United States v. Rasheen Jahmal Smith , 481 F. App'x 540 ( 2012 )

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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 10-15561
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 2:09-cr-00128-MEF-TFM-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
RASHEEN JAHMAL SMITH,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Alabama
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(July 12, 2012)
Before EDMONDSON, MARTIN, and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Rasheen Jahmal Smith appeals his convictions and 60-month sentence for
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possession of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844(a), and for possession
with intent to distribute more than 5 grams of cocaine base, in violation of 21
U.S.C. § 841. The charges against Smith stem from two separate searches
conducted by police after Smith was stopped for routine traffic violations. First,
on November 6, 2008, Smith was pulled over by police due to an apparent window
tint violation. Smith told the officers he had a lawfully owned and registered
firearm in the vehicle, at which point the police asked him to get out of his vehicle.
After performing a pat down frisk, one of the officers at the scene detected the
smell of marijuana coming from Smith’s vehicle. When asked about this odor,
Smith attempted to flee, but was eventually subdued and arrested. The police then
searched Smith’s vehicle, uncovering 12.4 grams of cocaine base, 2 grams of
marijuana, and a set of scales in Smith’s pocket.
Second, Smith was stopped again on January 20, 2009, this time pursuant to
a traffic checkpoint set up by the police. After being asked to pull off to the side,
an officer on the scene, incidentally the same officer from Smith’s previous arrest,
again detected marijuana odor in Smith’s vehicle. The officers searched both
Smith and his vehicle, and discovered seven grams of marijuana stashed in
Smith’s shoe, a bag of cocaine in the vehicle, and more scales in Smith’s pockets.
On appeal, Smith argues that the district court erred by declining to suppress
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evidence seized from his person and vehicle during these two separate traffic
stops. Smith also argues that the district court erred in declining to apply the Fair
Sentencing Act of 2010 (“FSA”), Pub. L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372 (2010), to
avoid imposing the mandatory minimum sentence required by the version of 21
U.S.C. § 841 in effect at the time he committed his offenses. After thorough
review of the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm the conviction, but remand
for re-sentencing under the new FSA sentencing regime.
I.
First, Smith argues that the district court erred by refusing to suppress
evidence seized from his person and his vehicle during a November 6, 2008 traffic
stop. In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, we review for
clear error the district court’s findings of fact and review de novo the district
court’s application of the law to those facts. United States v. Gil, 204 F.3d 1347,
1350 (11th Cir. 2000). Furthermore, we construe “all facts . . . in the light most
favorable to the party prevailing in the district court—in this case, the
government.” United States v. Ramirez, 476 F.3d 1231, 1236 (11th Cir. 2007).
A law enforcement officer may permissibly order a driver to exit a car when
he has lawfully detained a vehicle for a traffic violation. Pennsylvania v. Mimms,
434 U.S. 106, 111 n.6, 98 S. Ct. 330, 333 n.6 (1977) (per curiam). Moreover, in
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connection with a traffic stop, an officer may conduct a pat down search if he has
reason to believe that his own safety or the safety of others is at risk. United
States v. White, 593 F.3d 1199, 1202 (11th Cir. 2010) (citing Terry v. Ohio, 392
U.S. 1, 27, 88 S. Ct. 1868, 1883 (1968)).
In addition, “[i]t is well settled that a search incident to a lawful arrest is a
traditional exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment.”
United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 224, 94 S. Ct. 467, 471 (1973). A search
incident to arrest may include both “the arrestee’s person and the area within his
immediate control,” meaning “the area from within which he might gain
possession of a weapon or destructible evidence.” Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332,
339, 129 S. Ct. 1710, 1716 (2009) (quotation marks omitted).
We find no error in the traffic stop and subsequent search of Smith’s
vehicle. To begin, there is no dispute that the traffic stop itself was permissible.
Nor was the subsequent detention constitutionally problematic. Indeed, Smith
concedes that the officers were entitled to detain him, albeit briefly, in light of
Smith’s revelation that he had a firearm that itself was in plain view. But even
without Smith’s concessions, both the initial stop and detention accord with the
Fourth Amendment. See, e.g., Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 810, 116 S.
Ct. 1769, 1772 (1996) (“As a general matter, the decision to stop an automobile is
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reasonable where the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation
has occurred.”); New York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106, 116, 106 S. Ct. 960, 967 (1986)
(police officer may order suspect to leave car upon observation of firearm in
passenger seat).
Smith argues, however, that the pat down that ensued after he was detained
was unconstitutional. To this end, he contends that Officer McCord “exceeded the
proper scope of a pat down.” Because we conclude that the search was in fact
conducted incident to arrest, we cannot agree that Officer McCord exceeded the
scope of a permissible search. Specifically, Officer McCord testified that after
Smith got out of his vehicle, Officer McCord questioned Smith regarding
marijuana odor emanating from the vehicle.1 Upon asking Smith about this odor,
Smith attempted to flee. By so doing in response to the officer’s detection of
1
Smith argues that we should dismiss Officer McCord’s testimony as lacking credibility.
Specifically, Smith calls our attention to expert testimony suggesting that the marijuana found in
Smith’s car was not substantial enough to create enough odor for Officer McCord to detect it
under the conditions of the traffic stop, and additionally that another officer at the scene did not
similarly detect marijuana. He submits that, as a result, the magistrate judge’s decision to credit
Officer McCord at Smith’s expense was in error.
