UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

No. 95-5171

TERRYONTO MCGRIER, a/k/a Rodney

Jones,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Charleston.

Charles H. Haden II, Chief District Judge.

(CR-93-196)

Argued: May 10, 1996

Decided: July 22, 1996

Before NIEMEYER, WILLIAMS, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.

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Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

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COUNSEL

ARGUED: Mychal Sommer Schulz, JACKSON & KELLY, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellant. Michael O. Callaghan, Assistant

United States Attorney, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellee. ON

BRIEF: Rebecca A. Betts, United States Attorney, Charleston, West

Virginia, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Terryonto McGrier was convicted of conspiring to possess with

intent to distribute cocaine base and heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C.

§ 846, and carrying and using a firearm in relation to the commission

of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 924(c). The

district court sentenced him to life imprisonment on the drug count

and a consecutive five-year prison term on the firearm count. On

appeal, McGrier alleges violations of his constitutional right to a

speedy trial and of the Speedy Trial Act, insufficiency of the evidence, improper use of pretrial immunized testimony, and sentencing

errors. We affirm.

I

In October 1990, Jerome Thomas, McGrier's convicted coconspirator, recruited Rodney Merritt to bring cocaine base and heroin to Charleston, West Virginia, for distribution through a network

which included Betty Lou White, Willis Moore, Charles Lee Smith,

and McGrier.

Merritt was arrested and negotiated a plea agreement in exchange

for his cooperation in the investigation of Thomas' activities. While

Merritt was cooperating, Thomas brought McGrier to Charleston. In

October 1990, Thomas introduced McGrier as "Bam" to Betty Lou

White, and Thomas, McGrier, and White became involved in the sale

of heroin. Heroin was distributed on three to four occasions to Willis

"Baby" Moore. Moore would telephone Thomas or McGrier indicating that he wished to purchase heroin. Thomas, White, and McGrier

would then travel to a prearranged telephone booth where Thomas

would place heroin in the coin slot of the phone. After Moore sold the

heroin, he gave money back to Thomas, McGrier, or White.

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On November 21, 1990, a controlled call was made by Merritt to

Charles Lee Smith to arrange a meeting of Merritt and Thomas at

Cutlip's Motel in Charleston. After the call, Thomas told Smith to

take McGrier to Cutlip's Motel to find Merritt. When Thomas did not

appear at Cutlip's Motel, Merritt was brought by Officers Hart and

Crawford to a nearby Motel 6. There, Merritt spotted Thomas and

McGrier in a car driven by Thomas. McGrier began firing at Merritt

and Officers Hart and Crawford as they stood in the parking lot talking. Thomas and McGrier drove away with the officers and a marked

police car in pursuit. Thomas veered off the road, killing a bicyclist.

Several miles later, Thomas wrecked the car and was arrested.

McGrier fled on foot and was arrested hours later.

While McGrier was incarcerated, he made various statements to

other prisoners regarding his drug dealings. In July 1992, he told

George Carter that he sold "boy and girl" (street names for heroin and

cocaine) in Charleston, West Virginia. He told inmate George Posey

that he was associated with "Jerome" [Thomas] at the time of the

shootout.

II

McGrier contends that the government violated his right to a

speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment by failing to bring him to

trial for over four years after the issuance in November 1990 of the

criminal complaint, arrest warrant, and federal detainer. His challenge

focuses on the more than two-and-one-half-year period before his federal indictment. The government elected to permit the state to prosecute the defendants first without interference from the federal

government. The government also gave as reasons for delay its consideration of what charges to bring, its need to know the state sentence and the length in custody there, its decision whether to try

McGrier with Thomas, and its assessment of problems raised by

McGrier's post-conspiracy statements.

This very issue was examined and disposed of by us in the appeal

of Thomas, McGrier's co-defendant. See United States v. Thomas, 55

F.3d 144, 148-51 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 116 S. Ct. 266 (1995). In

Thomas, we held that defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy

trial was not violated despite an uncommonly long delay of more than

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two years between the filing of the complaint and the indictment and

the resulting presumption of prejudice, where the defendant did not

assert his right to a speedy trial in due course, and the government

gave plausible reasons for the delay. Because there are no facts that

materially distinguish McGrier's case, we reject the argument for the

same reasons as those given in Thomas.

III

McGrier also contends that in finding a violation of the Speedy

Trial Act--because more than 30 days accrued between his federal

arrest and indictment--the district court abused its discretion by dismissing the original indictment without prejudice. Because the dismissal was without prejudice, McGrier was later charged by a

superseding indictment, tried, and convicted. The district court determined that the original indictment should be dismissed without prejudice because the crimes involved were serious and there was no

indication that the government deliberately attempted to evade the

Speedy Trial Act.

Our review of the record reveals that the district court did not abuse

its discretion in dismissing the indictment without prejudice. The

Speedy Trial Act provides that in determining whether an indictment

should be dismissed with or without prejudice, "the court shall consider, among others, each of the following factors: the seriousness of

the offense; the facts and circumstances of the case which led to the

dismissal; and the impact of a reprosecution on the administration of

this chapter and on the administration of justice." 18 U.S.C.

§ 3162(a)(1).

The district court considered these factors and applied them to the

facts of this case, and the record provides sufficient support for the

court's decision.

IV

McGrier next contends that the evidence is insufficient to support

his participation in the conspiracy involving Merritt and Thomas. The

government, on the other hand, argues that McGrier not only partici-

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pated in the distribution of heroin, but also acted as a "hit man" when

the conspiracy was crumbling. The evidence amply supports the government's claim.

