United States v. Clay

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v. No. 95-5933
ROY LEE CLAY,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.
William M. Nickerson, District Judge.
(CR-92-399-WMN)
Submitted: January 14, 1997
Decided: February 7, 1997
Before HAMILTON and LUTTIG, Circuit Judges, and
BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.
_________________________________________________________________
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
_________________________________________________________________
COUNSEL
Barbara Gold, Baltimore, Maryland; Philip Howard Gold, Ellicott
City, Maryland, for Appellant. Lynne A. Battaglia, United States
Attorney, Richard C. Kay, Assistant United States Attorney, Balti-
more, Maryland, for Appellee.
_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).
_________________________________________________________________
OPINION
PER CURIAM:
Roy Lee Clay ("Clay") pled guilty to one count of possession with
intent to distribute heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)
(1994). On appeal, Clay contends that the district court erred in deny-
ing his motion to suppress and that the indictment violated the Double
Jeopardy Clause. We affirm.*
Clay challenges the district court's denial of his motion to suppress
evidence on two grounds. We review the district court's legal conclu-
sions in denying the motion to suppress de novo and the court's fac-
tual findings for clear error. United States v. Han, 74 F.3d 537, 540
(4th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 64 U.S.L.W. 3807 (U.S. June
3, 1996) (No. 95-8891).
Clay first contends that the district court's factual finding that Ken-
nedy Oratokhai ("Oratokhai") received a shipment of heroin on May
29, 1991, was clearly erroneous. FBI Agent Johnston testified that
Oratokhai was under surveillance using PEN registers, clone beepers,
_________________________________________________________________
*The district court relied on United States v. Peak, 992 F.2d 39 (4th
Cir. 1993), to grant Clay's motion under 28 U.S.C.§ 2255 (1994),
amended by Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub.
L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel
for failing to raise the issues discussed herein in a previous direct appeal.
We note that the court's reliance on Peak was misplaced given that Clay
requested and already was afforded a direct appeal from his conviction.
See United States v. Clay, No. 93-5628 (4th Cir. Mar. 25, 1994) (unpub-
lished). Any error was harmless, however, because even if we remanded
the case to the district court for it to consider Clay's ineffective assis-
tance claim on the merits, Clay would not be able to establish that there
was a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's errors, he would not
have pled guilty and would have insisted on going to trial. See Hill v.
Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 58-59 (1985).
2
and informants. Police had identified two pages from Oratokhai's her-
oin supplier on May 29--one from Philadelphia and one from Wash-
ington, D.C.--suggesting that the supplier had arrived near Ora-
tokhai's residence. It is reasonable to believe, therefore, that the sup-
plier contacted Oratokhai to deliver a shipment of heroin to him. We
therefore find that the record contains sufficient evidence to support
the district court's finding.
Clay also asserts that officers did not have probable cause to stop
and arrest him. Given the totality of the circumstances, see Illinois v.
Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 230-31 (1983), however, a substantial basis sup-
ported the district court's conclusion that probable cause existed
before officers stopped Clay's vehicle. Agent Johnston testified that
a reliable informant told police that Clay was one of Oratokhai's main
customers and that Clay picked up a shipment of heroin from Ora-
tokhai in February 1991. Further, Agent Johnston suspected that Ora-
tokhai had received a heroin shipment on May 29 after identifying his
supplier's number twice on the clone beeper. On May 30, officers rec-
ognized Clay's number on the Oratokhai clone beeper, and Clay vis-
ited Oratokhai that day. Any information Agent Johnston had
regarding Clay's activities may be imputed to the arresting officers
under the aggregate theory adopted by the Supreme Court in United
States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 233 (1985). Given the totality of the
circumstances, we find that the officers had probable cause to stop
and arrest Clay. Finally, because Clay's arrest occurred immediately
after officers discovered heroin in his shoes, the search may be
deemed incident to the arrest. See United States v. Miller, 925 F.2d
695, 698 (4th Cir. 1991) (citing Rawlings v. Kentucky, 448 U.S. 98,
111 (1980)). The denial of the motion to suppress therefore was
proper.
Finally, Clay contends that his indictment for possession with
intent to distribute heroin violates the Double Jeopardy Clause. Clay's
indictment for possession after he was acquitted of conspiring to dis-
tribute heroin is not barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause because
"conspiracy to commit an offense and the offense itself . . . are sepa-
rate offenses for double jeopardy purposes." United States v. Felix,
503 U.S. 378, 390-91 (1992); United States v. Ambers, 85 F.3d 173,
178 (4th Cir. 1996) (noting that conspiracy is a distinct crime from
overt acts that support it and citing Felix, 503 U.S. at 389-92).
3
Accordingly, we affirm Clay's conviction. We dispense with oral
argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately pres-
ented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
4