Shirani v. State

ARDESHIR SHAWN SHIRANI v. STATE OF MARYLAND

No. 2147

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2019

September 8, 2020

Circuit Court for Montgomery County

Case No. 1355508C

UNREPORTED

Fader, C.J. Graeff, Harrell, Glenn T., Jr. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Harrell, J.

*This is an unreported opinion, and it may not be cited in any paper, brief, motion, or other document filed in this Court or any other Maryland Court as either precedent within the rule of stare decisis or as persuasive authority. Md. Rule 1-104.

Following a bench trial in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Ardeshir Shirani, appellant, was convicted of possession of a large amount of opium, importing opium into the State of Maryland, and possession with intent to distribute opium. The court sentenced Shirani to a total term of 40 years imprisonment, with all but five years suspended. In this appeal, Shirani presents two questions for our review:

1. Was the evidence adduced at trial sufficient to sustain the convictions?

2. Did the trial court err in admitting into evidence a package of opium that had been hidden in a picture frame, which had been packaged and delivered to Shirani?

For reasons to follow, we hold that the evidence was sufficient to sustain Shirani's convictions. We hold also that the trial court did not err in admitting the package of opium into evidence. Accordingly, we affirm the judgments of the circuit court.

BACKGROUND

Shirani was arrested and charged with several drug-related offenses after he accepted delivery of a package containing opium. Shirani waived his right to a jury trial.

At the bench trial, Michael Hughes, an officer with the United States Customs and Border Protection, testified that, in February of 2019, he was working at the Federal Express consignment hub in Memphis, Tennessee, when he discovered "anomalies" in a package that had been delivered to the facility. The package had been sent by "Abd Alrahman WSO" from "Erbil, Iraq" and was addressed to "Shawn Shirwani" at "7732 Warbler Ln. Drwood, MD 20855." Officer Hughes testified that he opened the package and discovered two "wood-like paintings." Hidden inside of the paintings, Officer Hughesdiscovered opium. The package was ultimately resealed and sent to the Maryland State Police.

Maryland State Police Officer Jason Whetstone testified that, on 6 February 2019, he received the package and, posing as a Federal Express delivery driver, attempted a controlled delivery to 7732 Warbler Lane in Derwood, Maryland. Officer Whetstone knocked on the door, but no one answered. He attached a delivery notice to the front door and left the premises. The delivery notice was addressed to "Shawn Shirwani" and included Officer Whetstone's cell phone number.

Officer Whetstone testified further that, approximately one hour later, he received a call from someone identifying himself as "Shawn Shirwani." According to Officer Whetstone, the caller stated that he "didn't remember ordering a parcel", but "wasn't sure" of that. When Officer Whetstone told the caller that he would return the package to the sender, the caller stated, "no, no, no," and asked that the package be redelivered. After discussing possible delivery times and dates with the caller, Officer Whetstone agreed to deliver the package to 7732 Warbler Lane on 8 February 2019.

On the morning of February 8th, Officer Whetstone, again posing as a delivery driver, went to 7732 Warbler Lane to deliver the package. He was met at the front door by a man whom Officer Whetstone identified later as the appellant. In speaking with Officer Whetstone, Shirani identified himself as "Shawn Shirani." Shirani acknowledged also that he had spoken to Officer Whetstone on the phone "a few times." After the officer gave the package to Shirani, Shirani "began to inspect the parcel." According to Officer Whetstone,Shirani did not "inspect the label itself to see where it was coming or going to," but rather "was rolling the parcel over and inspecting it." Shirani stated again that he did not "remember ordering anything," but when Officer Whetstone offered to take the package back, Shirani said: "No, no, no. I'll keep it and look into it myself."

Montgomery County Police Detective Joseph New testified that he was part of the task force conducting the controlled delivery of the package. Approximately ten minutes after Officer Whetstone delivered the package to Shirani, New obtained search warrants for 7732 Warbler Lane and another address associated with Shirani, 12139 Brittania Circle in Germantown. He drove to Warbler Lane to execute the warrant. Upon entering the premises, Detective New observed Shirani sitting in the kitchen. During the search, Detective New recovered Shirani's cell phone. A subsequent search of the phone revealed that Shirani had in excess of 9,000 contacts; that one of his contacts was located in Iraq; and that he was associated with three additional phone numbers. Detective New recovered also approximately $5,000.00 in cash from Shirani's pants pocket. New retained the package and submitted it to the Montgomery County Crime Lab for analysis. On the outside of the package, someone had written "RETRN TO THE SENDR." Officer Whetstone had noted that that writing was not present when the package was delivered to Shirani.

