United States v. Ingram

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. BRANDON LASHON INGRAM,a/k/a Brandon Lashun Ingram,a/k/a Little B, a/k/a B, Defendant - Appellant.

No. 12-4896

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Argued: December 12, 2013

Decided: February 19, 2014

UNPUBLISHED

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. W. Earl Britt, Senior District Judge. (5:12-cr-00020-BR-1)

Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and DIAZ and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

ARGUED: Walter Hoytt Paramore, III, THE LAW OFFICES OF W.H. PARAMORE, III, P.C., Jacksonville, North Carolina, for Appellant. Joshua L. Rogers, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Thomas G. Walker, United States Attorney, Jennifer P. May-Parker, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:

Appellant Brandon Lashon Ingram was found guilty of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine base and cocaine. Ingram now challenges his conviction on evidentiary grounds, contends that the district court should have granted his pro se motion to dismiss his attorney, requests a new trial due to ineffective assistance of counsel, and argues that his sentence is unreasonable. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court's decisions and decline to grant Ingram's request for a new trial.

I.

On January 24, 2012, Ingram was charged in a six-count indictment with knowingly and intentionally conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute at least 280 grams of cocaine base (crack cocaine) and a quantity of cocaine from September 2009 to December 2011 in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846 (Count One); using and carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Count Two); knowingly and intentionally distributing cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (Counts Three through Five); and knowingly and intentionally distributing crack cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (Count Six).

On four occasions in November and December 2011, confidential informant Britt Jaynes made controlled purchases of cocaine and crack cocaine from Ingram. These purchases were the bases for Counts Three through Six. Officers arrested Ingram at a residence on January 6, 2012. They surrounded the home, which had many people inside, and used a public address system to order Ingram to exit the building. Detective Jeff Wenhart of the Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, Police Department testified that he could see Ingram running around inside the house, which was filled with marijuana smoke. After Ingram surrendered, officers searched the home and found baggies, marijuana blunts, a gun, and a digital scale. They also saw evidence that someone had flushed drugs down the toilet. On Ingram's person, officers found a plastic baggie, $100 in cash, and a folded one-dollar bill with cocaine inside.

Following his arrest, Ingram asked why he had been arrested. Officer Brett Walsh told him that he was arrested due to his involvement in a drug conspiracy. Ingram replied, "You know, it's not me. I am not a big time guy. I am not big time. You got the wrong guy. I am not the big dealer. . . . You know, I am just a quarter man," or a small-time drug dealer. Later, he told Detective Wenhart, "You all are making me out bigger than I am. I am not the big guy you think I am." Although Detective Wenhart testified that he read Ingram his Mirandarights prior to interviewing him at the police station, the record is unclear as to whether anyone informed Ingram of his Miranda rights prior to his earlier conversation with Officer Walsh. In response to a question from Ingram's attorney, Officer Walsh testified that Ingram initiated their exchange.

On May 10, 2012, the government filed a notice of intent to use evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts. In the notice, the government announced its intention to present evidence of a December 22, 2005, incident in which Ingram brandished a firearm during an encounter with United States Marshals, who later found him in possession of 1.5 grams of crack cocaine and three grams of marijuana. A footnote in the notice also mentioned the following four incidents and identified them as evidence that the government planned to introduce at trial. First, during an attempt to evade Fuquay-Varina police officers on June 3, 2010, Ingram ran away on foot after driving his vehicle onto a deadend street. Second, on June 19, 2010, Ingram crashed his car into a tree and ran away on foot while he fled from Holly Springs, North Carolina, police officers. Police officers later found cocaine, marijuana, a digital scale, and a gun in his vehicle. Third, while fleeing from state law enforcement officials on February 24, 2011, Ingram drove over 100 miles per hour in a zone with a thirty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit and struck a law enforcement vehicle. An officer found $2,857 incash in Ingram's pocket after officials apprehended him.¹ Fourth, when co-conspirator Steven Dennis warned Ingram not to carry scales, drugs, and a firearm in his car, Ingram replied, "[I]t does not matter, I just run from the police anyway."² On May 25, 2012, the government also filed a motion for an order to disclose Ingram's tax returns at trial, arguing that the tax returns showed a discrepancy between Ingram's reported income and his expenditures for cars, guns, and drugs.

