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Parties Involved:
Bryan McKie
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

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United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

Argued October 16, 1995 Decided January 23, 1996

No. 94-3130

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

APPELLEE

v.

BRYAN MCKIE,

APPELLANT

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Columbia

(No. 90cr00330-01)

A.J. Kramer, Federal Public Defender, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

Molly A. Meegan, Assistant United States Attorney, argued the cause for appellee, with whom Eric

H. Holder, Jr., United States Attorney, John R. Fisher, Roy W. McLeese, III, and John M. Facciola,

Assistant United States Attorneys, were on the brief. Thomas C. Black and Elizabeth Trosman,

Assistant United States Attorneys, entered appearances.

Before: WILLIAMS, ROGERS and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge TATEL.

TATEL, Circuit Judge: Appellant was indicted under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) for "possession with

intent to distribute a controlled substance." Following a one-day bench trial, the district court

acquitted appellant of this crime, but convicted him under the third sentence of 21 U.S.C. § 844(a)

for "possession of cocaine base," which, according to our later decision in United States v. Michael,

10 F.3d 838 (D.C. Cir. 1993), is not a lesser-included offense of the crime for which he was charged.

In this appeal from the district court's denial of a writ of habeas corpus, the central question is

whether Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989), which prohibits the retroactive application of new

constitutional rules of criminal procedure, bars retroactive application of Michael 's interpretation

of the substantive terms of a federal statute. Because the principle underlying Teague 's

non-retroactivity doctrine isto apply the law in effect at the time a prisoner's conviction became final

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and because a court's interpretation of a substantive criminal statute generally declares what the

statute meant from the date of its enactment, not from the date of the decision, the rationale of

Teague does not preclude retroactive application of decisions such as Michael.

Appellant faces a second procedural hurdle, however, as he did not present at trial and on

direct appeal his argument that "possession of cocaine base" is not a lesser-included offense of

"possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance." Because this "procedural default" may

be excusable by a colorable claim of "actual innocence," and because the record is unclear on one

critical element of such a claim, we remand the record to the district court for clarification of its

verdict.

I.

Acting on a tip froma reliable informant, three police officers drove to a grocerystore parking

lot where they saw an alleged crack dealer talking with another man, later identified as appellant

Bryan McKie. The officers watched the two men walk to the dealer's car, get in, and, with the dealer

at the wheel, drive away. After driving approximately eight blocks, the dealer looked back, saw the

police following, and stopped without any further prompting. While two ofthe officers apprehended

the dealer, the other placed McKie spread-eagle against the back of the car. Noticing a plastic bag

with an off-white object inside protruding from McKie's pocket and suspecting that it contained

cocaine, the officer seized it and conducted a field test. When the substance tested positive for

cocaine, the officer arrested McKie. Subsequent chemical analysis confirmed that the bag contained

approximately thirteen grams of crack cocaine. A search of the dealer produced eighty-eight dollars,

but no drugs.

The Government brought a single-count indictment against McKie under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)

(1988) for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. At the trial, the Government

called four witnesses: the arresting officer; another police officer, who testified about the chain of

custody of the drugs; a Drug Enforcement Administration chemist, who testified concerning the

authenticity and weight of the crack; and a narcotics expert, who testified that "crack cocaine sells

for about $100 a gram on the streets" and that the large quantity of crack cocaine found on McKie,

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thirteen grams or $1300 worth, was consistent with an intent to distribute, not with personal use.

Testifying in his own defense, McKie denied having ever sold drugs, but acknowledged that

he had previously purchased crack, including three times from this particular dealer. He claimed,

however, that he had never bought more than $50 worth, and that he went to the grocery store

parking lot to buy "[t]he usual $50 worth of coke." After the dealer told him that he "didn't have a

fifty available," the two "got into a car [to] go[ ] ... where [McKie] could get a fifty." According to

McKie, shortly before stopping the car, the dealer "suddenly" gave him the cocaine. Immediately

pocketing the packet of drugs without examining it, McKie then gave the dealer fifty dollarstwo

twenty-dollar bills and one ten-dollar bill. McKie claimed he did not discover that the package

contained over thirteen grams of crack cocaine until his arraignment the next day.

