United States v. Roane, Criminal No. 3:92cr68 (DJN)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. JAMES H. ROANE, JR., Defendant.

Criminal No. 3:92cr68 (DJN)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA Richmond Division

October 29, 2020

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Convicted serial killer James H. Roane, Jr. ("Defendant" or "Roane") comes before the Court with a Motion for Imposition of a Reduced Sentence Pursuant to Section 404 of the First Step Act (ECF No. 17) in a last ditch effort to avoid the just punishment imposed on him for his role in killing multiple people in furtherance of his drug enterprise. Defendant has challenged his convictions and sentences on numerous occasions throughout the years. But each time they survived appellate review. Defendant now seeks to latch onto laws passed to reduce the sentencing disparities between non-violent crack and powder cocaine offenses as a vehicle to reduce his sentences imposed for multiple drug-related murders. But those murders, and the statute under which a jury convicted Defendant for them, have nothing to do with the penalties for drug quantities that the First Step Act addressed. Because the First Step Act does not cover the offenses for which a jury convicted Defendant, the Court will deny his Motion.

I. BACKGROUND¹

A. Factual Background

Defendant, along with Richard Tipton ("Tipton") and Cory Johnson ("Johnson")(collectively, the "partners"), ran a substantial drug-trafficking conspiracy that lasted from 1989 through July of 1992. Roane, 378 F.3d at 389. The partners in the conspiracy obtained wholesale quantities of powder cocaine from suppliers in New York City, converted it into crack cocaine, divided it among themselves and then distributed it through a network of 30-40 street level dealers. Id. at 389-90. Typically, the partners took two-thirds of the proceeds realized from the street-level sales of their product. Id. at 390.

Over a short time in early 1992, the partners took part, in some form, in the murders of ten persons in the Richmond area. Id. These murders occurred "in relation to their drug-trafficking operation and either because their victims were suspected of treachery or other misfeasance, or because they were competitors in the drug trade, or because they had personally offended one of the 'partners.'" Id. The murders described below directly implicated Defendant.

On January 4, 1992, Roane and Tipton drove Douglas Talley, an underling in disfavor for mishandling a drug transaction, to the south side of Richmond. Id. Roane grabbed Talley and Tipton stabbed him repeatedly for three to five minutes. Id. Talley died from eighty-four stab wounds to his head, neck and upper body. Id.

On January 13, 1992, Roane and Tipton went to the apartment of Douglas Moody, a suspected rival in their drug-trafficking area, and Tipton shot Moody twice in the back. Id. Roane chased down the fleeing Moody and stabbed him eighteen times, killing him. Id.

On January 14, 1992, Roane and Johnson located Peyton Johnson, another rival drug dealer, at a tavern. Id. Shortly after Roane left the tavern, Cory Johnson entered and fatally shot Peyton Johnson. Id.

On January 29, 1992, Roane pulled his car around the corner of an alley, got out and shotLouis Johnson, who had threatened one of the partners while acting as a bodyguard for a rival drug dealer. Id. Roane first shot Louis Johnson, and then Cory Johnson and Lance Thomas ("Thomas") got out of Roane's car and shot Louis Johnson again. Id. Louis Johnson died from these gunshot wounds. Id.

On February 1, 1992, Roane, Johnson and Thomas went to the apartment of Torrick Brown, who had given Roane trouble. Id. After the three men knocked on the apartment door, Brown's half-sister opened the door and summoned Brown. Id. The three men opened fire with semiautomatic weapons, killing Brown and critically wounding his half-sister. Id.

B. Verdict and Sentencing

In January and February of 1993, United States District Judge James R. Spencer presided over the trial of Defendant and his co-conspirators. Defendant² faced capital murder charges for Murder in Furtherance of a Continuing Criminal Enterprise ("CCE") under 21 U.S.C. § 848(e)(1)(A) for three of these killings — Moody (Count Five), Peyton Johnson (Count Eight) and Louis Johnson (Count Eleven) (collectively, the "Capital Murder Counts" or "Capital Murder Convictions"). Id. at 391; (Second Superseding Indictment ("Indictment") (Dkt. No. 115) at 7-10). On February 3, 1993, the jury convicted him of all three Capital Murder Counts. 378 F.3d at 391. The jury also convicted Defendant of participating in a Conspiracy to Possess Cocaine Base with the Intent to Distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Count One), and engaging in a CCE, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(a) (Count Two). Id.; (Indictment at 1-6.) Additionally, the jury convicted Defendant of five counts of Committing Acts of Violence in Aid of Racketeering ("VICAR"), in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959 (Counts Seven, Ten, Thirteen, Fourteen, Sixteen), and four counts of Using a Firearm in Relation to a Crime of Violence or aDrug Trafficking Offense, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Counts Six, Nine, Twelve, Fifteen). 378 F.3d at 392; (Indictment at 8-13). Finally, the jury convicted Defendant of one count of Possession of Cocaine Base with the Intent to Distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (Count Thirty-Two (the "Drug Distribution Count" or the "Drug Distribution Conviction")). 378 F.3d at 392; (Indictment at 21). Defendant's First Step Act Motion pertains only to the Capital Murder Counts and the Drug Distribution Count.