The district court issued its rulings regarding the notice of intent to use evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts and the motion for an order to disclose Ingram's tax returns on June 4, 2012. The court excluded the December 22, 2005, arrest because it fell outside the conspiracy's time frame—September 2009 to December 2011—but permitted the government to admit the incidents that fell within the time period of the conspiracy. The court also allowed the government to admit evidence of Ingram's tax returns from 2009 and later.

Ingram's trial took place from June 5 to June 8, 2012. The government's case included testimony from three co-conspirators:Mario Jones, Terrill Owens, and Dennis. Jones began dealing crack cocaine in 2006 or 2007 in Fuquay-Varina and engaged in three drug deals with Ingram, at least one of which took place at the home of Kino Wooten. Jones also witnessed Ingram selling drugs to others at least ten times. Owens met Ingram at Wooten's home in 2010, when Owens, Wooten, and Bruce Douglas each purchased five grams of crack cocaine from Ingram. In subsequent drug deals, Owens purchased twenty-eight grams of crack cocaine from Ingram, and Owens and Douglas each purchased fourteen grams of crack cocaine from Ingram. Owens testified that, during the latter deal, Ingram was carrying a firearm. Owens also witnessed Ingram selling drugs on at least two other occasions. Dennis met Ingram at Wooten's home in late 2009, when Ingram purchased one gram of cocaine from Dennis. In late 2009 or 2010, Dennis accompanied Ingram to a Wal-Mart, where Ingram sold a customer 3.5 grams of crack cocaine. Dennis testified that, in July 2010, Ingram brandished a firearm and stole 4.5 ounces of crack cocaine from him. Dennis saw Ingram sell crack cocaine about ten times—usually at Wooten's home—and told law enforcement officials that Ingram was "supplying the vast majority of people in Fuquay-Varina." Based on Jones's, Owens's, and Dennis's testimonies alone, Detective Wenhart calculated that Ingram had distributed and possessed with theintent to distribute 295 grams of crack cocaine and one gram of powder cocaine.

The government's case also referred to the following two incidents. On January 27, 2010, officers arrived to assist Ingram after he was shot in the hip while driving his vehicle. As Officer Randall Packard of the Durham, North Carolina, Police Department helped Ingram, he noticed several bags of drugs in the car, containing marijuana, cocaine, and crack cocaine. A search also revealed a folded one-dollar bill containing cocaine, a marijuana blunt, a digital scale, and $1,670.03 in cash. On September 2, 2011, Officer Mitchell Ham of the Holly Springs Police Department pulled over Ingram and smelled marijuana. Ham arrested Ingram and searched the vehicle. During the search, Ham found a marijuana blunt, a scale containing cocaine residue, 0.1 grams of cocaine, a one-dollar bill with white powder on it, two cellular telephones, and $238 in cash.

After the government rested, Ingram moved for acquittal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29(a). The district court denied Ingram's motion. The jury then returned a verdict of guilty on Count One and Counts Three through Six and a verdict of not guilty on Count Two. On August 8, 2012, Ingram filed a pro se motion to dismiss his attorney. The districtcourt held a hearing on the motion on September 4, 2012, and denied Ingram's motion.

In the Presentence Investigation Report (PSR), a probation officer assigned Ingram a base offense level of 32 because he was responsible for the cocaine equivalent of at least 1000 kilograms but less than 3000 kilograms of marijuana. To this base offense level, the probation officer added two levels for possession of a firearm, two levels for use of violence or making a credible threat to use violence, two levels for maintaining premises for the purpose of manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance, and two levels for recklessly creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person in the course of fleeing from law enforcement officials. These additions brought Ingram's adjusted offense level to 40. Ingram's career offender status placed him in criminal history category VI, resulting in a Sentencing Guidelines range of 360 months' to life imprisonment for Count One...