Detective New spoke with Shirani while at the Warbler Lane address. Shirani stated that his name was "Aredeshir Shawn Shirani" and that he lived at 12139 Brittania Circle in Germantown. When New asked him "if he was expecting the box," Shirani stated thathe was not. Shirani added that he had "talked to a FedEx driver" and that they had "agreed to meet at the Warbler Lane address" that morning. When Detective New asked Shirani "why he took the box," he responded, "just to check it out." Shirani also stated that he "didn't have a chance to check it out" and that he "was going to send it back to the sender." Detective New found $20,000.00 in cash in a safe located in a basement garage at 12139 Brittania Circle. In that same location, Detective New discovered "a digital scale which contained some type of residue on top of the scale." New testified that he accessed later several law enforcement and other databases in an effort to find the sender of the package in Erbil, Iraq, but was unsuccessful.

Leah King, a forensic chemist with the Montgomery County Police Department, testified that she was involved in the testing of the contents of the package that had been delivered to Shirani. She stated that the package contained approximately 1607.93 grams of opium. The results of a test of the residue found on the scale recovered from the basement garage of Shirani's home were positive "for codeine, which is a controlled dangerous substance, and papaverine, which is one of the components of opium." Ms. King could not opine, however, that the residue was, in fact, opium.

Montgomery County Police Detective Patrick Skiba testified as an expert in the area of narcotics trafficking and parcel interdiction. He testified that certain misspellings on the address label of the package, such as "Shirani" being spelled with a "W" and "Derwood" being spelled "Drwood," were "red flags" and that individuals who ship narcotics sometimes use alternate names and addresses to avoid detection. As for the fact that"RETRN TO THE SENDR" had been written on the package, Detective Skiba testified that he had "seen that before." He explained that individuals do that because "they know there's some kind of contraband in there," but they "just want to be able to deny it." Detective Skiba testified that the $25,000.00 in cash found in Shirani's possession was significant because "drug dealing is a cash business" and drug dealers "usually have large quantities of cash on them." He opined that the "street value" of the opium in the package was approximately $40,000.00.

For the defense, Christian Wimbo, Shirani's accountant, testified that Shirani frequently used cash in his business. Mr. Wimbo opined also that Shirani was a "good guy" and "very good person."

Massoud Heidary testified that he had done some construction work for Shirani and that he had asked Shirani to pay him in cash. He added also that, in September of 2018, he and Shirani went to New York to be part of a protest against the Iranian government.

Carl Milligan, a retired lieutenant from the Prince George's County Police Department, testified for the defense that he had reviewed the police investigation in Shirani's case and "noted two or three things that [he] would have done a little differently." Milligan's critique included that he would have obtained records indicating the amount of prior deliveries to Warbler Lane and any possible deliveries to Britannia Circle. He testified also that he would have gotten more information about calls to and from Shirani's cell phone and that he would have taken more pictures during the execution of the search warrants.

Manouchear Katki testified that he had known Shirani for more than 23 years. Shirani had a reputation as an honest person. Mr. Katki had purchased a car from Shirani and that he had paid mostly in cash.

Sema Mokhtari testified that she had known Shirani for 25 years and that the two had become friends in that time. To Mokhtari, Shirani was a "very trusty guy" and "honest."

Anireza Smiley testified that he met Shirani "around 20 years ago" and that Shirani was an "honest person" and "very good hearted." Mr. Smiley testified also that he too had purchased a car from Shirani and that Shirani would only accept cash.

Ardalan Shirani, appellant's 20-year-old son, testified that he had a brother who had passed away in 2018 from a drug overdose of fentanyl, morphine, and cocaine. His brother had lived in the family's home on Brittania Circle and that his room was in the basement next to the garage.

The last witness for the defense was appellant. He testified that he was from Iran originally, but had lived in...