The district court found McKie not guilty of possession with intent to distribute a controlled

substance under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a), but guilty of "the lesser included offense of simple possession

of a usable amount of crack in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844(a)." Two months later, the district court

sentenced McKie to seven years and two months in prison pursuant to the third sentence of section

844(a), which requires a prison term of five to twenty years for possession of crack cocaine when

a defendant with no prior drug convictions possesses in excess of five grams. In contrast to the

five-year mandatory minimum in the third sentence of section 844(a), the first sentence, which

criminalizes possession of controlled substances in general, sets a maximum penalty of one year for

those with no prior drug convictions. McKie's imposed prison term was thus more than seven times

the permissible maximumhad he been convicted under the firstsentence ofsection 844(a). This court

affirmed the conviction on grounds not at issue in this appeal. United States v. McKie, 951 F.2d 399

(D.C. Cir. 1991).

Two yearslater, in a situation virtuallyidentical to McKie's, we held in Michael that Congress

created an independent crime of "possession of cocaine base," distinct from "possession of a

controlled substance." Applying Schmuck v. United States, 489 U.S. 705, 716 (1989), which held

that one offense cannot be a lesser included offense of another "unless the elements of the lesser

offense are a subset of the elements of the charged offense," we concluded that "possession of

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cocaine base " under the third sentence of section 844(a), is not a lesser-included offense of

"possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance" under section 841(a); only "possession

of a controlled substance" under the first sentence of section 844(a) is a proper lesser-included

offense. See Michael, 10 F.3d at 839.

Arguing that his conviction of "possession of cocaine base" under the third sentence ofsection

844(a) was improper under Michael, McKie filed a pro se habeas motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §

2255. The Government responded that the non-retroactivity rule of Teague and the "procedural

default" rule of United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152 (1982), each independently barred McKie's

collateral attack on his conviction. In a one-paragraph order, the district court denied McKie's

motion because McKie failed to show "cause" for not having raised the lesser-included offense issue

on appeal and because Michael "was decided after [McKie's] conviction had become final." McKie

now appeals.

II.

" "[F]or near a thousand years,' " the "fundamental rule ... that has governed "[j]udicial

decisions,' " isthat such decisions must ordinarily "be given fullretroactive effect in all casesstillopen

on direct review and as to all events, regardless of whether such events predate or postdate [the

court's] announcement of the rule." Harper v. Virginia Dep't of Taxation, 113 S. Ct. 2510, 2516-17

(1993) (quoting Kuhn v. Fairmont Coal Co., 215 U.S. 349, 372 (1910) (Holmes, J., dissenting))

(second alteration in original). Litigants, either civil or criminal, may thus take advantage of judicial

modifications in the law that are announced before they have exhausted their direct appeals. See id.

(civil); Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 328 (1987) (criminal).

The habeas writ creates a unique retroactivity problem: in contrast to civil litigants who

generally may not collaterally attack a final judgment, habeas affords a convicted criminal the

opportunity to attack a conviction even after it has become final. In Teague and its progeny, the

Supreme Court considered whether a prisoner in custodycould use the habeas writ to take advantage

of certain judicial modifications in the law subsequent to the prisoner's conviction becoming final.

Focussing solely on "new constitutional rules of criminal procedure," the Court held that a habeas

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petitioner generally could not take advantage of such rules. Teague, 489 U.S. at 310 (plurality

opinion) (emphases added). Teague thus directed habeas courts to apply the constitutional " "law

prevailing at the time a conviction became final,' " rather than any " "intervening changes in

constitutional interpretation.' " Id. at 306 (quoting Mackey v. United States, 401 U.S. 667, 689

(1971) (Harlan, J., concurring in judgments in part and dissenting in part)).

The case before us involves the retroactivity of a decision interpreting a substantive criminal

statute, not one involving a rule of constitutional criminal procedure. This difference dictates the

result in this case. According to the Supreme Court, "[a] judicial construction of a statute is an

authoritative statement of what the statute meant before as well as after the decision of the case

giving rise to that construction." Rivers v. Roadway Express, Inc., 114 S. Ct. 1510, 1519 (1994)

(emphasis added). Although we did not decide Michael until 1993, that case held that Congress

created a separate crime for possession of cocaine base five years earlier when it enacted the statute

that added the third sentence to section 844(a). Given that the third sentence was a separate crime

fromthe date the statute was enacted, the Government wasrequired from that date forward to indict

a defendant for that separate crime if it wished to prosecute him for it. Thus, the requirement that

the Government indict a defendant separately under the third sentence of section 844(a) was, in the

words of Teague, based on " "the law prevailing [in 1991 when McKie's] conviction became final.'

