United States v. Adarus Black , 465 F. App'x 510 ( 2012 )


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  •                 NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION
    File Name: 12a0253n.06
    No. 10-1017
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                                FILED
    FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT                                Mar 05, 2012
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,                            )                          LEONARD GREEN, Clerk
    )
    Plaintiff-Appellee,                           )
    )
    v.                                                   )       ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED
    )       STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
    ADARUS MAZIO BLACK, aka Dude, aka                    )       THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF
    Chuck, aka Mark Andrea Gillery, Jr., aka             )       MICHIGAN
    Shamario Lamont Kidd, aka Shamario L. Carr,          )
    )
    Defendant-Appellant.                          )
    )
    )
    Before: GRIFFIN and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges; THAPAR, District Judge.*
    PER CURIAM. Adarus Mazio Black was convicted in separate jury trials of conspiracy to
    possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine and marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C.
    §§ 841 and 846, and escape or attempted escape from federal custody, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §
    751. The district court sentenced Black to consecutive prison terms of life on the conspiracy count
    and twenty-four months on the escape count. Black raises several challenges to his conviction and
    sentence for the drug conspiracy. For the following reasons, we affirm the district court’s judgment.
    *
    The Honorable Amul R. Thapar, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of
    Kentucky, sitting by designation.
    No. 10-1017
    -2-
    Black first argues that the district court abused its discretion and violated his constitutional
    rights by not holding a hearing to determine whether he was competent to stand trial. The district
    court must grant a motion by a defendant or the government for a competency hearing “if there is
    reasonable cause to believe that the defendant” is mentally incompetent to stand trial. 18 U.S.C.
    § 4241(a). Even absent such a motion, “a court is required to order such a hearing if the statutory
    standard of ‘reasonable cause’ is satisfied.” United States v. Denkins, 
    367 F.3d 537
    , 545 (6th Cir.
    2004) (citation omitted). A defendant is incompetent if he “lack[s] either a ‘sufficient present ability
    to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding’ or ‘a rational as well
    as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.’” United States v. Miller, 
    531 F.3d 340
    , 350
    (6th Cir. 2008) (quoting Drope v. Missouri, 
    420 U.S. 162
    , 172 (1975)).
    The district court granted the government’s motion for a competency determination after
    Black’s escape attempt. Following a month-long competency evaluation conducted by the Bureau
    of Prisons, a psychologist deemed Black competent to stand trial. Although Black’s second attorney,
    Paul Curtis, informed the district court that Black had asked him to move for an independent
    psychological evaluation to determine his competency, neither Black nor his attorneys ever filed such
    a motion, and none of his subsequent attorneys requested a competency hearing. Under these
    circumstances, Black abandoned the competency issue. See 
    Denkins, 367 F.3d at 546
    (holding that
    “the district court was not obligated to press forward” when the defendant did not pursue his
    incompetency argument after an evaluation deemed him competent).
    Further, there was insufficient evidence of incompetence in the record triggering a due
    process right to a competency hearing. See 
    id. at 547-48.
    As we observed in similar circumstances,
    “a defendant is not rendered incompetent to stand trial merely because he cannot get along with his
    counsel or disapproves of his attorney’s performance.” 
    Miller, 531 F.3d at 349
    . None of Black’s
    No. 10-1017
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    attorneys expressed doubt regarding his competence, the psychologist who examined Black found
    that he was competent to stand trial, and the record reflects that Black, although showing signs of
    paranoia, understood the proceedings and was able to participate actively in his own defense.
    Notably, Black does not identify any actions, aside from his escape attempt, that should have caused
    the district court to question his competency; in fact, he suggests that the government’s motion for
    a competency evaluation was unwarranted and was designed to delay his trial and obtain access to
    confidential information. Accordingly, the district court was not constitutionally obligated to order
    sua sponte a competency hearing and committed no error by failing to do so. See 
    id. at 349-50.
