United States v. Michael Collins

683 F.3d 697, 2012 WL 2094415, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 11828
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJune 12, 2012
Docket10-6454
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 683 F.3d 697 (United States v. Michael Collins) 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. Michael Collins, 683 F.3d 697, 2012 WL 2094415, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 11828 (6th Cir. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

CALDWELL, District Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Michael Anthony Collins pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). He appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress the gun and certain statements he made indicating the gun was his. He also appeals the district court’s decision that the government did not act arbitrarily or unconstitutionally when it failed to move for the additional one-level reduction in offense level for acceptance of responsibility provided in § 3El.l(b) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the district court’s judgment.

I. Background

Collins was a passenger in a Jeep that was pulled over for speeding in the early morning hours of November 30, 2008. The police officers performing the traffic stop ultimately searched the car and found a gun. In its opinion on Collins’ motion to suppress, the district court found the following facts, none of which has been disputed by the parties:

At approximately 2:30 A.M. on November 30, 2008, Officer [Shaun] Gary, a patrolman with the Jackson, Tennessee Police Department, was “running sta *700 tionary radar” in his patrol car on Highland Avenue in Jackson — meaning that he was using his radar gun inside of his parked police cruiser. The Jeep Cherokee in which the Defendant was a passenger passed Officer Gary, at which time he clocked the vehicle traveling fifty-five miles per hour in a forty-miles-per-hour zone. He initiated a traffic stop, and [Orlando] Whisnant — the driver of the Jeep — pulled over on a nearby side street. Neither Whisnant nor the Defendant owned the Jeep, which belonged to a mutual friend — Robert Smith — but they had borrowed it with Smith’s permission.
After pulling the Jeep over and making contact with the occupants, Gary returned to his police cruiser with Whisnant’s driver’s license and Collins’s personal information. He was able to determine that there were no outstanding warrants on either individual, and that Whisnant’s driver’s license was valid. Because Whisnant admitted that he had been drinking earlier in the evening, the officer asked him to perform a field sobriety test, which Whisnant passed satisfactorily. Gary then issued him a citation for speeding. Throughout the course of these events, as many as four additional officers arrived on the scene to assist Gary. One of these officers, Officer [Antonio] Rhodes, identified Whisnant as someone who had a history of drug possession. Rhodes positioned himself at the rear of the passenger side of the Jeep while Gary conducted the field sobriety test on Whisnant, and from that vantage point, Rhodes observed that the Defendant made “a furtive gesture reaching down toward the floorboard as if he was trying to retrieve something or conceal something.”
Whisnant accompanied Gary to his police car where the officer explained the citation to him. He then asked Whisnant for consent to search the Jeep, whereupon the latter replied that because the vehicle did not belong to him, he was not sure he could agree to the request. Gary assured him that because he was the driver, he had the right to consent, and as such, Whisnant responded, “Well, I guess you can search. There’s nothing to hide.” After both Whisnant and Collins exited the Jeep, the officers searched it. During the search, Rhodes discovered a loaded .22 caliber handgun under the front passenger seat in the area where he previously had seen Collins gesturing. The officers then placed both men in custody and asked them to whom the handgun belonged. Both men replied that they “didn’t know anything about it,” to which Gary responded that he would have to take them both into custody and charge them with possession of the firearm. At that point, Collins said, “I’ll take the charge,” and he was retained in custody while Whisnant was allowed to leave. (Id.) The entire detention, from Gary’s initiation of the traffic stop to his transportation of Collins to the police station, lasted approximately forty-nine minutes.

Around 6 P.M. on November 30, 2008, Investigator Phillip Kemper of the Jackson Police Department interviewed the Defendant in the Madison County Jail. After Kemper read Collins his Miranda rights, the Defendant signed a waiver thereof. Kemper then wrote down the statement given by Collins, in which he admitted that the gun was his, and that he had bought it for protection. Collins then signed the statement, which Kemper also signed as a witness.

(R. 48, Opinion at 1-3) (record citations and footnote omitted).

Collins was indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). He moved to suppress *701 the gun, the statement he made to Officer Gary at the scene of the traffic stop that he would “take the charge,” and the written statement he signed after his interview with Investigator Kemper at the jail. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the district court denied the motion to suppress. Collins pleaded guilty to the § 922(g) charge but reserved his right to appeal the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress.

Prior to sentencing, the government filed a notice stating that it would not move for the additional one-level decrease in offense level applicable to defendants who demonstrate “acceptance of responsibility” as provided for in § 3El.l(b) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual. At the sentencing hearing, the district court found that the government’s failure to make the § 3El.l(b) motion was not arbitrary or unconstitutionally motivated. Thus, in calculating the applicable advisory Guidelines range, the district court applied only the two-level decrease for acceptance of responsibility provided for in § 3El.l(a).

The district court also found that Collins qualified as an armed career criminal under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1), and U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4(a), meaning that Collins was subject to a minimum sentence of fifteen years. The court determined that Collins’ advisory Guidelines range was 151 to 188 months and sentenced him to 184 months’ imprisonment. Collins appeals the denial of his motion to suppress and his sentence.

II. Discussion

A. The motion to suppress

In its opinion on the motion to suppress, the district court noted that, while Collins had contested the reasonableness of the detention in his motion to suppress, his counsel conceded that the detention was reasonable at the suppression hearing. Collins agrees that he conceded before the district court that the detention was reasonable. Nevertheless, on appeal, he argues that the detention was unreasonable and that, therefore, the Court should find that Whisnant’s consent to search the Jeep was not valid.

By conceding before the district court that the detention was reasonable, Collins has waived any objection to the legality of the detention.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
683 F.3d 697, 2012 WL 2094415, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 11828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-michael-collins-ca6-2012.