United States v. Wade Bohmont

413 F. App'x 946
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 25, 2011
Docket09-2580, 09-2592
StatusUnpublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 413 F. App'x 946 (United States v. Wade Bohmont) 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. Wade Bohmont, 413 F. App'x 946 (8th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Wade Bohmont and Colton Inmon were tried in a joint trial for conspiring to distribute five grams or more of methamphetamine and for possessing with the intent to distribute five or more grams of methamphetamine. Bohmont was convicted on both counts; Inmon was acquitted of the possession count but convicted of the conspiracy count. They each appeal the district court’s 2 denial of their motions to suppress evidence gathered during an unwarranted search of Inmon’s hotel room and the district court’s 3 denial of their motions for judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count based on insufficient evidence. Bohmont also brings separate challenges to his conviction. We affirm.

I.

Late on the evening of May 17, 2006, Colton Inmon rented room 423 at the Holiday Inn Express in Springfield, Missouri, for one night. He was the only registered guest, and he paid the rate consistent with a single guest. A security guard on duty, Francis Bastean, was at the front desk when Inmon checked in, and he observed Inmon leave the hotel and return several times, twice accompanied by other people. When Inmon returned the third time, he was accompanied by a male, later identified as Wade Bohmont, and a female named Tasha Cook. Inmon, Bohmont, and Cook left a short time later, and Bohmont and Cook returned with personal belongings. Each time Inmon left, he 1 earned a black satchel-like bag.

At approximately 3:15 a.m., an individual asked the front desk for directions to room 423. After that inquiry, Mr. Bastean become concerned with the amount of traffic in and out of room 423, and he called the police. Officers Ronald Cole and John Stuart of the Springfield Police Department responded to the call at 3:45 a.m. and knocked on the door to room 423. Although they heard voices and sounds from the television when they first knocked, the room became very quiet and no one answered the door. The officers returned to the lobby, where Mr. Bastean informed the officers that Inmon had not yet returned to the hotel. While waiting for Inmon to return, Officer Cole ran a records check and' discovered that Inmon’s driver’s license had expired. Inmon drove into the hotel parking lot a short time later, and the officers arrested him for driving with *949 out a valid license. At the time of his arrest, Inmon had a glass “meth” pipe in his back pocket, and the officers located a pah- of brass knuckles and a knife in the car. The officers asked Inmon if anyone was in his hotel room, and he responded that he had given Spanky (later determined to be Bohmont’s nickname) a key, but that he had already left. Inmon also claimed that he had left the hotel only once.

The officers took Inmon inside the hotel lobby and told Mr. Bastean that they were taking Inmon to jail. Mr. Bastean asked the officers to remove the nonregistered individuals from room 423. The officers, accompanied by Inmon and Mr. Bastean, returned to room 423, where Mr. Bastean unlocked the door with a key card. During this time, Inmon repeatedly told the officers that no one was in the room, but Mr. Bastean was unable to open the door because it had been latched from the inside. The officers knocked several times, identified themselves, and told the occupants they needed to come out because they were no longer allowed inside. No one responded. Mr. Bastean told the officers to use any force to open the door, and Officer Cole broke the latch. Inside, the officers found Bohmont, Cook, and a third individual identified as Timmy Turbyeville, who was attempting to hide under the bed. The officers arrested the three for trespassing, and they then searched the room. The officers discovered several bags of methamphetamine inside a fanny pack, a blue duffel bag, and a black bag. The officers also found unused plastic baggies, a black palm scale, a .45 caliber handgun, a white powder identified as MSM that is typically used to cut methamphetamine, and other drug paraphernalia. Inside the blue duffel bag, the officers found a drug ledger, with references to a motorcycle rally- on the Bohmont family ranch and entries labeled “Tim” and “Colt.”

Bohmont, Inmon, and Turbyeville were each charged by indictment with two counts: count I, conspiring to distribute five grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B)(viii); and count II, possessing with intent to distribute five or more grams of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(l)(B)(viii). Turbyeville pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Bohmont and Inmon in exchange for the Government’s promise to recommend a substantial assistance departure at his sentencing. Bohmont and Inmon filed a motion to suppress the fruits of the search of the hotel room. That motion was denied, and the case went to trial. A jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts against Bohmont and on the conspiracy count against Inmon. Inmon was acquitted of the possession count. Bohmont and Inmon both appeal.

II.

Bohmont and Inmon both appeal the denial of their motions to suppress evidence found following the search of the hotel room, as well as the denial of their motions for judgment of acquittal or for a new trial based on insufficient evidence. Bohmont raises several separate issues, including a Confrontation Clause challenge to the limited cross-examination of a DEA chemist; evidentiary challenges to the district court’s rulings concerning the drug ledger, the chain of custody for the methamphetamine and the related lab reports, and Bohmont’s prior convictions; and the denial of Bohmont’s motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence that a government witness tested positive for methamphetamine during trial. 4 We address each argument in turn.

*950 A. Motion to Suppress

Bohmont and Inmon both challenge the district court’s denial of their motions to suppress the evidence seized following the officers’ search of the hotel room, arguing that the officers violated their Fourth Amendment rights to be free of unreasonable searches. See U.S. Const, amend. IV (“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.... ”). We review a district court’s factual findings supporting its denial of a motion to suppress for clear error, and we review its legal conclusion that the Fourth Amendment was not violated de novo. See United States v. Randolph, 628 F.3d 1022, 1024 (8th Cir.2011). The Fourth Amendment’s “protection against unreasonable searches and seizures extends to a person’s privacy in temporary dwelling places such as hotel or motel rooms.” United States v. Conner, 127 F.3d 663, 666 (8th Cir.1997).

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Bluebook (online)
413 F. App'x 946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-wade-bohmont-ca8-2011.