In addition to evidence of McGrier's central role in the shootout

with the police, which showed that McGrier himself fired five times,

there was testimony that McGrier was involved in the drug transactions as early as October 1990, when the conspiracy began. Both

White and Moore described the heroin transactions, and both testified

that McGrier was a participant. On motion for judgment of acquittal,

the district court reviewed the evidence at trial and stated that "it is

left with the firm conclusion a reasonable jury could find the Defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on the counts of conviction by

reason of the evidence submitted in support of those charges." We

agree.

V

McGrier argues that the government improperly used his pretrial

immunized testimony in violation of Kastigar v. United States, 406

U.S. 441 (1972). The government insists, however, that the evidence

it presented at trial against McGrier was obtained from sources other

than McGrier's immunized testimony.

The immunized testimony, given pursuant to a plea agreement

which the court later rejected, consists of McGrier's debriefing on

October 25, 1993, and grand jury testimony given on November 30,

1993. All involved government agents testified that they believed

McGrier's debriefing was less than forthright and truthful and that the

debriefing thus ended abruptly without revealing useful information,

and the district court so found. The court also found that Merritt's 72-

page grand jury testimony of November 28, 1990, and not McGrier's

9-page testimony, was the source upon which the government relied

to further its investigation. Before the grand jury, McGrier was questioned simply to "elicit enough facts to support a factual basis of his

involvement in the charged drug conspiracy." Moreover, the government attorney testified, "All the information that was extracted to

prosecute the case [against McGrier] came from Rodney Merritt."

To preserve a witness' Fifth Amendment right against compelled

self-incrimination, the government is forbidden under Kastigar from

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using "the immunized testimony or any evidence derived from it

either directly or indirectly" in the prosecution of a witness who

received use immunity in exchange for their testimony. United States

v. Harris, 973 F.2d 333, 336 (4th Cir. 1992). And the government

must satisfy the "heavy burden" of proving by a preponderance of the

evidence that the information it proposed to use in defendant's prosecution was not tainted. See Kastigar, 406 U.S. at 460-62; Harris, 973

F.2d at 336.

McGrier's arguments that the government did not meet its burden

"amount[ed] to merely speculative opportunities for taint to occur,

and `[t]he government [was] not required to negate all abstract "possibility" of taint.'" Welsh v. Holt, 1996 WL 84487, at *3 (4th Cir. Feb.

28, 1996) (unpublished) (quoting United States v. Byrd, 765 F.2d

1524, 1529 (11th Cir. 1985)). Accordingly, we agree with the district

court's conclusion that the evidence introduced against McGrier was

not tainted by use of his pretrial immunized testimony.

VI

In connection with his sentencing, McGrier contends that the district court's calculation of his base offense level by using 17 ounces

and 26.35 grams of crack cocaine and by making an upward adjustment for obstruction of justice was clearly erroneous. The government

argues that the factual findings necessary for the calculation of the

base offense level and the upward adjustment were established by a

preponderance of the evidence and the district court's factual findings

are not clearly erroneous. Our review of the record leads us to agree

with the government, even though we also agree that the evidence did

not provide a precise calculation of the quantity of the controlled substance. But a precise calculation is not required. See, e.g., United

States v. Cook, 76 F.3d 596, 604 (4th Cir. 1996).

Merritt admitted at trial, "I think it was 20 ounces of cocaine, crack

cocaine," that were involved. Officer Hart testified that after reviewing the grand jury transcript of Merritt's testimony, he concluded that

Thomas and Merritt had 18 ounces of cocaine base for distribution,

and of that amount, they used approximately two grams to entice two

women to have sex with them prior to Thomas' departure. Thus, Officer Hart subtracted the two grams from the 18 ounce total, arriving

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at relevant conduct of slightly less than 18 ounces of cocaine base.

The district court accepted these calculations for establishing

McGrier's offense level.

McGrier argues that the district court should have relied upon the

actual drugs introduced at trial to calculate the base offense level. But

the testimony reveals that to do so would have grossly underestimated

the amounts of drugs involved in the conspiracy. The testimony is

replete with references to large dollar figures and numbers of bags of

cocaine, which supports a finding that the conspiracy involved much

more cocaine base than that which the police actually seized. We conclude that the district court's factual findings are not clearly erroneous.

On the upward adjustment for obstruction of justice, the district

court also did not clearly err. The court's findings are based on crediting the testimony of George Posey and Linda Ingram concerning

threats made to them or transmitted to them from McGrier through

intermediaries. The court found that the threats to Posey were made

prior to trial through intermediaries, and the threat to Ingram was

made directly by McGrier after the trial. Such conduct meets the

obstruction of justice enhancement. See U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1, application

note 3(i) (listing conduct prohibited by 18 U.S.C.§ 1513).

VII

Finally, McGrier argues that 18 U.S.C. § 841 and the Sentencing

Guidelines create an ambiguity in the manner in which they distinguish cocaine base from powder cocaine for sentencing purposes. He

urges that under the rule of lenity he should therefore have been sentenced under provisions applicable to powder cocaine, and the refusal

to do so violates the Equal Protection Clause.

In recent decisions, we have directly addressed and rejected these

arguments. See United States v. Fisher, 58 F.3d 96 (4th Cir.), cert.

denied, 116 S. Ct. 329 (1995); United States v. Jones, 18 F.3d 1145

(4th Cir. 1994). For the reasons given in Fisher and Jones, we again

reject the arguments here.

AFFIRMED

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