Opinion ID: 177338
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Pretrial rulings and trial

Text: In preparation for trial, the government filed a notice of its intent to call various witnesses. One of these witnesses was Dave Lewis, an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Agent Lewis was offered as an expert in drug investigations who would testify that the amount of crack cocaine found on McCreary-Redd was an amount consistent with the intent to distribute the drug. McCreary-Redd filed a motion to exclude Agent Lewis’s testimony, which the district court denied. The jury trial took place in April 2009. When Agent Lewis testified, McCreary-Redd again sought to preclude his testimony, but the district court overruled his objection. Also relevant for the purposes of this appeal was the testimony of Agent Bukowski. Agent Bukowski described his December 2004 interview with McCreary-Redd in which the latter confessed to having purchased crack cocaine from three individuals named Bazzy, Buck, and Dee at an apartment belonging to a man who went by the name Johnny. The agent said that he was able -9- No. 08-5972 United States v. McCreary-Redd to identify all four individuals and to obtain the number of Johnny’s apartment, which was in the housing project where McCreary-Redd was arrested. Officers Lee and Taylor also testified at trial, with Officer Lee relating the details of his encounter with McCreary-Redd and the resulting arrest, including the fact that McCreary-Redd was found in possession of a handgun and a vial containing crack cocaine. As for Officer Taylor, he described the housing project where McCreary-Redd was arrested as being located in a high-crime area of Knoxville. The jury found McCreary-Redd guilty on the following four of the six counts charged in the superseding indictment: conspiracy to possess crack cocaine (a lesser-included offense of count one), being a felon in possession of a firearm (count three), possession of crack cocaine (a lesserincluded offense of count four), and criminal contempt (count six). It acquitted him on counts two (carrying a firearm while conspiring to distribute crack cocaine) and five (carrying a firearm while possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute the drug). McCreary-Redd was sentenced to an aggregate of 70 months’ imprisonment. This timely appeal followed.