On February 16, 1993, following a penalty hearing on the Capital Murder Counts, the jury recommended that Defendant be sentenced to death for the murder of Moody. 378 F.3d at 392. On June 1, 1993, pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 848(1), the Court sentenced Roane to death for Count Five. Id. Relevant here, the Court also sentenced Defendant to life imprisonment for each of the Capital Murder Convictions that he did not receive a death sentence — Counts Eight and Eleven. Id. Defendant also received a life imprisonment sentence for the CCE conviction in Count Two, life sentences for Counts Seven, Ten, Thirteen and Fourteen, and a forty-year term of imprisonment on Count Thirty-Two, the Drug Distribution Count, all to run concurrently with the other sentences imposed. Id.; (Dkt. No. 594).^{3 4}

The Court refused to order the execution on the grounds that Congress had neither directly authorized the means to carry out the death sentences, nor properly delegated to the Attorney General the authority to issue the implementing regulations that the Government invoked. Id. As a result, the Court stayed the execution of the death sentences until such time as Congress had authorized the means of execution. Id.

C. Post-Trial Proceedings

The defendants appealed their convictions and sentences and the Government cross-appealed the stay of the death sentences. Id. at 392. In a lengthy opinion, the Fourth Circuit analyzed and disposed of approximately sixty issues, including challenges by the defendants to aspects of the jury-selection process and both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial. Tipton, 90 F.3d 861. The Fourth Circuit rejected nearly all of the claims, affirming the convictions and sentences of all of the defendants, except that it vacated on double jeopardy grounds the drug conspiracy convictions under 21 U.S.C. § 846, finding that the CCE convictions in Count Twoprecluded sentences for the drug conspiracy offenses. Id. at 903. Additionally, the Fourth Circuit vacated the stay of the death sentences and remanded for the executions to proceed in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Attorney General. Id. at 901-03.

Defendant continued to press his appeals. On June 1, 1998, Defendant filed a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to vacate and set aside his sentences. Roane, 378 F.3d at 392. Chief among his habeas claims, Defendant advanced an actual innocence claim with respect to the Moody murder and argued that his trial attorney had rendered ineffective assistance of counsel in his investigation and defense of the Moody murder charges. Id. at 393. The district court held an evidentiary hearing on the habeas claims before issuing an opinion denying Defendant's actual innocence claim, but granting his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Id. Consequently, the district court vacated Defendant's convictions on the Moody murder charges — Counts Five (Murder in Furtherance of CCE), Six (Use of a Firearm in Relation to Crime of Violence or Drug Trafficking Crime) and Seven (VICAR). Id. at 394. The Government appealed the ineffective assistance of counsel ruling and Defendant cross-appealed certain claims resolved against him. Id. Notably, Defendant did not appeal the denial of his actual innocence claim. Id. at 394 n.3.

The Fourth Circuit ruled against Defendant on all accounts. Specifically, the court affirmed on all of the grounds raised by Defendant and reversed the grant of relief based on ineffective assistance of counsel. Id. at 408-12. In so ruling, it reversed the vacatur of Defendant's convictions on Counts Five, Six and Seven. Id. at 412.

In 2009, Defendant filed an application with the Fourth Circuit to file a successive § 2255 petition on actual innocence grounds. The Fourth Circuit denied his request. In re James Roane, Jr., No. 09-8 (4th Cir.), ECF No. 24. On May 22, 2020, Defendant filed yet anotherapplication with the Fourth Circuit for a successive § 2255 petition pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019). The application remains pending, as the Fourth Circuit placed the case in abeyance pending its decision in United States v. Taylor. In re James Roane, Jr., No. 20-7 (4th Cir.), ECF Nos. 2, 18.⁵

D. Defendant's First Step Act Motion

On July 22, 2020, Defendant filed the instant motion under § 404 of the First Step Act, asking the Court to reduce his sentences for the Capital Murder...