Bradley v. United States

BENJAMIN EDWARD-HENRY BRADLEY, Movant, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent.

No. 3:19-cv-00643

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION

March 17, 2020

Judge Trauger

MEMORANDUM

Pending before the court is pro se movant Benjamin Edward-Henry Bradley's motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate, set aside, or correct a sentence previously imposed by this court. (Doc. No. 1). See United States v. Bradley, No. 3:15-cr-00037-2 (M.D. Tenn.) [hereinafter cited as "Crim. Doc. No. ___"]. The government filed a response to the motion, urging that none of Bradley's claims present a valid basis for post-conviction relief. (Doc. No. 8). Bradley filed a reply in response to the government's response. (Doc. No. 9). For the following reasons, the movant's motion will be denied, and this action will be dismissed.

I. Background

In a previous criminal case in this court, a wiretap investigation revealed that, no later than November 2012 and until March 11, 2015, Benjamin Bradley was at the top of a distribution chain that sent tens of thousands of diverted opioid pills from the Detroit area to the Nashville area. On the basis of this conduct, Bradley was indicted, along with numerous co-defendants, in March 2015 on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute Schedule II controlled substances (oxycodone and oxymorphone pills) in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Count One) and money laundering (Count Two) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). (Crim. Doc. No. 1202).

At Bradley's arraignment, attorney James E. Mackler was appointed to represent him. (Crim. Doc. No. 204). Following his appointment, Mr. Mackler filed a motion to suppress the wiretap evidence in this case (Crim. Doc. No. 232), which the court denied (Crim. Doc. Nos. 270 and 271). Mr. Mackler also filed a motion to review the detention order that had been entered in Detroit (Crim. Doc. No. 289), which the court also denied (Crim. Doc. No. 298).

Before pleading guilty, Bradley wrote a letter to the Honorable Todd. J. Campbell asking whether there were "any other sentences available besides imprisonment," such as "[l]ifetime supervised release, 20 years halfway house, [or] 20 years house arrest." (Crim. Doc. No. 397). As part of that letter, he said, "I know all crimes deserve just punishment and I accept full responsibility for my actions. . . . I know this is nobody['s] fault but my own and its [sic] no such thing as doing just a 'little bit of wrong.'" (Id. at PageID# 1194). Bradley said that he now realized he had been "chasing the illusion of building this perfect life off [i]ll-gotten gain," and was hoping to make amends to his "victims." (Id. at PageID# 1195). He said he was writing "to see why its [sic] taking so long since I admitted my guilt the day I was picked up. I knew in my heart my actions was [sic] wrong and I felt it is righteous for me to accept my responsibility and seek mercy and grace from the Lord." (Id.)

Bradley pleaded guilty without a plea agreement to both counts in the indictment in June 2016 before Judge Campbell. (Crim. Doc. No. 478). At the plea hearing, Judge Campbell advised Bradley about the elements of the drug conspiracy charged in Count One:

For you to be convicted of that, the government would have to prove to a jury, first of all, the elements of a conspiracy. And I need to inform you a conspiracy is a crime of two or more persons to conspire or agree to commit a drug crime even if they never actually achieve their goal. It is a kind of criminal partnership. And the government would have to prove first that two or more persons conspired or agreed to the object of the conspiracy, which in this instance is a violation of Title 21, Section 841, regarding Oxycodone and Oxymorphone.

And secondly, that you knowingly and voluntarily joined the conspiracy.

Now, the object of the conspiracy is Section 841, which is possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. And the elements of that offense arethat a defendant knowingly or intentionally possessed the controlled substance set out in the indictment. And here again it is Oxycodone and Oxymorphone.

And second, you intended to distribute those controlled substances.

(Crim. Doc. No. 1027 at PageID# 4015-16).

Bradley raised no questions about these elements and confirmed that he "underst[ood] the nature, the meaning, and the cause of the charge against [him]." (Id. at PageID# 4018). He also confirmed that Mr. Mackler had discussed with him both "what the government would have to prove for [him] to be found guilty of Count One and Two," and "any possible defenses that [he] might have." (Id.) Bradley confirmed that he was satisfied with Mr. Mackler's representation. (Id.) After Judge Campbell further reviewed Bradley's rights with him, Bradley confirmed that he "still want[ed] to plead guilty." (Id. at PageID# 4021).