    Black next argues that the district court abused its discretion and violated his Fifth and Sixth
    Amendment rights by denying his newly retained attorney’s motion for a continuance. We review
    this ruling for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Warshak, 
    631 F.3d 266
    , 298 (6th Cir. 2010).
    The denial of a continuance motion “amounts to a constitutional violation only if there is an
    unreasoning and arbitrary insistence upon expeditiousness in the face of a justifiable request for
    delay.” 
    Id. (citations and
    internal quotation marks omitted). Additionally, reversal is warranted only
    if the defendant shows that the denial resulted in actual prejudice. 
    Id. “Actual prejudice
    is
    established by showing that a continuance would have made relevant witnesses available or added
    something to the defense.” United States v. Crossley, 
    224 F.3d 847
    , 855 (6th Cir. 2000) (citation
    and internal quotation marks omitted).
    Black argues that his sixth trial attorney, who he retained approximately eight weeks before
    the scheduled trial date, did not have enough time to obtain a complete case file, adequately review
    the discovery materials, or interview or subpoena witnesses in preparation for trial. Black also
    argues that his attorney needed more time to gather evidence in support of his allegations of
    misconduct by the government and his former attorneys. Black fails, however, to identify any
    No. 10-1017
    -4-
    specific witnesses that should have been called at trial or otherwise demonstrate actual prejudice
    arising from the denial of his continuance motion. Moreover, at the same time that Black sought to
    postpone his trial, he also complained that his right to a speedy trial was being violated. Under these
    circumstances, Black has failed to demonstrate that the district court acted arbitrarily by denying his
    motion for a continuance or that he suffered actual prejudice as a result. See 
    Warshak, 631 F.3d at 298-99
    .
    Black also argues that the district court abused its discretion by denying his request for an
    evidentiary hearing on the allegations of misconduct by the government and his prior attorneys that
    were raised in his motions to dismiss the indictment, including his allegations that (1) the
    government threatened to prosecute his friends and family members if they assisted in his defense
    and filed a false complaint against one of them in order to obtain information to use against him;
    (2) his prior attorneys represented government witnesses and improperly shared information with
    the government; and (3) the government engaged in other “inappropriate behavior,” such as placing
    cooperating individuals in jail with him to obtain incriminating statements, seizing confidential
    information from his cell, giving him truth serum, and improperly subjecting him to genetic testing.
    Except in rare circumstances, the remedy for prosecutorial misconduct that interferes with
    a defendant’s right to the effective assistance of counsel is not dismissal of the indictment, but the
    suppression of particular evidence or reversal of the conviction. See, e.g., United States v. Clark,
    319 F. App’x 395, 400 (6th Cir. 2009). Absent some showing that the alleged misconduct
    “substantially influenced” the grand jury’s decision to indict, pre-trial dismissal of the indictment
    is not warranted. Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States, 
    487 U.S. 250
    , 256 (1988). Because Black
    did not allege remotely plausible facts that would have supported dismissal of the indictment, the
    district court did not err by denying his request for an evidentiary hearing. Id.; cf. United States v.
    No. 10-1017
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    Simpson, 226 F. App’x 556, 560 (6th Cir. 2007) (holding that, because the defendant did not allege
    facts that would warrant dismissal based on vindictive prosecution, the district court was not
    required to grant his request for an evidentiary hearing); cf. Williams v. Bagley, 
    380 F.3d 932
    , 977
    (6th Cir. 2004) (holding that “bald assertions and conclusory allegations do not provide sufficient
    ground to warrant . . . an evidentiary hearing”).
    Black next argues that there was a prejudicial variance between the single conspiracy charged
    in the indictment and the evidence produced at trial, and that the district court erred by denying his
    request for a multiple conspiracy jury instruction. “[W]hen the evidence is such that the jury could
    within reason find more than one conspiracy, the trial court should give the jury a multiple
    conspiracy instruction.” United States v. Kelsor, 
    665 F.3d 684
    , 695 (6th Cir. 2011) (quoting United
    States v. Warner, 
    690 F.2d 545
    , 551 (6th Cir. 1982)). “The danger such an instruction seeks to avoid
    . . . ‘is the transference of guilt from defendants involved in one conspiracy to defendants in another
    conspiracy, such that a defendant is convicted for a conspiracy for which he was not indicted.’” 
