United States v. Shafer

608 F.3d 1056, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12976, 2010 WL 2519577
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJune 24, 2010
Docket09-2309
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 608 F.3d 1056 (United States v. Shafer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Shafer, 608 F.3d 1056, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12976, 2010 WL 2519577 (8th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

David Elby Shafer was convicted of six criminal counts based on'drug trafficking and the use of proceeds from drug trafficking. He was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment. He appeals his conviction, arguing that the district court 2 erred in denying his motions to suppress evidence and his motions for judgment of acquittal. Shafer also contends that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses and that his motion to change venue should have been granted. We affirm.

I. Background

From 2002 until his arrest in 2005, Shafer was trafficking large quantities of marijuana in the Western District of Missouri. He had purchased hundreds of pounds of marijuana with his associates Andres Trenco and Jonathon Rocha. Gregory Tetro assisted Trenco and Rocha with distributing the marijuana.

In 2004, Shafer began transporting marijuana from Texas to Missouri for distribution. On one occasion, he offered to sell cocaine to Trenco and Wayne Hawkins. In late 2004, Shafer hired Galen Scott to transport drugs and money between Texas and Missouri. Shafer had limited legitimate income, but he nonetheless made large cash purchases.

In May 2005, Shafer was charged with the following crimes: (1) conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana, (2) possession with intent to distribute less than fifty kilograms of marijuana, (3) interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, and (4) conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was arrested in June 2005 in front of his apartment in Rockport, Texas.

Following his arrest and indictment, Shafer moved for a number of continuances, which were granted. In November 2006, Shafer was charged in a superseding indictment that included two additional counts: engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000 and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Shafer’s pretrial motions to suppress evidence and change venue were denied. His motion to compel the production of the presentence investigation reports (PSRs) of cooperating witnesses was granted in part and denied in part.

Shafer’s trial began in June 2008. On the third day of trial, the district court denied Shafer’s motion for a continuance to investigate whether one of the cooperating witnesses had been involved in a theft. Shafer was convicted on all counts.

II. Motions To Suppress

Shafer contends that the district court erred in denying his motions to sup *1061 press (1) evidence related to $56,000 that was seized during a traffic stop in Texas and (2) evidence related to the contents of his briefcase that was seized after his arrest. In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we review the district court’s findings of fact for clear error and review de novo its determination that the search did not violate the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Peralez, 526 F.3d 1115, 1119 (8th Cir.2008).

A. Denial of the Motion To Suppress the $56,000

1. Traffic Stop, Drug-Dog Sniff, and Search

On December 17, 2004, Sergeant Michael Nix of the Texas Highway Patrol initiated a traffic stop on a Mercedes that was traveling eighty-nine miles per hour in a seventy miles per hour zone. The entire stop was recorded by the squad car’s mounted camera. The Mercedes pulled over to the side of the road at 3:00 p.m., and Nix approached, noticing that the car did not have a rear license plate and had a Missouri dealer tag in the window. Nix asked the driver to step out of the car and provide her license. Diana Shafer, Shafer’s wife, provided her Texas driver’s license and explained that they had returned to Texas, where her son had been arrested and jailed for public intoxication, from Missouri, where she had been receiving medical treatment.

Nix approached the passenger’s side and observed Shafer, who was wearing a shirt and cap that said “police” in bold lettering. Shafer indicated that he was not a police officer but that he wore the attire so that people would leave him alone. Nix asked Shafer for his identification. When Nix bent down to take the identification, he thought he smelled marijuana. Nix was not entirely confident in his sense of smell, however, because he was suffering from a cold and was congested. Shafer produced a Missouri driver’s license and told Nix that they had been in Missouri for a couple of days and were returning home to Texas. Because he thought he had smelled marijuana, Nix asked Mrs. Shafer if there were any illegal narcotics or weapons in the car, to which she replied no.

Nix returned to his ear at 3:05 p.m. and ran license and criminal history checks. Dispatch was slow to respond to his radio request, so Nix called dispatch on his cellular phone to speed up the process. At 3:10 p.m., Nix exited his car and asked Mrs. Shafer, who was standing behind the Mercedes, for her social security number so that her criminal history check could be completed. He returned to his car and noted that the Shafers seemed nervous. After learning that Mrs. Shafer had no criminal history and that Shafer had numerous offenses many years ago, Nix again exited the squad car to complete the citation. Nix explained to Mrs. Shafer that she could take a defensive driving course to have the citation removed from her record. As Nix was walking back to the Mercedes, Mrs. Shafer called out to him, asking additional questions about the defensive driving course. Nix thought that she might be trying to divert his attention away from the car or Shafer. When Nix finally returned to the Mercedes, he asked Shafer about his prior convictions and whether he had any guns or narcotics in the car. Shafer replied that he did not, whereupon Nix returned to Mrs. Shafer and asked her about Shafer’s prior convictions.

At 3:19 p.m., Nix asked Mrs. Shafer for permission to search the car, which she refused. Seconds later, Nix waved down a passing canine unit. Nix explained that the dog would circle the car and that if it did not alert, Nix would give Mrs. Shafer the citation and they would be free to leave. At 3:27 p.m., the dog and its han *1062 dler completed a cursory pass around the car, and at 3:31 p.m., Nix was informed that the dog had alerted for narcotics. 3 At that point, Nix searched the car and discovered a duffel bag containing $56,000 cash. Shafer explained that his lawyer had told him to sell his belongings and keep the cash so that the bank would be unable to access those assets when he declared bankruptcy. Nix seized the $56,000 but did not arrest the Shafers.

2. Reasonable Suspicion for Drug-Dog Sniff

Shafer contends that the evidence concerning the $56,000 should have been suppressed because the Shafers were detained longer than necessary for a traffic stop and without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.

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Bluebook (online)
608 F.3d 1056, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12976, 2010 WL 2519577, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-shafer-ca8-2010.