United States v. Reynolds

374 F. App'x 356
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 18, 2010
DocketNo. 07-3210
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 374 F. App'x 356 (United States v. Reynolds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Reynolds, 374 F. App'x 356 (3d Cir. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

RENDELL, Circuit Judge.

In 2007, a jury found Michael Curtis Reynolds guilty of multiple terrorism-related crimes, and the District Court sentenced him to 360 months of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500. On appeal, Reynolds raises the following issues: (1) whether the evidence submitted at trial was sufficient to find him guilty of the five counts he was convicted of; (2) whether the “master” affidavit of probable cause for the search warrants contained a reckless or intentional material misstatement of fact; (3) whether perjured trial testimony was used to support the conviction; (4) whether the United States vindictively prosecuted Reynolds; and (5) whether Reynolds’s right to a speedy trial was violated. We will affirm the order of the District Court.

I.

Since we write only for the benefit of the parties, we state only the facts that are necessary as background. An FBI source, Shannon Rossmiller, discovered a message from October 25, 2005 that Reynolds posted on an on-line message board soliciting help for what appeared to be a terrorist plan. In early November 2005, after finding similar messages also posted by Reynolds, Rossmiller began direct communication with Reynolds through email correspondence. In his response to her initial email, Reynolds stated that his plan would cause the United States to bring its troops home. (Appellate Br. at 13, citing Tr. 124.) Over the course of the next month, Rossmiller communicated interest in Reynolds’s plans, Reynolds described the plans generally, and both parties discussed payment arrangements. Reynolds was arrested by an FBI tactical team on December 5, 2005 near Pocatello, Idaho, while he was attempting to retrieve reward money promised to him by an undercover FBI agent.

After his arrest, Special Agent Noone, of the FBI’s Scranton Resident Agency, informed Reynolds of his constitutional rights, and Reynolds waived those rights. Reynolds confessed that he believed he was communicating with an organization tied to al-Qaeda, but he denied being a [359]*359terrorist. He claimed that he was attempting to gain information about al-Qae-da in order to turn it over to a private paramilitary organization with which he had been associated in the 1980s. He had not contacted anyone at the organization about his plan, nor had he communicated this idea to anyone else.

Illustrative operational plans for the attack were found on Reynolds’s computer. Reynolds’s plans for an explosive device were detailed and thorough. At the time of Reynolds’s arrest, a search warrant was executed at his rented storage unit, and an officer found a live hand grenade in the unit.

On December 20, 2005, a grand jury indicted Reynolds on two counts of possessing an unregistered destructive device in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d). Reynolds pleaded not guilty. His court-appointed attorney was then permitted to withdraw and substitute counsel was appointed by the court. On June 7, 2006, Reynolds’s second court-appointed counsel moved to withdraw. Over the next month, Reynolds filed 11 pro se motions, while the District Court appointed Reynolds’s third attorney on June 11, 2006.

On October 3, 2006, before a scheduled hearing date on Reynolds’s outstanding motions, the grand jury returned a six-count superseding indictment.1 Though Reynolds was represented by court-appointed counsel, he filed 23 pro se motions in the form of letter motions, writs, and complaints.2 On May 18, 2007, Reynolds’s counsel filed a motion to suppress evidence and a motion to dismiss the indictment for violation of the Speedy Trial Act. The court denied the suppression motion, and on July 2, 2007 issued a memorandum opinion rejecting the motion for violations of the Speedy Trial Act.

On July 9-12, 2007, Reynolds was tried by U.S. District Judge Kosik before a jury. The jury found Reynolds guilty of five of the six counts. Reynolds was acquitted of one count of possessing an unregistered destructive device. Reynolds prematurely filed his notice of appeal on July 23, 2007. On November 6, 2007, the District Court sentenced Reynolds to 360 months of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500. We have appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), and will address [360]*360the issues raised by Reynolds as listed above.

II.

a.Sufficiency of Evidence

We engage in plenary review over a challenge to the sufficiency of evidence. United States v. Omoruyi, 260 F.3d 291 (3d Cir.2001). In conducting this review, the court “must sustain a jury’s verdict if a reasonable jury believing the government’s evidence could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the government proved all the elements of the offenses.” United States v. Rosario, 118 F.3d 160, 163 (3d Cir.1997) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted).. This “places a very heavy burden on the appellant.” Id. Review of sufficiency claims are “guided by strict principles of deference to a jury’s verdict.” Id.

Reynolds argues that the government’s claims are supported by insufficient evidence, because he did not own a computer monitor to enable him to send email prior to November 23, 2005. In addition, Reynolds asserts (erroneously) that because the government did not dispute this fact in its rebuttal argument, it must be accepted as true. Even if we were to find this to be persuasive, this would not establish that the evidence supporting the jury’s verdict was insufficient. The government proved that emails were sent from an email address Reynolds controlled, under an alias that Reynolds used, and were sent from Pennsylvania at a time that Reynolds admits he was located in the Middle District. Whether they were sent from Reynolds’s personal computer or from some other computer to which he had access, Reynolds’s assertion that his own computer had no monitor does not render the government’s evidence insufficient. The jury had an opportunity to consider this issue for itself at trial. Therefore, we find that Reynolds has failed to overcome the significant hurdle to overturning a conviction on the basis of a claim of insufficient evidence.

b.“Master” Affidavit and Probable Cause

Whether the “master” affidavit for probable cause for the relevant search warrant contained a misstatement of fact, and whether any such misstatement was intentionally or recklessly made, are factual questions to be resolved by the District Court in the first instance in response to a suppression motion raising such issues. Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 155-56, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978). Such misstatements will lead to suppression of evidence only if they were material to the finding of probable cause. United States v. Brown, 3 F.3d 673

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
374 F. App'x 356, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-reynolds-ca3-2010.