" Teague, 489 U.S. at 306 (quoting Mackey, 401 U.S. at 689 (opinion of Harlan, J.)). As in

Michael, then, we are obligated here to apply the law as Congress enacted it. Teague's bar on the

retroactive application ofnewrules of constitutional criminalprocedure isthusinapplicable here. The

government should therefore have indicted McKie under the third sentence of section 844(a).

We think this result is also compelled by Davis v. United States, 417 U.S. 333, 341-42

(1974), where the Supreme Court held that in a section 2255 proceeding, a court must hear the merits

of a prisoner's claim based upon a circuit court decision interpreting the substantive reach of a

criminal statute, even though the case was decided after the prisoner's conviction had become final.

Although Davis predates Teague, nothing in Teague, itsrationale, or any subsequent Supreme Court

decision undermines Davis. Indeed, the only significant difference between Davis and the case before

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usthat Davis had litigated his claim on direct review and thus, unlike here, had not defaulted itis

without significance to the retroactivity issue. Rather, it implicates the "procedural default" rule, the

other issue in this case which we address below.

Our sister circuits, sometimes also relying on Davis, have likewise concluded that Teague

does not bar the retroactive application on habeas ofsubstantive statutory decisionssuch as Michael.

See United States v. Dashney, 52 F.3d 298 (10th Cir. 1995) (retroactive application of Supreme

Court interpretation of statute prohibiting the structuring of cash transactions to evade currency

reporting requirements); Chambers v. United States, 22 F.3d 939, 942 (9th Cir. 1994) (retroactive

application of Supreme Court decision invalidating child pornography statute for lack of scienter

requirement); United States v. Sood, 969 F.2d 774, 775-76 (9th Cir. 1992) (retroactive application

of Ninth Circuit decision holding a bribery statute inapplicable to the territory of Guam); United

States v. McClelland, 941 F.2d 999, 1000-01 (9thCir. 1991) (retroactive application of NinthCircuit

interpretation of "extortion" under federal Hobbs Act); Lomelo v. United States, 891 F.2d 1512,

1515 n.8 (11th Cir. 1990) (retroactive application of Supreme Court interpretation of mail fraud

statute); Callanan v. United States, 881 F.2d 229, 232 n.1 (6th Cir. 1989) (same); see generally

JAMES S.LIEBMAN & RANDY HERTZ,FEDERALHABEASCORPUS PRACTICEAND PROCEDURE § 25.1,

at 720 n.18 (2d ed. 1994). Although the substantive statutory decisions held retroactive in these

cases differ from Michaelby narrowing the scope of a statute, they resulted in convictions without

proof of all elements of the crimethis difference does not affect the applicability of Michael to this

case. The same practical concern exists here: as we explain below in part III, the defendant may have

been convicted of a crime he did not commit. Furthermore, the principle underlying these casesthat

a decision interpreting a statute does not change the statute but rather interprets the law as enacted

by the legislatureis equally applicable here.

For the contrary proposition, the Government points to the Seventh Circuit'ssuggestion that

Teague would bar retroactive application of a Supreme Court decision limiting the availability of

restitution under the VictimWitness and Protection Act of 1982, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3579, 3580 (1982 ed.

and Supp. IV). United States v. Bennett, 943 F.2d 738, 741 (7th Cir. 1991). But see United States

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v. Guardino, 972 F.2d 682, 687 n.7 (6th Cir. 1992) (holding the same Supreme Court decision

retroactive despite Teague). The Seventh Circuit, however, made no mention of Davis, and because

the court ruled against the defendant on the merits of his claim, its discussion of Teague was dictum.

When considering the question of retroactivity, moreover, its primary concern was the defendant's

failure to have raised the issue earlierthe defendant's procedural default. See Bennett, 943 F.2d at

741 ("a defendant should not be allowed, years later, to take advantage of a change in statutory

construction that he was free to argue on direct appeal ") (emphasis added).

III.

Thisthen brings usto the questionwhether McKie "procedurallydefaulted" his Michael claim

by having failed to raise it at trial or on direct appeal. When prisoners commit "procedural defaults,"

we may hear the merits of their claims on habeas only if they "can demonstrate cause for the default

and actual prejudice as a result of the alleged violation of federal law, or demonstrate that failure to

consider the claims will result in a fundamental miscarriage of justice." Coleman v. Thompson, 501

U.S. 722, 750 (1991).

We have no doubt that McKie suffered prejudice. Under Michael, he would have been

sentenced to prison for at most one yearsix years and two months less than the imposed sentence.

