Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/587-f-3d-625-597754534
Timestamp: 2020-07-13 05:19:15
Document Index: 185789022

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 846', '§ 1952', '§ 841', '§ 843', '§ 841', '§ 843']

587 F.3d 625 (4th Cir. 2009), 06-4391, United States v. Johnson - Federal Cases - Case Law - VLEX 597754534
Docket Nº: 06-4391, 06-4392, 06-4527.
Citation: 587 F.3d 625
Party Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Donna Conzuella JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John Albert Martin, Jr., Defendant-Appellant. United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Craig Arnold Scott, a/k/a Craig Levi, Defendant-Appellant.
Attorney: Gregory Bruce English, English & Smith, Alexandria, Virginia; Daniel H. Ginsburg, Bennett & Bair, LLC, Greenbelt, Maryland; Jason E. Silverstein, Roland Walker & Mark Zayon, PA, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellants.\ Deborah A. Johnston, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, f...
587 F.3d 625 (4th Cir. 2009)
Gregory Bruce English, English & Smith, Alexandria, Virginia; Daniel H. Ginsburg, Bennett & Bair, LLC, Greenbelt, Maryland; Jason E. Silverstein, Roland Walker & Mark Zayon, PA, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellants.\
Deborah A. Johnston, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.
Gary E. Bair, Bennett & Bair, LLC, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant John Albert Martin, Jr.; Roland Walker, Roland Walker & Mark Zayon, PA, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant Craig Arnold Scott.
Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, Bonnie S. Greenberg, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.
This case involves an extensive drug-trafficking organization that operated in Maryland, the District of Columbia, New York, and elsewhere. The major figures in this organization included Paulette Martin, Gwendolyn Levi, and Moises Uriarte. From March until June 2004, investigators,
acting with court authorization, tapped Paulette Martin's phone lines. From these wiretaps, they learned that Paulette Martin was obtaining heroin from Levi. As a result, they obtained authorization to tap Levi's cellular phone line and intercepted her communications with her heroin supplier, Uriarte. In June 2004, the investigation culminated in the arrest of over thirty individuals and the execution of over twenty search warrants.
Scott is Levi's son. Calls intercepted in April 2004 revealed that he helped Levi process and distribute heroin. On one occasion, he complained to Levi that several of his heroin customers were " on hold." Levi instructed him to obtain fifty grams of heroin from her basement, and he later confirmed that he had done so. On another occasion, Levi asked Scott to go to her house and package some heroin for distribution, which Scott later confirmed he had done. Subsequent to Levi's arrest, officers executed a search warrant at her home and found a heroin processing operation in her basement, the location from which she had directed Scott to obtain the heroin.
John Martin resided with Paulette Martin in Maryland and helped her distribute cocaine and heroin.[*] Investigators intercepted numerous phone calls in which John Martin discussed his drug-trafficking activities with Paulette Martin and others. On one occasion, John Martin and Paulette Martin discussed moving her drug supply from their residence to a performing arts school, which Paulette Martin used as a front for various illegal activities. On June 1, 2004, officers executed search warrants at both their residence and the school. At the residence, they discovered, among other things, cocaine, cocaine base, over $7000 in cash, a digital scale, and a sheet of paper indicating money owed to " Gwen." They also recovered a black shaving kit, containing heroin, cocaine, and an employment check in John Martin's name. At the school, they discovered, among other things, more cocaine, cocaine base, and heroin-much of which was packaged for distribution.
Johnson, Scott, and John Martin were among many individuals indicted in connection with this drug conspiracy in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The three were tried together in November and December 2005. On December 22, 2005, a jury convicted all three defendants of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (2006). In addition, Johnson was convicted of traveling in interstate commerce in the commission of unlawful activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1952 and possession with intent to distribute
heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841. Scott was convicted of the use of a communications device to facilitate narcotics trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) and possession with intent to distribute heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841. Lastly, the jury convicted Martin of three counts of the use of a communications device to facilitate narcotics trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843(b).
You may recall that a witness by the name of Gwendolyn Levi was called to the stand and testified briefly, and then she decided she did not wish to testify further. I have ordered her testimony stricken. You should disregard in its entirety everything you heard out of the mouth of Gwendolyn Levi. You should
also draw no inference in any way, shape or manner concerning her decision that she did not wish to further testify.
We review a district court's denial of a motion for a mistrial for abuse of discretion. United States v. Allen, 491 F.3d 178, 189 (4th Cir.2007). The Supreme Court has noted two circumstances in which a government...