Court Opinion

ID: 998288
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 17:08:57.60113+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:36:03.173435
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                  No. 98-4590

ERNIE RAY HOLLEY,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Huntington.
Robert J. Staker, Senior District Judge.
(CR-98-40)

Submitted: March 25, 1999

Decided: April 2, 1999

Before WILKINS and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and
BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.

_________________________________________________________________

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

George A. Mills, III, Huntington, West Virginia, for Appellant.
Rebecca A. Betts, United States Attorney, Miller A. Bushong, III,
Assistant United States Attorney, Charleston, West Virginia, for
Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Ernie Ray Holley pled guilty to conspiracy to possess cocaine and
marijuana with intent to distribute, see 21 U.S.C. § 846 (1994), and
was sentenced to a term of ninety-seven months imprisonment. He
appeals this sentence, alleging that the district court clearly erred in
finding that he possessed firearms during the offense and making a
two-level enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual
§ 2D1.1(b)(1) (1997). We affirm.

Between 1988 and 1997, Holley bought cocaine and marijuana in
Florida and arranged to have the drugs transported to West Virginia
where he sold them. He also grew marijuana on his farm in West Vir-
ginia in the mid-1990's. On May 15, 1997, after confidential infor-
mants made a series of drug purchases from Holley at his farm, agents
from two area task forces investigating drug offenses and firearms
offenses executed a search warrant at Holley's residence and seized
marijuana, $12,000 in cash, and fourteen firearms, including rifles,
shotguns, pistols, and revolvers. When Holley was detained, he had
eight grams of cocaine in his pocket. Most of the firearms were in a
safe located in Holley's bedroom. Holley told the agents he could not
open the safe, but his wife opened it.

Section 2D1.1(b)(1) provides for an increase in the offense level
when the defendant possessed a dangerous weapon during commis-
sion of a drug offense. The enhancement should be made whenever
a weapon was present, "unless it is clearly improbable that the
weapon was connected to the offense." See USSG § 2D1.1, comment.
(n.3). If weapons are found in a place where a drug conspiracy is car-
ried on, the enhancement will apply unless the defendant can "show
that a connection between his firearms possession and his narcotics
offense was `clearly improbable.'" United States v. Harris, 128 F.3d
850, 853 (4th Cir. 1997). Here, Holley argued that the enhancement

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should not apply because most of the weapons were in the safe and
none were in the rooms where Holley made his drug sales.* We find
that these facts are not sufficient to demonstrate the clear improbabil-
ity of a connection between the firearms and the drug dealing. There-
fore, the enhancement was not clearly erroneous.

Accordingly, we affirm the sentence. We dispense with oral argu-
ment because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented
in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the deci-
sional process.

AFFIRMED
_________________________________________________________________
*Defense counsel also argued that no grand jury witness testified that
Holley ever used a firearm in his drug dealing. However, Robert S. John-
son testified before the grand jury that Holley had $35,000 cash and a
pistol in a paper bag on a trip to Florida in 1994 which was made ostensi-
bly to go fishing. The grand jury transcript was available to the probation
officer but this incident was not included in the presentence report.

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