We cannot agree. We afford considerable deference to a credibility determination, United
States v. Ramirez-Chilel, 289 F.3d 744, 749 (11th Cir. 2002), and will not reverse such a
determination unless “it is contrary to the laws of nature, or is so inconsistent or improbable on
its face that no reasonable factfinder could accept it.” Id. (quotation marks omitted). That
burden has not been met here. First, Smith’s expert testified that although the marijuana found in
the car could not create sufficient odor, the smell of marijuana previously in the car may have
been detectable when Smith was first stopped. Second, even if the officer accompanying Officer
McCord did not detect marijuana odor, we think that, standing alone, this is not the sort of
inconsistency that warrants reversing a credibility determination. See id.5
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marijuana and suspicion that contraband was present in Smith’s vehicle, Smith
provided sufficient probable cause for the officers to both arrest him and to
conduct a search incident to that arrest. See Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752,
762–63, 89 S. Ct. 2034, 2040 (1969) (“When an arrest is made, it is reasonable for
the arresting officer to search the person arrested in order to remove any weapons
that the latter might seek to use in order to resist arrest or effect his escape.”); see
United States v. Dotson, 49 F.3d 227, 231 (6th Cir. 1995) (collecting authorities
for proposition that a defendant’s “efforts to flee, coupled with [a law enforcement
officer’s] reasonable suspicion that [the defendant] was involved in criminal
activities, established probable cause to arrest [the defendant]”); see also United
States v. Lueck, 678 F.2d 895, 903 (11th Cir. 1982) (“[T]he recognizable smell of
marijuana gives rise to probable cause supporting a warrantless search.”).
Thus, Officer McCord did not violate Smith’s Fourth Amendment rights
when he searched Smith, even if the search exceeded that permissible in a routine
pat down. As a result, the district court properly denied Smith’s motion to
suppress evidence seized during the November 6, 2008 traffic stop.
II.
Smith next argues that the district court erred by refusing to suppress
evidence seized from his person and his vehicle during the January 20, 2009
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traffic stop. We cannot agree. As with the first traffic stop, Officer McCord
credibly testified that he detected marijuana odor emanating from Smith’s car.2
Upon detecting this odor, the officers were justified to conduct the the search of
the vehicle. United States v. Garcia, 592 F.2d 259, 260 (5th Cir. 1979)
(suggesting that the smell of marijuana justified the search of a vehicle);3 see also
United States v. Tobin, 923 F.2d 1506, 1512 (11th Cir. 1991) (“There is no doubt
that the agent’s suspicions rose to the level of probable cause when, as the door
stood open, he detected what he knew from his law enforcement experience to be
the odor of marijuana.”). As a result, the vehicle search was permissible, and the
cocaine recovered was admissible at trial against Smith.
Moreover, because the discovery of cocaine in the vehicle would have
permitted the officers to search Smith incident to his arrest for possessing that
cocaine, the magistrate judge properly found that the officers would inevitably
have discovered the marijuana in Smith’s shoe. See Jefferson v. Fountain, 382
F.3d 1286, 1296 (11th Cir. 2004) (explaining that doctrine of inevitable discovery
2
Smith again challenges the credibility of Officer McCord, but for the same reasons as
before, we conclude that Smith has failed to overcome the high degree of deference we afford
credibility determinations. See supra note 1(citing Ramirez-Chilel, 289 F.3d at 749).
3
In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc), this
Court adopted as binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to
close of business on September 30, 1981.
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permits introduction of evidence that would have been eventually found, even if
the search that uncovered it was itself unconstitutional). For these reasons, we
hold that the district court also properly denied Smith’s motion to suppress the
evidence seized during the January 20, 2009, traffic stop.
III.
Finally, Smith argues that the district court erred by sentencing him to the
mandatory minimum that was in effect at the time of his conduct. Smith’s conduct
occurred in 2008 and 2009, but he was not sentenced until November 24, 2010. In
the interim, however, the FSA was signed into law on August 3, 2010. See Pub.
L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372, 2374 (2010). Smith argued before the district
court, and now to us on appeal, that he is entitled to the benefit of the FSA’s
reduced mandatory minimums. He correctly points out that under the changes
wrought by the FSA, the 12.4 grams of cocaine base he possessed would not
trigger the 5-year mandatory minimum that was applied to him at sentencing.
Compare 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii) (2010) (prescribing 5 year mandatory
minimum for possession of 28 grams or more of mixture containing cocaine base)
with 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii) (2008) (imposing 5 year mandatory minimum
for possession of 5 grams or more of mixture containing cocaine base).
We are compelled to reverse in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in
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Dorsey v. United States, ___ S. Ct. ___, 2012 WL 2344463 (U.S. June 21, 2012),
in which the Court “conclude[d] that Congress intended the Fair Sentencing Act’s
new, lower mandatory minimums to apply to the post-Act sentencing of pre-Act
offenders.” Id. at *14. This holding plainly applies to Smith who was not
sentenced until November 24, 2012. Because Dorsey has just been decided, the
district court could not have known at the time that it could consider sentencing
Smith below the pre-FSA mandatory minimums. We must therefore vacate
Smith’s sentence and remand for resentencing consistent with the Dorsey opinion.
AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED.
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