United States v. Toaz

59 F. App'x 94
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 13, 2003
DocketNo. 00-1746
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 59 F. App'x 94 (United States v. Toaz) 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. Toaz, 59 F. App'x 94 (6th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

MCKINLEY, District Judge.

The defendant-appellant, Craig Alan Toaz, appeals his convictions for conspiracy to commit offenses against or to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846; for knowingly possessing stolen goods, wares, and merchandise valued at over $5,000 which crossed state lines after being stolen in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2315; and for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Toaz raises four issues on appeal. First, he argues that his life sentence under Count Two of the superseding indictment is plain error under Apprendi because the quantity of methamphetamine was not found beyond a reasonable doubt. Second, Toaz asserts that his Fifth Amendment right to due process was violated due to pre-indictment delay. Third, Toaz argues that the prosecution of Count Two of the superseding indictment violated his rights under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Fourth, Toaz contends that the district court erred in ordering him to pay over $82,000 in restitution. For the reasons discussed below, we AFFIRM.

I. BACKGROUND

In October 1994, federal and state law enforcement officials from the Western District of Michigan executed a search warrant at a business known as D.C. Cycle in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The officials were investigating the activities of a Kalamazoo motorcycle club called the D.C. Eagles, which was headquartered in the same building as D.C. Cycle. Toaz was the owner of D.C. Cycle and a founder of the Kalamazoo chapter of the D.C. Eagles Motorcycle Club. The investigation revealed that members of the D.C. Eagles Motorcycle Club were trafficking drugs and stolen motor vehicle parts through Toaz’s shop. The record indicates that federal officials in Michigan rushed their investigation in order to obtain the search warrant for Toaz’s shop because they learned that a separate investigation in Indiana was almost complete and that Toaz would be arrested for his involvement in that conspiracy. The officials were concerned that if Toaz and his co-conspirators were tipped off to the Indiana investigation, evidence needed for the Michigan case would be destroyed.

Toaz was initially arrested on a Michigan state warrant charging him with distribution of methamphetamine. In October 1994, Toaz was indicted in the Northern District of Indiana for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances between 1982 and 1992 in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a) and 846. The Michigan state charges were dismissed and Toaz [97]*97was transferred to the Northern District of Indiana to face the federal conspiracy charge. Under a plea agreement, the government dropped the conspiracy charge and Toaz pleaded guilty to interstate travel in aid of racketeering and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1952 (the “Travel Act”). Pursuant to the plea agreement, Toaz cooperated with the government on the Indiana federal charges and also provided a proffer to the United States law enforcement officials and the Michigan police investigating the Michigan case. In that proffer, Toaz admitted to law enforcement officials that he distributed about twenty pounds of methamphetamine in 1992 after being released from prison on an unrelated state charge. After the last co-defendant in the Indiana case pleaded guilty, Toaz was transferred to federal prison in May 1997 to serve his five-year sentence for violation of the Travel Act.

On November 16, 1997, thirty-seven months after the raid on his business and while incarcerated in federal prison, the United States Attorney in the Western District of Michigan obtained an indictment against Toaz. On May 21, 1998, an eight count superseding indictment was filed. Toaz was charged specifically in five counts of the superseding indictment. Count One charged Toaz with conspiracy to commit offenses against or to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; Count Two charged him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846 between 1988 and 1994; Count Three charged him with knowingly possessing stolen goods, wares, and merchandise valued at over $5,000 which crossed state lines after being stolen in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2315; Count Seven charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1); and Count Eight was a forfeiture charge under 21 U.S.C. § 853(a).

Prior to trial, Toaz and his co-defendants filed a motion to dismiss the superseding indictment arguing that the United States had delayed in bringing the charges in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Additionally, Toaz filed a motion to dismiss Count Two arguing that the prosecution of this charge violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Both motions were denied. Toaz went to trial in January of 2000. At the close of the case, the government moved to dismiss the forfeiture count and the jury returned a verdict of guilty on Counts One, Two, Three and Seven. At the sentencing hearing, Toaz received a five-year sentence on Count One, life imprisonment on Count Two, and ten years on Counts Three and Seven. Toaz was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $82,845. Toaz filed this timely appeal.

II. APPRENDI CLAIM

Toaz argues that he was not sentenced in accordance with the mandate of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000) because the drug quantity was not alleged nor proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Apprendi provides that “[ojther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348. The district court determined the quantity of drugs by a preponderance of the evidence and sentenced Toaz to life imprisonment under 21 U.S.C. § 841

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Bluebook (online)
59 F. App'x 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-toaz-ca6-2003.