Opinion ID: 2976344
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Other testimony

Text: In addition to Lynn and Poole, the government presented testimony from four individuals who claimed to have obtained either marijuana or cocaine from the alleged conspirators (including Lynn) during the course of the conspiracy. The testimony from these individuals served to corroborate Lynn’s and Poole’s testimony about the cocaine operation and to link the Youngstown part of that operation to Anderson’s three houses. For example, Brandon McDowell testified that, at some point between 2001 and 2003, he was at 926 Sherwood when he was introduced to someone named Kev, whom he identified in the courtroom as Wheaton. McDowell further stated that, before their formal introduction, he had seen Kev at all three of Anderson’s houses. He described a conversation that he and Kev had the first time that they met. McDowell explained that when Kev heard that McDowell was “getting a lot of dope off of” Anderson, Kev jokingly said: “well, I should just cut [Anderson] off.” Wheaton and McDowell also socialized around Youngstown on occasion, but McDowell knew him only as Kev. Finally, McDowell identified vehicles that he had seen being driven by Kev in vicinity of the Sherwood houses. Postal Inspector Michael Rae also testified on behalf of the government. He stated that in November of 2003 he conducted a controlled delivery of a package coming from California and addressed to Anderson at 935 Sherwood. The package smelled of narcotics but did not contain any drugs. When Rae arrived at 935 Sherwood posing as a postman, a man approached him from across the street, identified himself as Kevin Smith, and signed for the package. The exchange was video and audio recorded and played for the jury while Rae was on the witness stand. Rae subsequently identified Wheaton as the person who called himself Kevin Smith and signed for the package. Detective Greg Coleman testified about Wheaton’s arrest at 935 Sherwood on November 18, 2004, stating that he watched Wheaton pull into the driveway at 926 Sherwood and then walk across the street to 935 Sherwood. He also testified extensively about the photographs that he took on the day of the arrest, identifying and discussing pictures of the three houses on Sherwood, the cars that were found parked at each of the residences, the drug-related items found at 935 and 939 Sherwood, and the handgun found under a couch cushion at 926 Sherwood. Wheaton’s attorney objected to the admission of the photograph of the handgun, but the district court admitted the photograph with a limiting instruction. The government also presented testimony from other local and federal law enforcement officials. These individuals testified about a variety of matters, including the ongoing investigation of the charged conspiracy, the day of Wheaton’s arrest at 935 Sherwood, two traffic stops in or around Youngstown during which Wheaton presented police officers with a California driver’s license with his own name on it and stated that he was from Los Angeles, a canine certified in detecting narcotics that smelled drugs (but found none) during one of the traffic stops in which Wheaton was involved, Poole’s arrest in Kansas and the evidence found in her car and on her cell phone, and travel-related documents seized from Poole’s home pursuant to a search warrant. C. Jury deliberations and Wheaton’s motion for a new trial At trial, Wheaton declined to present any evidence, instead moving for acquittal at the close of the government’s case pursuant to Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The district court overruled the motion and, prior to closing arguments, instructed the jury on the law. Before sending the jury out to deliberate, the court told the jury to send a message to the court if it wished to see any of the exhibits admitted into evidence. The court further instructed the jury: “Remember that you must make your decision based only on the evidence that you saw and heard here in Court. Do not try to gather any information about the case on your own while you are No. 06-4080 United States v. Wheaton Page 5 deliberating. . . . [D]o not conduct any independent research, reading, or investigation about the case.” Approximately a day and a half after Wheaton’s case was submitted to the jury for deliberation, the jury requested the “means” to replay the audio and video recordings of the encounter between Wheaton and Postal Inspector Rae. The district court and the attorneys agreed to play the CD and the VHS tape in the courtroom, without providing an opportunity for the jury to pause or replay them. After playing the recordings, the district court was informed that one of the jurors had used a laptop computer in the jury room. An in-chambers inquiry of that juror was conducted by the judge with both attorneys present. The inquiry revealed that, before making the request to the court for means to replay the audio and video recordings, the juror had used his laptop to play the audio CD for the other jurors. The juror acknowledged that he had wireless internet access on his computer, but stated that there was no wireless internet available “in this