US v. Vincent Myer

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 3:10-cr-00093-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998787803].. [11-4568, 11-4583]

Appeal: 11-4568

Document: 37

Date Filed: 02/14/2012

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 11-4568
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
VINCENT ANTA MYERS,
Defendant - Appellant.

No. 11-4583
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
VINCENT MYERS,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern
District of West Virginia, at Huntington.
Robert C. Chambers,
District Judge. (3:10-cr-00093-1; 3:01-cr-00099-1)
Submitted:

January 18, 2012

Decided:

Before NIEMEYER, MOTZ, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.

February 14, 2012

Appeal: 11-4568

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Date Filed: 02/14/2012

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Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Carl E. Hostler, PRIM LAW FIRM, PLLC, Hurricane, West Virginia,
for Appellant.
R. Booth Goodwin II, United States Attorney,
Joseph F. Adams, Assistant United States Attorney, Huntington,
West Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
In these consolidated appeals, Vincent Myers appeals
his

conviction

charges

(No.

and

forty-one-month

11-4568);

and

the

sentence

revocation

on
of

federal

his

drug

supervised

release from a prior federal sentence, and resulting thirty-sixmonth sentence (No. 11-4583).

Because Myers’ brief raises no

challenges to the supervised release revocation or sentence, he
has abandoned any such claims.

See United States v. Brooks, 524

F.3d 549, 556 n.11 (4th Cir. 2008).
district

court’s

judgment

in

No.

We therefore affirm the
11-4583,

and

proceed

to

consideration of the claims raised in No. 11-4568.
A jury convicted Myers of two counts of distributing
oxycodone, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (2006),* and the
district court imposed concurrent forty-one-month sentences of
imprisonment.

The

charges

stemmed

conducted by police in West Virginia.

from

controlled

buys

Myers challenges: (1) the

district court’s denial of his Fed. R. Crim. P. 29 motion for a
judgment of acquittal, (2) the district court’s denial of his
Fed.

R.

Crim.

P.

33

motion

propriety of the sentence.

for

a

new

trial,

and

(3)

the

We affirm.

We review de novo a district court’s decision to deny
a Rule 29 motion for a judgment of acquittal.
*

The jury acquitted Myers of a third count.

3

United States v.

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Hickman, 626 F.3d 756, 762-63 (4th Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 132
S. Ct. 469 (2011).

Where such a motion alleges insufficiency of

the evidence, we must sustain the jury’s verdict if, viewing the
evidence in the light most favorable to the government, “any
rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements
of

the

crime

beyond

a

reasonable

doubt.”

United

States

v.

Green, 599 F.3d 360, 367 (4th Cir.) (internal quotation marks
omitted), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct. 271, 340 (2010).

Because the

credibility of witnesses is properly assessed by the jury, we
may not make our “own credibility determinations but must assume
that the jury resolved all contradictions in testimony in favor
of the Government.”
572

(4th

Cir.)

United States v. Penniegraft, 641 F.3d 566,
(internal

quotation

marks

and

alteration

omitted), cert. denied, 132 S. Ct. 564 (2011).
To convict Myers of violating 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1),
the Government was required to prove that (1) he knowingly or
intentionally distributed oxycodone, and (2) he knew that the
drug “was a controlled substance under the law.”

United States

v. Alerre, 430 F.3d 681, 689 (4th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation
marks omitted).
Two law enforcement officers and an informant offered
substantially similar accounts of the controlled buys supporting
the

charges

against

Myers,

with

the

informant

stating

unequivocally that he purchased all of the oxycodone in question
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from Myers.

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These accounts were supported, at least in part, by

the recordings captured by a concealed device carried by the
informant

during

indicated

his

each

controlled

awareness

of

the

buy.

Additionally,

fact

that

Myers

oxycodone

is

a

prescription drug.
Moreover, the fact that the jury acquitted Myers of
one count does not undermine the validity of his convictions on
the

remaining

counts.

See

Green,

599

F.3d

at

368-69.

Accordingly, we find no error in the district court’s denial of
Myers’ Rule 29 motion.
Next, we conclude that the district court did not err
in denying Myers’ Fed. R. Crim. P. 33 motion for new trial.
review such a ruling for abuse of discretion.
Lighty, 616 F.3d 321, 374 (4th Cir. 2010).

We

United States v.

Myers asserts that a

new trial was appropriate due to the bias of the informant and
the fact that the recording of each controlled buy was obtained
in violation of the West Virginia Constitution.

See State v.

Mullens, 650 S.E.2d 169, 173-78, 191 (W. Va. 2007).
Regarding

the

recordings,

federal

statutory

and

constitutional law permit law enforcement officials to place an
electronic

surveillance

device

on

a

consenting

informant

for

purposes of recording communications with third-party suspects
without a warrant or other judicial authorization.

18 U.S.C.

§ 2511(2)(c) (2006); United States v. White, 401 U.S. 745, 7495

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52 (1971) (plurality opinion).

Accordingly,

court

of

determined,

the

admission

the

as the district

recordings

trial was proper and did not warrant a new trial.

at

Myers’

See United

States v. Van Metre, 150 F.3d 339, 347 (4th Cir. 1998).
The
informant.

same

is

true

for

the

alleged

bias

of

the

“A jury verdict is not to be overturned except in

the rare circumstance when the evidence weighs heavily against
it.”
2006)

United States v. Smith, 451 F.3d 209, 216-17 (4th Cir.
(internal

recordings

quotation

and

substantially

the

testimony

corroborated

controlled buys.

marks

the

omitted).
of

Here,

two

police

informant’s

audio

officers

account

of

the

Accordingly, we find no abuse of discretion in

the district court’s denial of Myers’ Rule 33 motion.
Finally, we reject Myers’ challenge to the substantive
reasonableness
reasonableness,
standard.”
considering

of

his

sentence.

applying

a

We

review

“deferential

a

Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41 (2007).
substantive

reasonableness,

a

sentence

is
we

within

a

presume

we

properly

must
Id.

determined
is

into

When, as
advisory

range,

reasonable.

United States v. Allen, 491 F.3d 178, 193 (4th Cir.

6

it

take

In

Guidelines

2007).

that

for

abuse-of-discretion

account the “totality of the circumstances.”
here,

sentence

substantively

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Myers claims that the district court erred in refusing
to reduce his sentence based on the fact that he previously
served a sentence for a federal crack cocaine offense, imposed
before the sentencing reforms effected by the Fair Sentencing
Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372.

Furthermore,

Myers suggests that the district court should have reduced his
sentence

based

statements

on

the

regarding

the

informant’s
total

admittedly

quantity

of

inconsistent
oxycodone

he

purchased from Myers.
We
rebut

the

conclude these arguments are not sufficient to

presumption

of

within-Guidelines sentence.

reasonableness

we

accord

to

Myers’

The district court, upon assessing

the informant’s evidence concerning drug quantity, attributed to
Myers a relatively conservative amount that is justified by the
record.

Further, the court made a thorough assessment of the

facts and § 3553(a) factors in announcing a sentence at the top
of

the

applicable

Guidelines

range.

Therefore,

this

claim

warrants no relief.
We affirm Myers’ conviction and sentence in No. 114568, and the revocation of supervised release and sentence in
No. 11-4583.

We dispense with oral argument because the facts

and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials

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before

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the

court

Date Filed: 02/14/2012

and

argument

would

Page: 8 of 8

not

aid

the

decisional

process.

AFFIRMED

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