The government then put on a statement of facts through DEA Special Agent Andy Green. (Id. at PageID# 4023-26). That statement of facts repeated the charging language from the indictment and added specific details about Bradley's role in the crimes charged. Agent Green noted that Bradley "was frequently intercepted over [several of the Target Telephones] communicating in furtherance of drug trafficking and money laundering." (Id. at PageID# 4025). Agent Green added that Bradley "typically collected prescription pills from various sources in the Detroit area," then, "after storing those pills in various locations, delivered them to Donald Buchanan, often by having coconspirators, including Felicia Jones and Eric McEwen drive to meet Buchanan either in the Cincinnati area or the Nashville area." (Id.)

Bradley disputed the claim that he had "used McEwen to deliver pills to Buchanan," but otherwise did not dispute the statement of facts. (Id. at 4026-27). Bradley then confirmed that he was "offering to plead guilty to Counts One and Two because [he is] in fact guilty as charged in the indictment," and the court accepted his guilty plea after finding it was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. (Id. at PageID# 4027-28).

Nearly eight months passed between Bradley's guilty plea and sentencing hearing. Following the retirement of Judge Campbell, the case was reassigned to the undersigned. In preparation for the sentencing hearing, the U.S. Probation Office prepared a Presentence Investigation Report ("PSR"), which calculated Bradley's base offense level to be 36. (See Oct. 20, 2016 PSR, ¶ 22). That offense level was based largely on cooperator statements—which were corroborated by wiretap interceptions—showing that Bradley received hundreds of pills a day for years on end. The PSR did not include an enhancement for possession of a firearm under Section 2D1.1(b)(1) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines ("USSG"). The government objected to the absence of the firearm enhancement in the PSR, arguing that the proof at the sentencing hearing would show that Bradley stored both guns and drugs at his parents' home (Oct. 20, 2016 PSR, Addendum pp. 1-2; Crim. Doc. No. 852 at PageID# 2702-04) and that the weapons were not for any legitimate purpose but, rather, were to protect some of Bradley's drugs and drug proceeds (Crim. Doc. No. 852 at PageID# 2704).

Prior to the sentencing hearing, Mr. Mackler filed a sentencing memorandum on Bradley's behalf, emphasizing that Bradley "has taken full responsibility for his actions," and that he "accepted responsibility from the moment he was arrested." (Crim. Doc. No. 842 at PageID# 2612, 2635).

The sentencing hearing was held on February 1, 2017. At the all-day sentencing hearing, the court heard testimony from six witnesses, including three of Bradley's co-conspirators. (Crim. Doc. No. 919). Pamela O'Neal testified that she was introduced to Bradley through her sister and began working for him by taking patients to the doctor to pick up prescription pills. (Id. at PageID# 3234-38). Shortly after O'Neal's long-time boyfriend died, she moved into a house that Bradley owned on Curtis Street in Detroit, where she was allowed to live rent-free in exchange for letting people drop off pills. (Id. at PageID# 3238-41). Several different people dropped off pills throughout the day and night, with an average of five-to-ten bags per day arriving at O'Neal'shouse, with each bag typically containing 60 or 90 pills. (Id. at PageID# 3241-42). At Bradley's direction, O'Neal would collect and organize the pills and deliver them to others, including Felicia Jones. (Id. at PageID# 3243-45).

The court also heard recordings of wiretap interceptions corroborating O'Neal's testimony. For example, the court heard a recording of a call from January 30, 2015, in which Felicia Jones told Bradley that she had received 345 Oxymorphone pills and 180 Oxycodone pills that day. (Id. at PageID# 3201-02). The court also heard testimony about individual arrests including, for example, (1) Bobby Robertson's arrest on December 5, 2014, when he was found with over 1,000 Oxymorphone pills that he had just received from Bradley (which were in addition to the pills that Bradley had supplied to Buchanan); and (2) Jones's March 12, 2015 arrest, when she was found with 770 Oxymorphone pills that she was about to deliver to Buchanan (while also having 304 more Oxymorphone pills in her house).

After considering the evidence and hearing argument from the parties on the proper calculation of the drug quantity, the court adopted the calculations in the PSR. (Id. at PageID# 3368-87). As the court explained, "the quantity reflected in the presentence report is about the best estimate we can get. It's on the very low level, I believe. It's a very conservative estimate." (Id. at PageID# 3387). Thus, "the drug quantity reflected in the presentence report will govern the guidelines." (Id.)

With regard to the firearm enhancement, the government introduced evidence about the execution of a search warrant at Bradley's parents'...