6th Cir.2010) (collecting cases).

A. Conspiracy Counts (Counts I and II)

The Court has little difficulty finding sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdicts on these two conspiracy counts. “To sustain a conviction for conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846, the government must have proved: (1) an agreement to violate drug laws, in this case 21 U.S.C. § 841; (2) knowledge and intent to join the conspiracy; and (3) participation in the conspiracy.” United States v. Sliwo, 620 F.3d 630, 633 (6th Cir.2010) (quoting United States v. Deitz, 577 F.3d 672, 677 (6th Cir.2009)). McKinney concedes that the evidence was sufficient to establish that a conspiracy existed, and he has offered nothing to suggest that the testimony establishing that he knew of and participated in the conspiracy was insufficient.

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Related

Blockburger v. United States
284 U.S. 299 (Supreme Court, 1931)
Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Albernaz v. United States
450 U.S. 333 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Witte v. United States
515 U.S. 389 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Rutledge v. United States
517 U.S. 292 (Supreme Court, 1996)
Carpenter v. United States
543 U.S. 1108 (Supreme Court, 2005)
Banuelos Alva v. United States
543 U.S. 1108 (Supreme Court, 2005)
United States v. Munoz
605 F.3d 359 (Sixth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Sliwo
620 F.3d 630 (Sixth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Graham
622 F.3d 445 (Sixth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Ehle
640 F.3d 689 (Sixth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Samuel Lee Martin
375 F.2d 956 (Sixth Circuit, 1967)
Raymond Pandelli v. United States
635 F.2d 533 (Sixth Circuit, 1980)
McKinley Brown v. Herman C. Davis, Warden
752 F.2d 1142 (Sixth Circuit, 1985)
United States v. James Henry Gibbons
994 F.2d 299 (Sixth Circuit, 1993)
Lee Hampton v. Ron Hobbs
106 F.3d 1281 (Sixth Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Truth E. Lutz
154 F.3d 581 (Sixth Circuit, 1998)
United States v. David Devon Davis
306 F.3d 398 (Sixth Circuit, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
3 F. Supp. 3d 664, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33914, 2014 WL 960820, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mckinney-mied-2014.