We are not persuaded, however, that he has shown "cause" for failing to raise this argument earlier.

His reliance on Reed v. Ross, 468 U.S. 1 (1984), is misplaced, as Reed requires the claim to be so

"novel that its legal basis is not reasonably available to counsel." Id. at 16. The argument that

ultimately prevailed in Michael, based on an interpretation of a statute, simply does not meet this

standard.

McKie also argues that failure to consider the merits of his claim would result in a

"miscarriage of justice." Although the Supreme Court has not defined the phrase "miscarriage of

justice" in other habeas contexts, see Reed v. Farley, 114 S. Ct. 2291, 2297 (1994); United States

v. Timmreck, 441 U.S. 780, 783 (1979); Hill v. United States, 368 U.S. 424, 428 (1962), it has

articulated the standard a prisoner must meet to demonstrate a "miscarriage of justice" to excuse a

procedural default: a prisoner must show that an error "has probably resulted in the conviction of one

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who is actually innocent," Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478, 496 (1986). We think McKie may

satisfy this standard.

McKie's defense to the "possession with intent to distribute" charge was that he simply did

not know how much crack wasin the package. His theory was that the drugs belonged to the dealer,

that he was just a buyer, and that he intended to purchase fifty dollars worth of crackwhich,

according to the uncontroverted testimony of the Government's expert, would have amounted to

approximately one-half gram, significantly less than necessary to trigger the statute. According to

McKie, once the dealer saw the police following the car, the dealer tricked him by handing him the

thirteen-gram package immediately before stopping. This, claims McKie, is why he had the drugs

when the police arrived and why he had no idea how much crack was in the package. Two of the

police officers corroborated McKie's theory: one testified that while following the car, he saw the

dealer hand something to McKie a few blocks before the car stopped; the other testified that he saw

nothing in McKie's pocket when McKie got into the car at the grocery store parking lot. Further

supporting McKie's theory was the fact that the driver of the car, a known drug dealer, had no drugs

and onlyeighty-eight dollars when arrestedincluding two twenty-dollar bills and one ten-dollar bill,

preciselythe denominationsthat McKie testified to having given himin the car. As to whether McKie

knew how much crack was in the package, the Government offered no evidence at all. The only

direct evidence was McKie's own testimony that he did not discover the package's quantity until the

next day when he arrived in court. Had the district court disbelieved McKie, it would likely have

convicted him of "possession with intent to distribute," since the expert testified that thirteen grams

is consistent with "intent to distribute," not with simple possession.

The question, then, is whether McKie's defense, based on lack of knowledge of the amount

of crack he had, is a claimof "actual innocence" ofthe crime described in the third sentence ofsection

844(a). If knowledge of quantity is an element of that crime, we think McKie's defense would

amount to such a claim. Michael, however, did not address the question whether knowledge of

quantity is an element of the crime, requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, or simply a

sentencing enhancement, requiring proof by a preponderance of the evidence. See Michael, 10 F.3d

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at 842. At this time, we need not decide that issue either. For one thing, the parties did not brief the

issue and we generally hesitate to decide non-jurisdictional questions without briefing. Moreover,

the district court made no finding, either at trial or at sentencing, as to whether McKie knew how

much crack he possessed. Indeed, when announcing the verdict, the district court specifically stated

that "[t]he standard [jury] instruction ... does not require that anybody knows what the quantitywas."

At sentencing, the district court stated that it felt bound by the finding at trial that the package

contained thirteen grams and made no finding on the question ofMcKie's knowledge ofthat quantity.

We therefore remand the record to the district court to determine whether McKie knew that

he had a quantity of crack in excess of five grams, and if so, to state by what standard of proof the

court so findswhether beyond a reasonable doubt or by a preponderance. If the district court

concludes that the Government proved McKie's knowledge of the quantity beyond a reasonable

doubt, we will have no need to consider the "knowledge of quantity" issue further, as McKie would

not have a claim of "actual innocence" even if knowledge of the quantity were an element of the

crime. However, if the district court does not find beyond a reasonable doubt that McKie knew the

actual quantity, and if knowledge of the quantity is an element of the crime, McKie would have a

colorable claim of "actual innocence."

Because we remand the record for limited purposes, rather than remanding the entire case,

we retain jurisdiction pending the district court'sresolution ofthe "knowledge of quantity" issue. See

D.C. Cir. R. 41(b); see also United States v. Manner, 887 F.2d 317, 327 (D.C. Cir. 1989).

So ordered.

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