United States v. Nunez

627 F.3d 274, 78 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 35, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 24440, 2010 WL 4825461
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedNovember 30, 2010
Docket10-1384
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 627 F.3d 274 (United States v. Nunez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Nunez, 627 F.3d 274, 78 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 35, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 24440, 2010 WL 4825461 (7th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

Miguel Nunez pled guilty to knowingly and intentionally possessing over 500 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute. The district court sentenced Nunez to sixty months imprisonment, the mandatory minimum sentence, after determining that Nunez was not eligible for a “safety valve” adjustment to his sentence, which would have permitted the court to set a sentence below the mandatory minimum. Nunez argues that the district court violated his due process right to be sentenced on the basis of reliable information when it considered hearsay information from two confidential informants at sentencing. We affirm.

I. Background

An informant working under the direction and control of law enforcement made four controlled purchases of cocaine from Miguel Nunez between January 20, 2009, and April 30, 2009. Three of the purchases took place either inside or in the alley behind Nunez’s “stash house” in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the fourth occurred at the Omega Restaurant in Milwaukee.

During the second purchase, which took place at Nunez’s stash house, the informant observed Angie Schram, Nunez’s girlfriend, inside the residence. Nunez told the informant that he was living with Schram in a trailer home. During the third purchase, Nunez told the informant that he was still living with Schram in her trailer home. After the transaction, government agents observed Nunez leave his stash house and briefly meet with Jose Garza, one of Nunez’s co-defendants in this case, in Nunez’s vehicle.

Nunez and the informant scheduled the fourth purchase during a recorded telephone call on April 30, 2009. The informant planned to purchase .5 kilograms of cocaine from Nunez at the Omega Restaurant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Agents surveilled Nunez before the meeting and observed the following events: Nunez arrived at his trailer home in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, with Garza following in his own vehicle; both men then entered Nunez’s residence, where they remained for approximately eight minutes before leaving and driving towards the Omega Restaurant in separate cars; upon arriving at the restaurant, Nunez parked in the parking lot and Garza parked across the street, where he had a direct view of Nunez and *277 the informant. The informant then met with Nunez in Nunez’s car.

Government agents arrested Nunez and Garza at the scene of the fourth purchase. The agents recovered .5 kilograms of cocaine from Nunez’s vehicle. Agents searched Garza and his vehicle, discovering 1.5 grams of cocaine, a small amount of marijuana, and $1,200 in cash. Agents also conducted a consent search of Garza’s residence, finding two firearms and a digital scale. Finally, agents searched Nunez’s and Schram’s trailer residence pursuant to a search warrant, recovering three ounces of powder cocaine, packaging materials, and two digital scales. Agents also observed drugs and drug paraphernalia scattered around them residence.

Nunez, Garza, and Schram were indicted on May 12, 2009. Nunez was indicted on five counts of drug-related offenses. Count Five, the only Count relevant to this appeal, was issued against Nunez and Garza for possessing 500 grams or more of cocaine with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B), and 18 U.S.C. § 2.

Nunez debriefed with government agents on June 25, 2009. During the debriefing, Nunez provided background information about his involvement in the drug trade, including, for example, when he first became involved in selling drugs. He also discussed the names of individuals from whom he obtained drugs, the prices he paid for drugs, the amounts he dealt, and the locations at which he stored drugs, among other information. But Nunez refused to provide any information regarding his customers, and he also failed to mention Garza’s and Schram’s knowledge of and involvement in the above-mentioned controlled purchases, other than to state that he had given Garza some cocaine. Instead, when asked about Garza’s presence near the scene of Nunez’s arrest, Nunez stated that Garza was there because Nunez planned to purchase lawn furniture from a store near the Omega Restaurant, and Garza was going to help Nunez transport the furniture back to Nunez’s house. Nunez stated that Garza had nothing to do with the drug transaction for which Nunez was arrested.

The government scheduled a second debriefing to learn more about the charged offense. But Nunez indicated that he was unwilling to discuss his customers and co-defendants, and that he was only willing to discuss particular suppliers. The government ended the debriefing because it was not interested in Nunez’s proposed limits.

On August 5, 2009, government agents interviewed a confidential informant (“CI-1”) who was housed at Waukesha County Jail with Nunez. During his interview, CI-1 stated that he knew Nunez and Garza through affiliations with gangs, and that he had purchased marijuana from Garza on various occasions. CI-1 stated that Nunez told him details about his arrest, including that it occurred at the Omega Restaurant. CI-1 also indicated that Nunez told him that Garza was aware of the drug transaction for which Nunez was arrested, and that Garza was across the street from the site of the transaction to serve as a lookout. CI-1 provided government agents with various other details that Nunez told him about the case, including that Garza had roughly one gram of cocaine on him when he was arrested; that the police seized two firearms while searching Garza’s residence; that the police searched Nunez’s residence and recovered three ounces of cocaine; that Nunez had a trailer home that was different from his stash house; that Nunez spoke to a police officer on one occasion, but the officer to whom he spoke was not the officer who arrested him; and that Schram knew that Nunez was selling cocaine and that he *278 kept cocaine at their residence. CI-1 stated that Nunez told him that Nunez and Garza were optimistic that they would receive the money from the fourth controlled purchase and that they used the same cocaine source. CI-1 also stated that Nunez told him that Nunez lied about Garza’s involvement in the offenses at issue to government agents during his debriefing because “there was no need for both of them to go to jail,” and that he was not going to tell the police about his drug source because he was going to need the source again when he got out of jail. CI-1 also explained that Nunez admitted to him that he intended to lie to government agents about Garza’s and Schram’s participation in the cocaine transactions to make it seem like they were not involved.

On October 27, 2009, government agents interviewed a second confidential informant (“CI-2”). Although CI-2 did not know Nunez or Garza, he identified Nunez from a photograph as an individual with whom he had recently been housed at Waukesha County Jail. CI-2 stated that he saw a person who was also housed in jail with him conversing with Nunez while in jail. It is unclear whether CI-2 stated that the person he observed talking to Nunez was CI-1; the notes documenting the government’s interview with CI-2 redact both informants’ names.

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Bluebook (online)
627 F.3d 274, 78 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 35, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 24440, 2010 WL 4825461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-nunez-ca7-2010.