Opinion ID: 3056658
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: DEA Agent Sonya Bryant’s Testimony

Text: Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) Special Agent Sonya Bryant investigated Mallety and the codefendants using physical surveillance, video surveillance and court-authorized cell phone wiretaps. At trial, the government 3 Case: 11-12804 Date Filed: 11/14/2012 Page: 4 of 18 asked Agent Bryant what her investigation revealed, and she stated: The investigation revealed that Tracy Hull and Douglas Jones were working in partnership and leading the organization, where they were obtaining cocaine from Houston . . . . They were utilizing [Mallety] to transport the cocaine from Houston to Pensacola. Agent Bryant further testified that she monitored and recorded wiretaps on three cell phones, two belonging to Mallety and one to Hull, for a total of 30 days. The government played several of these recorded cell phone conversations for the jury. In some of these recordings, Mallety mentions needing or carrying a gun in connection with his drug trafficking. For example, Mallety is heard saying, “the next mother fucker that rob me, be dead . . . cause from now on out I’m carrying my gun everywhere I go . . . laying right there on my seat.” In the recordings, Mallety is also heard speaking with various codefendants and others about cocaine. For example, in one recording, Mallety is heard saying, “But like I said if you was to took uh uh 3 grams out of each ounce. You still woulda made money off of it. And put 3 grams of baking soda in there you still made money off of ‘em.” The speakers in the recorded conversations rarely referenced cocaine explicitly. Rather, they used veiled language. For example, in one recording, Mallety asked one codefendant, “What you got left?” The codefendant responded, 4 Case: 11-12804 Date Filed: 11/14/2012 Page: 5 of 18 “Uhh . . . I think I got about, bout 5 of ‘em left.” In another conversation, Mallety asks a codefendant, “You don’t know anybody else needs something?” and then says, “Oh okay um cause I have about ten or twelve of them.” After the jury heard the recordings, the government asked Agent Bryant to explain the speakers’ use of numerical terms. Mallety’s counsel objected based on “speculation and lack of foundation.” The district court sustained this objection. The government then proffered Agent Bryant as an expert “in the area of drug distribution, terminology and distribution chains.” Agent Bryant testified that she had been a DEA special agent for over 19 years and that she had been involved in over 500 narcotics investigations. Agent Bryant had received training from the DEA in narcotics street terminology and distribution patterns. Mallety’s counsel objected to Bryant’s testifying as an expert. The district court then asked Mallety’s counsel whether he wanted to voir dire Agent Bryant. Mallety’s counsel declined, and the district court designated Agent Bryant as an expert. The district court then instructed the jury: a person having special training or experience in [a] specialized matter is permitted to . . . state an opinion about that matter. Merely because such a witness has expressed an opinion, however, does not mean that you must accept the opinion, the same as with any other witness. It’s up to you to decide on whether or not to rely upon the testimony and the opinion. 5 Case: 11-12804 Date Filed: 11/14/2012 Page: 6 of 18 The government asked Agent Bryant, based on her “training and experience,” to explain the numerical references that Mallety, his codefendants and others used in the recorded cell phone conversations. Agent Bryant stated that the speakers were referring to ounces of cocaine and identified eight such instances. Agent Bryant also explained various cocaine-related terms Mallety and his codefendants used. In addition to explaining the numerical references, Agent Bryant explained what Mallety and the codefendants were talking about in at least four audio recordings. In the first recording, Mallety is heard planning to meet another codefendant at Hull’s house after the codefendant told Mallety he wanted “three of em.” The government asked Agent Bryant, “based on your training and experience in this investigation, when [Mallety] and [the] codefendant . . . are talking about getting three of them and meeting at [Hull’s] house, what are they discussing?” Agent Bryant answered, “That [the codefendant] wants three ounces of cocaine and they agreed to meet at Tracy Hull’s residence . . . in Pensacola.” In the second recording, Mallety tells Hull that someone “was a hundred dollars short on that.” Hull responds, “Alright shit I get it to ya.” Agent Bryant explained that, in this recording, “[t]hey’re discussing that [Mallety] had met with Jason Green and that Jason Green and [Mallety] had counted the money, and the 6 Case: 11-12804 Date Filed: 11/14/2012 Page: 7 of 18 money was short an amount, and Tracy Hull said he would make up the difference in the money.” In the third recording, Hull is heard telling Mallety, “Hey it’s four of em at that ah 54 I think it said the 54, the 54 mile exit. . . . [I]t’s four of em sitting right there.” Agent Bryant testified that, in this recording, “Codefendant Tracy Hull was warning [Mallety] of the presence of law enforcement personnel around the Exit 54 in Alabama to avoid detection because [Mallety] was transporting cocaine.” In the fourth recording, Mallety is heard explaining that the police had searched his truck and found $13,000 under the back seat. Agent Bryant explained that, in this recording, Mallety was “discussing the vehicle stop and also that law enforcement personnel didn’t seize all the money that was in the vehicle.” After the district court designated Agent Bryant as an expert, Mallety did not object to any of Agent Bryant’s testimony regarding the recorded conversations.2