United States v. Banks

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
August 8, 2017
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v. No. 15-3324
(D.C. No. 5:13-CR-40060-DDC-1)
ALBERT DEWAYNE BANKS, (D. Kan.)
Defendant - Appellant.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, MATHESON and MORITZ, Circuit
Judges.
I. Introduction
This appeal arose from an investigation into a drug-trafficking operation in
the Geary County, Kansas area. Appellant Albert Dewayne Banks was arrested
and charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute more than 280 grams of
cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a), and multiple counts of
distribution of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata and collateral estoppel. It may be cited,
however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th
Cir. R. 32.1.
Before trial, Banks moved to dismiss the indictment for Speedy Trial Act
violations. The district court overruled the motion, finding the court had
previously granted an ends-of-justice continuance that tolled the speedy-trial
clock. Also before trial, the district court admitted cell-service location
information (CSLI) the government obtained without a warrant as part of the
process for determining whether certain intercepted phone calls were admissible
at trial. The court also denied Banks’s motion to suppress evidence obtained from
a search of his residence, finding the search warrant was supported by probable
cause.
Banks was tried along with several co-defendants, including Johnny Lee
Ivory, Martye Madkins, and Anthony Carlyle Thompson, who are now appellants
in related appeals. At trial, the government introduced evidence found during the
search of Banks’s residence. Banks and his co-defendants were convicted on all
counts. The presentence investigation report (PSR) calculated the quantity of
drugs attributable to Banks and the corresponding guidelines sentencing range,
but it also determined Banks faced a mandatory minimum sentence of life in
prison on the conspiracy conviction. Banks filed written objections to the PSR,
disputing the drug-quantity calculation and the mandatory minimum sentence.
Banks also objected to the imposition of a four-level leader-organizer
enhancement.
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At sentencing, the court rejected Banks’s objections and imposed a
mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison. Later, the court acknowledged it
erred in imposing a mandatory life sentence, because the jury did not find that
Banks was personally responsible for 280 or more grams of cocaine base. The
court therefore vacated its previous sentence and adopted from the original
sentencing hearing its finding that Banks was responsible for 8.477 kilograms of
cocaine base. The court calculated Banks’s total offense level—which included
the four-level leadership enhancement—and imposed a sentence of 360 months’
imprisonment.
Banks now appeals his convictions and sentence, incorporating by reference
some of the arguments made by his co-defendants Madkins, Thompson, and Ivory
in their related appeals. 1 In particular, Banks contends the district court erred in
(1) denying his motion to dismiss for Speedy Trial Act violations; (2) admitting
CSLI obtained without a warrant; (3) denying his motion to suppress evidence
obtained from the search of his residence; and (4) delivering an unconstitutional
reasonable doubt instruction to the jury.
Banks also appeals his sentence, arguing the district court erred in (1)
failing to make particularized findings about the drug quantity attributable to him
1
We consolidated these four appeals for all procedural purposes, including
briefing and oral argument. The government thus submitted one consolidated
response brief, and we heard oral argument in Banks’s appeal along with
consolidated cases 15-3299 (Madkins) and 15-3313 (Thompson). Consolidated
case 15-3238 (Ivory) was submitted on the briefs.
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as relevant conduct; and (2) imposing the four-level leader-organizer
enhancement, because none of the evidence presented at trial established Banks
served as a leader or organizer in the conspiracy.
Based on our holdings in the related appeals United States v. Madkins, No.
15-3299 (10th Cir. 2017); United States v. Thompson, No. 15-3313 (10th Cir.
2017); and United States v. Ivory, No. 15-3238 (10th Cir. 2017), we affirm (1) the
denial of Banks’s motion to dismiss; (2) the admission of the CSLI and denial of
Banks’s motion to suppress evidence; and (3) the reasonable doubt instruction
delivered to the jury. But we vacate Banks’s sentence and remand for the court to
make particularized drug-quantity findings, make findings on Banks’s role (if
any) as a leader or organizer in the conspiracy, and resentence him accordingly.
II. Analysis
We address Banks’s challenges to his convictions and sentence in turn.
A. Speedy Trial Action Violations
Banks first argues the district court violated his right to a speedy trial.
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(j), Banks joins in and adopts
by reference the Speedy Trial Act arguments made by his co-defendant Madkins.
