US v. Casey Coley

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 8:09-cr-00405-DKC-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998689214].. [10-4958]

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Document: 60

Date Filed: 09/29/2011

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 10-4958

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
v.
CASEY COLEY,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt.
Deborah K. Chasanow, Chief District
Judge. (8:09-cr-00405-DKC-1)

Submitted:

September 21, 2011

Decided:

September 29, 2011

Before WILKINSON, GREGORY, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Gregory Stuart Smith, LAW OFFICES OF GREGORY S. SMITH,
Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Rod J. Rosenstein, United
States Attorney, Adam K. Ake, Assistant United States Attorney,
Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
A federal jury convicted Casey Coley of distribution
of benzylpiperazine (“BZP”), in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)
(2006); distribution of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C.
§ 841(a); and possession with intent to distribute marijuana, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a).

The district court sentenced

Coley to fifty-one months of imprisonment and he now appeals.
For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
Coley
exculpatory

first

evidence

argues
in

that

violation

the
of

its

Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963).
Brady violation de novo.

Government

withheld

obligations

under

We review an alleged

United States v. Caro, 597 F.3d 608,

616 (4th Cir. 2010).
“In Brady, the Supreme Court announced that the Due
Process

Clause

requires

the

government

to

disclose

‘evidence

favorable to an accused upon request . . . where the evidence is
material either to guilt or to punishment.’”
Brady,

373

U.S.

at

87).

In

order

to

Id. at 619 (citing
establish

a

Brady

violation, Coley must demonstrate that the evidence at issue is
favorable

to

him,

either

because

it

is

exculpatory

or

impeaching; the evidence was suppressed by the Government; and
he was prejudiced by that suppression.
U.S. 263, 281-82 (1999).

Strickler v. Greene, 527

Favorable evidence is material if the

defendant can demonstrate that there is a reasonable probability
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that,

Document: 60

had

the

Date Filed: 09/29/2011

evidence

been

Page: 3 of 6

disclosed,

proceeding would have been different.

the

outcome

of

the

Caro, 597 F.3d at 619.

We have thoroughly reviewed the record and conclude that Coley
has failed to “satisfy Brady’s requirement of showing that the
requested evidence would be favorable to him.”

Id. (internal

quotation marks, alteration, and citations omitted).
Coley next argues that the district court abused its
discretion

in

refusing

to

give

some

of

instructions on the defense of entrapment.

his

proposed

jury

“‘The decision to

give or not to give a jury instruction is reviewed for an abuse
of discretion.’”

United States v. Hurwitz, 459 F.3d 463, 474

(4th Cir. 2006) (quoting United States v. Moye, 454 F.3d 390,
398 (4th Cir. 2006) (en banc)).

“‘We review a jury instruction

to determine whether, taken as a whole, the instruction fairly
states the controlling law.’”

Id. (quoting Moye, 454 F.3d at

398).
Moreover, “[a] district court commits reversible error
in refusing to provide a proffered jury instruction only when
the

instruction

(1)

was

correct;

(2)

was

not

substantially

covered by the court’s charge to the jury; and (3) dealt with
some point in the trial so important, that failure to give the
requested instruction seriously impaired the defendant’s ability
to conduct his defense.”
366

(4th

Cir.),

cert.

United States v. Lighty, 616 F.3d 321,
denied,
3

131

S.

Ct.

846

(2010).

We

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conclude that Coley has failed to demonstrate that the district
court’s charge to the jury on entrapment did not fairly cover
his requested instructions.

Accordingly, the district court did

not abuse its discretion in refusing the requested instructions.
Coley also argues that the district court erred in
refusing his instruction defining reasonable doubt and that this
issue should be reviewed de novo.

Coley’s arguments, however,

are foreclosed by our binding precedent.
at 380.

See Lighty, 616 F.3d

As one panel of this court may not overrule another

panel, see Scotts Co. v. United Indus. Corp., 315 F.3d 264, 271
n.2 (4th Cir. 2002), Coley’s arguments must fail.
Coley next argues that the district court’s admission
of recordings of transactions between Coley and a confidential
informant

violated

his

Sixth

Amendment

rights.

“The

Sixth

Amendment to the United States Constitution . . . provides that
[i]n

all

criminal

prosecutions,

the

accused

shall

enjoy

the

right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”
Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S. Ct. 2527, 2531 (2009)
(internal

quotation

marks

and

citation

omitted).

The

Confrontation Clause “guarantees a defendant’s right to confront
those

‘who

bear

testimony’

against

him,”

and,

therefore,

a

witness’ testimony is “inadmissible unless the witness appears
at trial or, if the witness is unavailable, the defendant had a
prior

opportunity

for

cross-examination.”
4

Id.

(quoting

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Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 51, 54 (2004)) (internal
quotation marks omitted).
However, “[t]he [Confrontation] Clause . . . does not
bar the use of testimonial statements for purposes other than
establishing the truth of the matter asserted.”

Crawford, 541

U.S. at 59 n.9 (citing Tennessee v. Street, 471 U.S. 409, 414
(1985)).

Here, the district court correctly concluded that the

informant’s statements on the recordings were not admitted to
prove the truth of the matters asserted.

Rather, the statements

“were admissible to put [Coley’s] admissions on the tapes into
context,

making

the

admissions

intelligible

for

the

jury.”

United States v. Tolliver, 454 F.3d 660, 666 (4th Cir. 2006)
(finding

defendant’s

statements

in

recorded

transaction

with

informant admissible as admissions, and informant’s statements
admissible as not offered for their truth).
Coley’s

penultimate

argument

is

that

the

district

court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the charges in the
indictment related to BZP.

We review a district court’s denial

of a motion to dismiss an indictment de novo where the denial
depends only on a question of law.
560 F.3d 222, 224 (4th Cir. 2009).

United States v. Hatcher,
We have thoroughly reviewed

the record and the relevant legal authorities and conclude that
the district court did not err in denying Coley’s motion to
dismiss.
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Coley finally posits that the district court erred in
including

acquitted

Guidelines range.

conduct

in

calculating

the

advisory

However, as Coley’s argument is foreclosed by

United States v. Perry, 560 F.3d 246 (4th Cir.), cert. denied,
130 S. Ct. 177 (2009), it also must fail.

See Scotts, 315 F.3d

at 271 n.2.
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district
court.
legal
before

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
contentions
the

court

are

adequately

and

argument

presented

would

not

in
aid

the
the

materials
decisional

process.
AFFIRMED

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