building or anywhere nearby.” Finally, the juror explained that he had used a program called “Microsoft Map Point” to answer a question that had come up during deliberations about the relative distance between Youngstown and two other towns in Ohio. The district court privately admonished the juror for impermissibly using the laptop. It then brought the jury into the courtroom and reminded the jurors that they were not allowed to do independent research and that they had to keep their personal belongings underneath the table. The court further explained that if the discussions about the distance between the towns had “in any way impacted or affected or made its way into your decision-making process one way or the other. . . . or to any extent, even minimally, swayed you either way, we have to know about it.” At that point, the court asked the jury whether the use of the juror’s computer had in any way affected anyone’s decisionmaking, and the jurors responded by shaking their heads negatively. The jury also confirmed that no other jurors had done any independent investigation. Reminding the jury to “[s]tick to what you have, the evidence in this case only,” the court then instructed the jury to continue with its deliberations. Later that day, the jury foreman sent the district court a note stating that the jury “appear[ed] to be deadlocked in regard to reaching a verdict.” The court then brought the jury into the courtroom and asked whether taking a night to think about the case would “help the process at all, or . . . the possibility of moving towards an agreement, either way.” Statements made by various jurors indicated that there was disagreement about whether the jury should continue discussions the following day. One juror stated: “I feel we are too adamant . . . that we have a lock.” That juror also acknowledged, however, that “[w]e are still talking.” The district court then instructed the jury to go home, “sleep on it, come back tomorrow morning at the same time, and we’ll wait for another note from you as to whether you have made any progress or not.” After the jury was dismissed, Wheaton’s attorney expressed concern to the district court that some jurors might give up on their position “simply because they don’t want to be the cog in the wheel.” In response, the court sent a note to the jury the following morning reminding them that “we do not want anyone to give up firmly held convictions simply to get along or to end the case. After examining the evidence and listening to your colleagues, apply the law and reach a decision honestly, and in good conscience.” The jury reached a guilty verdict a little more than an hour later. In addition, the jury found, by special verdict, that the amount of cocaine involved in the conspiracy was more than five kilograms. Wheaton subsequently filed a motion for a new trial pursuant to Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. He alleged that the misconduct of the juror using the laptop computer had undermined the integrity of the jury’s verdict. In particular, he argued that “[t]he fact that the juror No. 06-4080 United States v. Wheaton Page 6 was not initially forthcoming about the true use of the personal computer and the fact that the jury was able to suddenly reach unanimity within a few minutes of resuming deliberations raises a cloud of suspicion over the integrity of the jury’s deliberations.” The district court denied the motion in an opinion and order, concluding that the interests of justice did not require a new trial. D. Sentencing Wheaton, after submitting objections to the Presentence Report (PSR), was sentenced in July of 2006. His objections to the PSR were based on two separate computations under the Guidelines. First, Wheaton challenged a two-level enhancement to his base offense level, under USSG § 2D1.1(b)(1), resulting from the firearm found at 926 Sherwood at the time of Wheaton’s arrest. Wheaton contested the calculation on the basis that there was insufficient evidence linking him to the firearm. He also objected to the addition of two criminal history points, pursuant to USSG § 4A1.1(e), which resulted in his being assigned a criminal history category of III instead of II. The addition was based on the PSR’s finding that the instant offense was committed less than two years after he was released from custody for a prior offense. According to Wheaton, however, the evidence presented by the government indicated that his involvement in the charged conspiracy began in January of 2001. He therefore contended that the computation based on § 4A1.1(e) was incorrect because the instant offense was committed more than two years after his release from custody on December 2, 1998. At the sentencing hearing, Wheaton renewed his objections to the Guidelines calculations. The district court, however, approved both the enhancement of Wheaton’s base offense level under USSG § 2D1.1(b)(1) and the addition of two criminal history points pursuant to USSG § 4A1.1(e). After discussing the sentencing factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), the court sentenced Wheaton to 235 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release. This timely appeal followed.