In United States v. Madkins, No. 15-3299 (10th Cir. 2017), we explain the
relevant factual background, and the facts for Banks’s appeal are materially
identical. Pertinently, Banks filed two demands for a speedy trial and, like
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Madkins, filed a motion to dismiss the indictment for Speedy Trial Act violations.
It is the district court’s denial of that motion to dismiss that Banks now appeals.
In Madkins, we hold that the district court complied with the requirements
of the Speedy Trial Act in granting an ends-of-justice continuance, because the
record contains sufficient ends-of-justice findings. For the same reasons, we
conclude the district court did not violate Banks’s right to a speedy trial.
Accordingly, we affirm Banks’s convictions.
B. Admission of CSLI
Banks next challenges the constitutionality of § 2703(d) of the Stored
Communications Act, which allows the government to obtain historical CSLI
upon a showing of reasonable suspicion. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate
Procedure 28(j), Banks joins in and adopts by reference the arguments regarding
the constitutionality of § 2703(d) advanced by his co-defendant Thompson.
In United States v. Thompson, No. 15-3313 (10th Cir. 2017), we detail the
relevant factual background for Banks’s claims. Banks joined Thompson’s
opposition to the government’s § 2703(d) application and filed his own
suppression motion, seeking to exclude evidence obtained from the search of his
residence. Banks now appeals the district court’s rulings on these motions.
In Thompson, we hold that § 2703(d)’s reasonable suspicion standard does
not violate the Constitution, because cell-phone users lack a reasonable
expectation of privacy in their historical CSLI. Users voluntarily convey CSLI to
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third parties who in turn create records of that information for their own business
purposes. And because the government’s request for CSLI is not a search within
the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, we conclude § 2703(d) is not
unconstitutional.
For the same reasons outlined in Thompson, we hold the district court did
not err in granting the government’s application for orders requesting historical
CSLI or in admitting the CSLI at a pretrial proceeding.
C. Denial of Motion to Suppress
Banks also argues the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress
evidence obtained from the search of his home. Pursuant to Federal Rule of
Appellate Procedure 28(j), Banks joins in and adopts by reference the suppression
arguments raised by his co-defendant Thompson.
In Thompson, we conclude the affidavits supporting the search warrant for
Thompson’s residence sufficiently alleged probable cause, and the court did not
err in requiring the government to prove the provenance of the intercepted phone
calls by a preponderance of the evidence. For the same reasons, we affirm the
district court’s denial of Banks’s motion to suppress.
D. Reasonable Doubt Instruction
Banks next contends the district court’s reasonable doubt instruction was
constitutionally deficient. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(j),
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Banks joins in and adopts by reference the arguments regarding the district
court’s reasonable doubt instruction raised by his co-defendant Ivory.
The factual background is the same as that described in United States v.
Ivory, No. 15-3238 (10th Cir. 2017), with one distinction: unlike Ivory, Banks
objected to the court’s instruction at the instructions conference. Therefore, we
review his challenge to the sufficiency of the instruction de novo. See Tillman v.
Cook, 215 F.3d 1116, 1123 (10th Cir. 2000).
But Banks’s challenge fares no better than Ivory’s. As we explain in Ivory,
our recent decision in United States v. Petty, 856 F.3d 1306 (10th Cir. 2017),
forecloses all of the appellants’ arguments about the constitutionality of the
instruction. In Petty, we reviewed de novo the constitutionality of a materially
identical reasonable doubt instruction and squarely rejected the precise challenges
Ivory and Banks assert on appeal. For the same reasons articulated in Ivory, we
reject Banks’s challenges to the constitutionality of the instruction.
E. Challenges to Banks’s Sentence
Finally, Banks attacks his sentence in two ways, arguing the district court
erred in (1) failing to make particularized findings about the drug quantity
attributable to him as relevant conduct; and (2) imposing a four-level leadership
enhancement without any support in the record.
Before sentencing, the probation officer prepared the presentence
investigation report (PSR). The PSR found Banks responsible for 8.477
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kilograms of cocaine base and applied a two-level enhancement for possession of
a firearm and a four-level enhancement for being a leader or organizer of a
criminal activity involving five or more participants. This yielded a total offense
level of 42, with a corresponding advisory guidelines range of 360 months to life
in prison. But the PSR also determined Banks was subject to a mandatory
minimum sentence of life in prison on the conspiracy conviction, thus rendering
moot any otherwise applicable guidelines calculations.