    Id. (quoting United
    States v. Caver, 
    470 F.3d 220
    , 246 (6th Cir. 2006)). When the evidence
    demonstrates multiple conspiracies, the failure to give the instruction is prejudicial “if the error of
    trying multiple conspiracies under a single indictment substantially influenced the outcome of the
    trial.” 
    Caver, 470 F.3d at 237
    .
    Black cannot demonstrate prejudice from the district court’s failure to give a multiple
    conspiracy instruction. Even if it is assumed that multiple drug conspiracies existed, the government
    produced sufficient evidence establishing that Black, the sole defendant, played a central role in each
    conspiracy. As in Caver, “this [is] not a case where a defendant with a relatively minor role was
    forced to endure an extended trial where the bulk of the evidence did not pertain to 
    him.” 470 F.3d at 237
    . Under these circumstances, reversal is not warranted. See id.; cf. United States v. Goff, 400
    No. 10-1017
    -6-
    F. App’x 1, 13 (6th Cir. 2010) (holding that the defendant was not prejudiced by the failure to give
    a multiple conspiracy instruction because he was the only defendant tried and was an “integral
    participant” in each conspiracy, he was not surprised by the introduction of evidence of the different
    conspiracies, and “the different conspiracies were clearly delineated chronologically”), cert. denied,
    
    131 S. Ct. 1032
    (2011).
    Black next challenges the admission of videotaped statements made by a co-conspirator,
    Chris Perez, to John Benson, an attorney and drug trafficker who was acting as confidential
    informant for the government. Co-conspirator statements are admissible under Federal Rule of
    Evidence 801(d)(2)(E) if the government demonstrates that: “(1) the conspiracy existed; (2) the
    defendant was a member of the conspiracy; and (3) the co-conspirator made the proffered statements
    in furtherance of the conspiracy.” United States v. Warman, 
    578 F.3d 320
    , 335 (6th Cir. 2009).
    Black argues that the statements in the videotape constituted inadmissible hearsay because
    there was no evidence that he was involved in a conspiracy with Benson, neither Benson’s
    statements nor Perez’s statement were in furtherance of any conspiracy with which Black was
    allegedly involved, and the statements were protected by the attorney-client privilege. But Black
    called and spoke with Benson during the meeting, demonstrating that Benson was part of the
    conspiracy. Moreover, Perez and Benson did speak “in furtherance” of the conspiracy because Perez
    updated Benson on the conspiracy’s status: For example, Perez discussed future cocaine deals and
    disclosed that Black killed someone in the drug business. See 
    Warman, 578 F.3d at 338
    .
    Additionally, Black fails to offer any developed argument challenging the district court’s
    determination that he did not have standing to invoke the attorney-client privilege on behalf of Perez.
    Accordingly, we find no error in the district court’s decision to admit Perez’s statements under Rule
    801(d)(2)(E).
    No. 10-1017
    -7-
    Finally, Black argues that the district court erred by imposing a life sentence based on facts
    that were found by the district court by a preponderance of the evidence rather than by the jury
    beyond a reasonable doubt. It is well established, however, that the Sixth Amendment is not violated
    by the district court’s reliance on judge-found facts to enhance a defendant’s sentence, so long as
    those facts are supported by a preponderance of the evidence and the sentence imposed does not
    exceed the statutory maximum. See, e.g., United States v. White, 
    551 F.3d 381
    , 384 (6th Cir. 2008)
    (en banc); United States v. Sexton, 
    512 F.3d 326
    , 330 (6th Cir. 2008). Accordingly, this argument
    is without merit.
    For these reasons, we affirm the district court’s judgment.