Wade v. United States

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedOctober 24, 2019
Docket5:18-cv-06303
StatusUnknown

This text of Wade v. United States (Wade v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wade v. United States, (N.D. Cal. 2019).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 SAN JOSE DIVISION 7 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 8 Case No. 5:15-cr-00458-EJD-1 Plaintiff, 9 ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S 28 v. U.S.C. § 2255 MOTION TO VACATE, 10 REMAND, OR SET ASIDE BOBBY WADE, 11 Re: Dkt. Nos. 151, 152, 154, 161 Defendant. 12

13 Before the Court is Defendant Bobby Wade’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion to set aside, vacate, 14 or remand his sentence. Title 28 U.S.C. Section 2255 Motion (“Mot.”), Dkt. 152. On January 8, 15 2019, the Government filed an answer replying to Defendant’s motion. United States’ Response 16 to Defendant’s Motion (“Answer”), Dkt. 155. Defendant submitted a reply to this answer. 17 Petitioner’s Response to the Government’s Response (“Reply”), Dkt. 159. He also submitted a 18 supplement to his original Section 2255 motion, arguing the supplemental “relates back” pursuant 19 to Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(c)(2)(B).1 Movant’s Supplement (“Supplement”), Dkt. 160.2 20 Defendant argues his sentence should be vacated or his case remanded for an evidentiary hearing 21 because: (1) his Fourth Amendment rights were violated by an illegally forged search warrant that 22

23 1 The Court believes Defendant means Rule 15(c)(1)(B). 2 Defendant also submitted a Motion for Newly Discovered Evidence according to Rule of 24 Criminal Procedure 33(b)(1). This Court does not address this motion for two reasons: first, the Government has not had a chance to respond to it. Second, the Court will not issue a briefing 25 schedule order as the motion is untimely. Pursuant to Rule of Criminal Procedure 33(b)(1), newly discovered evidence must be “filed within 3 years after the verdict or finding of guilty.” Here, the 26 guilty verdict was issued June 1, 2016. Verdict Form, Dkt. 109. Defendant filed the Motion for Newly Discovered Evidence on August 9, 2019—he filed it more than three years after the verdict 27 finding him guilty. Thus, this motion is time-barred. Case No.: 5:15-cr-00458-EJD-1 1 lacked probable cause and (2) his trial counsel was ineffective. 2 The Court holds that Defendant may not bring a new theory of forgery pursuant to Federal 3 Rule of Civil Procedure 15. Further, Defendant’s objections to the warrants have already been 4 litigated, both on appeal and at trial. Finally, because Defendant cannot show deficiency and 5 prejudice, as required by Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), Defendant’s motion is 6 DENIED. 7 I. BACKGROUND 8 A. Factual Background 9 Defendant Bobby Wade was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm in 10 violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) following a jury trial in May 2016. Judgment in a Criminal 11 Case, Dkt. 125. At trial, the Government introduced evidence to establish the following: 12 On June 29, 2015, San Jose Police Department officers received a 911 call reporting that 13 two men pulled a gun on someone. Dkt. 139 at ECF 15, 32–33. A responding officer saw two 14 men who matched the caller’s description and ordered the men to the ground. Id. at ECF 33. One 15 of the men complied; the other, Defendant, “took off running.” Id. After briefly losing sight of 16 Defendant, he was found and arrested in a parking lot near an eight-foot chain-link fence. Id. at 17 ECF 36. While no firearm was found on Defendant, he was arrested because he had two 18 outstanding warrants. Id. at ECF 42–43. Less than an hour later, a resident of the neighborhood 19 where Defendant was arrested found a Smith & Wesson .380 caliber pistol in a parking lot on the 20 other side of the fence from where Defendant was arrested. Id. at ECF 98. 21 Defendant was then booked at jail. Id. at ECF 118–19. That night, Defendant called his 22 sister from the jail and, after describing what happened, said “You may have to double you feel 23 me? . . . . [N]ot where you be normally, because the people be watching out for you, but uh—feel 24 me? Like, if you um—if you at the end, all the way to the left, the beginning, you feel me?” Dkt. 25 70-1, ECF at 12. Later, his sister confirmed Defendant was arrested “in the parking lot.” Id. at 26 ECF 15. That night, the citizen who found the gun called the police again around midnight to 27 Case No.: 5:15-cr-00458-EJD-1 1 report seeing two people in the parking lot who were searching for something. Dkt. 139 at ECF 2 120–21. Shortly after midnight, the same night, Defendant called his sister again. His sister said, 3 “Yeah, I just talked to Keece. He told me you dropped your phone, but I didn’t see it.” Dkt. 70-2, 4 ECF at 5. Defendant responded, “Yeah, that’s what I was trying to tell you. . . . My 5 phone . . . . it’s—it, like, to the front is a black fence and to the left is, like, barbed wire fence and 6 there’s cars back there. . . . So I think my phone is over that fence to the left. You feel me? 7 Probably in back. All the way to the left-hand side.” Defendant’s sister states she “went over 8 there” and couldn’t find the “phone.” Defendant’s phone, in fact, was with him when he was 9 arrested, and he signed a form acknowledging receipt of his phone at the jail later that evening. 10 Dkt. 139 at ECF 24. The Government thus contended at trial that “phone” really meant “gun” and 11 that is why two people were seen searching the area where Defendant was arrested. 12 The following morning, Defendant spoke to his girlfriend again from jail. She stated that 13 “Tay” (Defendant’s sister) had gone back to the parking lot but had not found anything. Dkt. 70-4 14 at ECF 19–20. Defendant replied, “That’s crazy. That’s a lot of money man.” Id. at ECF 20. He 15 added, “That baby almost got [me] sent away forever, though. . . . There’s too many [] cowards in 16 the world. That’s why man. . . . I wish [people] would get back into fighting like, you feel me? 17 Everybody’s cowards. Everybody need a gun, you feel me?” Id. (emphasis added). The 18 Government argued at trial that this confirmed Defendant was talking about his handgun the entire 19 time. 20 Next, the Government obtained a search warrant for the contents of Defendant’s cell 21 phone, which was lawfully seized by San Jose police incident to his arrest. Dkt. 14-11. There 22 “was a substantial basis for finding probable cause to search text messages, photographs, account 23 information, and contacts.” United States v. Wade, 717 F. App’x 656, 657 (9th Cir. 2017). Text 24 message data on Wade’s cell phone provided further evidence that the handgun found in the 25 parking lot on the night of the arrest belonged to him. Two weeks before his arrest, Defendant 26 told an acquittance that he had a “2015 .380 with a beam built in.” Dkt. 140 at ECF 148–49. The 27 Case No.: 5:15-cr-00458-EJD-1 1 firearm in this case was a .380 caliber handgun with a built-in laser sighting device. Id. at ECF 2 149–50. 3 At trial, DNA evidence provided final, conclusive confirmation that Defendant possessed 4 the firearm found in the parking lot in June 2015. The Government procured a search warrant to 5 obtain Defendant’s DNA. Dkt. 155-1, Ex. A. That DNA was tested against DNA obtained from 6 the grip of the Smith & Wesson pistol. A criminalist from the Santa Clara Crime Laboratory 7 testified that Defendant was a major contributor to the DNA profile obtained from the grip of the 8 gun. Dkt. 140, ECF at 54. The chance that a random person would match to the pistol in the same 9 way was “1 in at least 300 billion.” Id. 10 B. Procedural History 11 After hearing this evidence, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Verdict Form, Dkt. 109.

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Wade v. United States, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wade-v-united-states-cand-2019.