Opinion ID: 968
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Grand jury indictment, trial, and sentencing

Text: On July 13, 2006, a grand jury returned a multi-count indictment against Fenner, Davis, and Hargrove. Count 1 charged all three defendants with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and more than fifty grams of crack between May 11 and June 23, 2006, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(b)(1)(A). The other counts charged various distribution and possession-with-intent-to-distribute offenses based on the events described above. Those involving crack cocaine are the most relevant to this appeal. Count 2 charged Fenner and Davis with aiding and abetting each other in the distribution of crack during the first controlled buy on May 11, 2006. Count 5 charged Davis (and Hargrove) with aiding and abetting each other in possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine on June 23, 2006, the day of their arrest. Count 7 originally charged Fenner with possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine on June 23. As noted above, subsequent lab tests, reported August 9, 2006, revealed this to be powder cocaine and the indictment was amended to read as such. For Fenner, the crack cocaine-related charges were the most serious. He had five prior felony drug convictions, triggering the statutory mandatory minimum of life imprisonment for an offense involving fifty or more grams of crack cocaine. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii). The Government filed a motion of sentencing enhancement under 21 U.S.C. § 851 based on the prior felony drug convictions. Fenner then participated in a proffer session with a written agreement that his statements could not be used against him at trial unless he took the stand and contradicted his proffer statements. Fenner eventually declined to cooperate and the plea deal fell through. The case proceeded to a three-day jury trial in January 2007. During direct examinations of the informants, the jury heard the recorded phone calls arranging the controlled buys, as well audio picked up by the informants' wires during the buys themselves. The jury was permitted to follow along with transcripts while listening to these recordings and during the informants' testimony about the conversations. The informants also explained slang terms used by the participants as well as their understandings of the various conversations and transactions. The jury also saw separate law enforcement surveillance video for all but the last controlled buy, which resulted in the arrest of Davis and Hargrove. The Government sought to establish the existence and nature of the overall conspiracy through, among other things, Hargrove's testimony. According to Hargrove, he and Fenner started selling crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and heroin after Hargrove moved to Minnesota in November 2005. They eventually began selling as partners, each taking orders and splitting up the proceeds. They kept the money in a safe in Fenner's room. Fenner had between ten to twenty customers all together, with approximately an equal number of crack and powder cocaine customers. Around January 2006, Davis joined their enterprise. After Davis joined the group, they continued to sell crack cocaine and heroin and share the profits. Fenner would obtain the drugs, and they would store some of the drugs at Fenner's and Hargrove's residence prior to sale. Hargrove described his participation in the various controlled buys and confirmed that Davis set up the June 22 and June 23 deals. Hargrove also testified that Fenner provided the crack cocaine and heroin (fentanyl) found in Hargrove's bedroom during the June 23 search. Both Fenner and Davis testified. Fenner's defense was designed to avoid a life sentence. He testified that he had pleaded guilty to prior drug offenses and admitted that he distributed fentanyl during the second controlled buy on June 21 and that he possessed powder cocaine with the intent to distribute on the day of his arrest. However, he testified that his involvement with cocaine was limited to powder, and he denied involvement with crack cocaine after his mother's death in 2004. The Government cross-examined Fenner using statements made during the proffer session. In light of these statements, Fenner eventually admitted that he obtained cocaine and heroin for the conspiracy and that he had cooked powder cocaine into crack cocaine in the past, but before the charged conspiracy began. Davis also offered his own explanations for the recorded calls and taped meetings with the informants. He generally denied participating in the charged offenses, other than admitting that he and Hargrove met the second informant the day of their arrest to sell heroin (fentanyl). Much like Fenner, Davis disavowed involvement with crack. Fenner moved for a mistrial following the Government's rebuttal summation, arguing that the Government misstated the law on co-conspirator liability. The district court denied the mistrial. The jury convicted Fenner and Davis on all counts and made a specific finding that the charged conspiracy (Count 1) involved fifty or more grams of crack cocaine. The district court also denied motions for a new trial. Sentencing was continued several times in light of, among other arguments, the Appellants' constitutional challenges to the mandatory minimums in 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii). In December 2008, the district court imposed a life sentence on Fenner. Davis received a sentence of 151 months' imprisonment and five years' supervised release. Davis had a prior state conviction for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and the district court also imposed sex-offender and/or mental-health treatment as a condition of his supervised release. This appeal followed.