Banks filed written objections to the PSR, disputing the drug-quantity
calculation and the facts on which it was based, as well as the determination that
he faced a mandatory life sentence. Banks also objected to the four-level
leadership enhancement, arguing there was no evidence presented at trial of any
of the factors identified in the Guidelines that would establish Banks as a leader
or organizer.
At sentencing, the court rejected Banks’s objections, finding that because
Banks was found guilty of a conspiracy involving more than 280 grams of crack
cocaine, the mandatory minimum applied—even without a jury finding that Banks
was individually responsible for that amount. The court also found Banks served
in a leadership role and applied the four-level enhancement. With a total offense
level of 40 and a criminal history category of IV, Banks’s corresponding
guidelines range was 360 months to life in prison. But the court imposed what it
believed was a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.
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The court later realized it erred in imposing a mandatory life sentence,
because the jury did not find Banks was personally responsible for 280 or more
grams of cocaine base. Accordingly, the court vacated Banks’s sentence and all
of its previous findings. The court then adopted from the previous sentencing
hearing its finding that Banks was responsible for 8.477 kilograms of cocaine
base. Based on this finding, the court calculated a total offense level of
40—which included the four-level leadership enhancement—and a criminal
history category of IV. The court sentenced Banks to 360 months’ imprisonment.
1. Particularized Drug-Quantity Findings
Banks first argues that in finding him accountable for 8.477 kilograms of
crack cocaine, the district court failed to make particularized findings about the
drug quantity attributable to him as relevant conduct.
We review for clear error a district court’s determination of the drug
quantity attributable to a defendant, including the scope of jointly undertaken
criminal activity. United States v. Sells, 541 F.3d 1227, 1235 (10th Cir. 2008).
Here, the government concedes the district court clearly erred in failing to make
particularized findings and joins Banks’s request for vacatur of his sentence on
that basis. We accept the government’s concession, vacate Banks’s sentence, and
remand for the district court to make the requisite findings and resentence Banks
accordingly.
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2. Four-Level Leadership Enhancement
Banks next argues the court erred in imposing the four-level leadership
enhancement, even though no evidence in the record supports application of the
enhancement.
We review challenges to the imposition of guidelines enhancements for
clear error as to findings of fact and de novo as to questions of law. United States
v. Irvin, 682 F.3d 1254, 1276–77 (10th Cir. 2012).
Section 3B1.1(a) of the Sentencing Guidelines provides for a four-level
increase in a defendant’s total offense level “[i]f the defendant was an organizer
or leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was
otherwise extensive.” The application notes explain,
Factors the court should consider include the exercise of
decision making authority, the nature of participation in
the commission of the offense, the recruitment of
accomplices, the claimed right to a larger share of the
fruits of the crime, the degree of participation in planning
or organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the
illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority
exercised over others.
USSG § 3B1.1 cmt. n.4.
We have previously stated, “[i]n considering these factors, the sentencing
court should remain conscious of the fact that the gravamen of this enhancement
is control, organization, and responsibility for the actions of other individuals
because § 3B1.1(a) ‘is an enhancement for organizers or leaders, not for
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important or essential figures.’” United States v. Torres, 53 F.3d 1129, 1142
(10th Cir. 1995) (quoting United States v. Roberts, 14 F.3d 502, 523 (10th Cir.
1993)). And we have clarified that “[t]his is not a particularly onerous showing:
‘The Guideline requires only a conclusion that the defendant supervised at least
one such participant; it does not require the court to identify specific examples.’”
United States v. Gallant, 537 F.3d 1202, 1241 (10th Cir. 2008) (quoting United
States v. Aptt, 354 F.3d 1269, 1287 (10th Cir. 2004)).
The problem here, however, is there were no findings upon which the
district court could have relied in imposing the enhancement. Although the court
discussed the § 3B1.1 factors and made factual findings during the initial
sentencing hearing, at resentencing the court vacated all of its previous findings
except those regarding drug quantity. The court did not make any new findings
on Banks’s role as a leader or organizer in the conspiracy, nor did it adopt its
findings from the previous sentencing hearing.
Accordingly, on remand the district court should make factual findings on
Banks’s role (if any) as a leader or organizer based on the 3B1.1 factors and
resentence him accordingly.
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III. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM Banks’s convictions but VACATE
his sentence and REMAND for resentencing.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Timothy M. Tymkovich
Chief Judge
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