Opinion ID: 3059457
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jones’s arrest and trial

Text: On May 31, 2002, a Georgia detective arrested Jones on an outstanding warrant for failure to pay child support. While searching Jones and his vehicle incident to arrest, the officer found marijuana, crack cocaine, and $452 in cash. On June 1, 2002, Jones appeared before a Georgia magistrate judge for an initial appearance and bond hearing on the state charges of intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine. Jones filled out a form requesting the representation of counsel and stating that he could afford to retain counsel. After the hearing, the arresting officer advised Jones of his Miranda rights, obtained a signed waiver of those rights, and questioned Jones about the pending state charges. Jones then confessed to possessing the drugs and cash seized during his arrest and revealed that he had “a little bit of marijuana” at his house. Although Jones refused to consent to a search of his home, the officer used Jones’s admission to obtain a search warrant for Jones’s home. During the subsequent search of Jones’s home, the officer found marijuana, two shotguns, and a 9mm pistol. 2 After the discovery of the firearms, a federal grand jury indicted Jones for possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (Count One), possession with intent to distribute marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (Count Two), and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (Count Three). Following a jury trial in 2006, Jones was convicted on all three counts. The district court imposed concurrent sentences of 77 months’ imprisonment as to each count.1 The district court also imposed 6 years of supervised release on each of Counts One and Two,2 and 3 years of supervised release on Count Three, all to be served concurrently. Although Jones’s counsel moved in the district court to suppress Jones’s post-arraignment statements to the arresting officer, the district court denied the motion as untimely. In affirming Jones’s convictions on direct appeal, we held that the district court properly denied Jones’s motion to suppress as untimely filed. See United States v. Jones, 241 F. App’x 676, 678 (11th Cir. 2007). 1 In 2008, the district court reduced Jones’s original sentence to 70 months’ imprisonment as a result of a retroactive amendment to the Guidelines regarding quantities of crack cocaine. See 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). 2 The parties apparently agree that Jones’s presentence investigation report (“PSI”) and the district court (by adopting the PSI’s Guidelines calculations at sentencing) erroneously determined that Jones was subject to a mandatory term of supervised release of at least six years for Counts One and Two under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C), because he had a prior felony drug conviction. However, the government never filed the notice required by 21 U.S.C. § 851 and therefore could not seek an enhanced penalty based on the prior conviction. See Perez v. United States, 249 F.3d 1261, 1264-65 (11th Cir. 2001). Accordingly, Jones was properly subject to a term of supervised release of not less than three years. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C). 3