US v. Christopher Wilson

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 5:12-cr-00353-BO-1. Copies to all parties and the district court. [999719211].. [14-4418]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-4418

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
CHRISTOPHER STEWART WILSON, a/k/a Chris,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.
Terrence W. Boyle,
District Judge. (5:12-cr-00353-BO-1)

Argued:

October 29, 2015

Decided:

December 16, 2015

Before MOTZ, KING, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part and vacated and remanded by unpublished per
curiam opinion.

ARGUED: James C. White, LAW OFFICE OF JAMES C. WHITE, P.C.,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for Appellant.
Phillip Anthony
Rubin, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North
Carolina, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF: Michelle M. Walker, LAW
OFFICE OF JAMES C. WHITE, P.C., Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for
Appellant. 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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
In November 2011, without a warrant, police surreptitiously
placed a GPS tracker on a car belonging to Christopher Wilson, a
“person of interest” in several robberies.

Information gathered

from the GPS tracker led to Wilson’s arrest for a series of
robberies.

A federal grand jury subsequently indicted Wilson on

one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by threats
and violence, as well as multiple counts of interference with
commerce

by

threats

and

violence,

possessing

a

firearm

in

furtherance of a crime of violence, bank robbery, and aiding and
abetting these offenses.
Wilson moved to suppress the evidence resulting from the
warrantless

use

of

the

GPS

tracker.

He

argued

that

United

States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945 (2012), decided after police
placed the tracker on his car, rendered the search illegal.

The

district court denied the motion to suppress, reasoning inter
alia that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule made
the evidence obtained in the search admissible.
Wilson then signed a plea agreement.

In it, he pled guilty

to some of the counts in the indictment as well as two counts
added

in

a

superseding

criminal

information,

Government filed as part of the plea agreement.

which

the

However, at

Wilson’s Rule 11 hearing, his counsel notified the court that
Wilson no longer wanted to agree to the negotiated plea.
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In

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response,

the

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district

court

strongly

and

repeatedly

urged Wilson to plead guilty pursuant to the agreement.

The

judge opined that Wilson’s experience in state court “may be
giving [him] a false sense of security,” and that this was “a
situation where someone has no comprehension of how deep the
hole is.”

The court addressed Wilson directly, asking “What’s

your problem?

I mean, you are facing an ocean full of time and

. . . you think you are going to get out?
get out.

I mean, what’s your problem?”

You are not going to

The court described the

negative results of going to trial in various ways:
[N]o one is going to let you, unless you insist,
testify because you are an armed robber and that’s
your career . . . these other three guys, who are your
allies, are going to line up to get Rule 35’s and get
out of jail, and they’re going to testify against you
and you are going to be hung out with whatever it is,
a hundred year sentence.
The judge also told Wilson that, if convicted at trial, “[he]
[would] be gone forever,” and suggested that he would die in
prison.
Wilson repeatedly told the court that he had thought his
decision through and did not want to agree to the negotiated
plea.

When the district court asked Wilson if he had thought

through the consequences of forgoing the plea deal and going to
trial, Wilson replied, “Yes, sir.”

Instead of permitting Wilson

to make this choice, the court continued the hearing for two

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weeks

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so

that

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Wilson

could

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“take

a

cooling

off

period”

and

“decide[] whether or not this is a bad deal.”
Ten days later, Wilson’s counsel filed a motion to withdraw
as

counsel

because

relationship,”

of

which

a

the

“breakdown
court

of

the

granted.

attorney-client

Four

months

later,

after Wilson had been appointed new counsel, the district court
conducted
failure,

the
no

continued

transcript

Rule
of

11

this

hearing.
hearing

Due

to

exists.

equipment

Pursuant

to

Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 10(c), the district court
approved

a

statement

of

the

proceedings

submitted

by

the

parties.
The

approved

(but

extremely

brief)

statement

describing

this second hearing does not indicate that the court informed
Wilson of his right to plead not guilty, his right to a jury
trial,

or

colloquy.

several

of

the

other

requirements

of

the

Rule

11

Notably, the statement does not indicate that the

judge ascertained whether Wilson’s plea was voluntary.

While

the statement asserts that Wilson’s counsel “recalls that the
Appellant acknowledged that he understood the terms of the plea
agreement and appeal waiver,” it also states that Wilson himself
“does

not

recall

being

informed

of

or

acknowledging

that

he

understood the terms of the plea agreement or appeal waiver.”
The record contains no affidavits from any of the individuals
actually present at the hearing.
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At

this

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second

hearing,

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Wilson

pleaded

guilty

to

four

counts of bank robbery and conspiracy to commit bank robbery and
possessing a firearm as a felon.

According to the Government’s

statements at oral argument, this plea agreement differed from
the

original

counts

of

plea

bank

agreement

robbery.

in

After

that
the

it

contained

district

court

two

fewer

sentenced

Wilson to 293 months’ imprisonment, he timely noted this appeal,
in which he argues that the trial court’s participation in his
plea discussion constituted plain error under Rule 11(c) and so
requires that we vacate his plea. *
Rule 11(c) provides that “[a]n attorney for the government
and the defendant’s attorney . . . may discuss and reach a plea
agreement,”

but

discussions.”

“[t]he

court

must

not

participate

Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1).

in

these

The prohibition on

judicial involvement furthers “three principal interests:
diminishes
plea;

it

the

possibility

protects

against

of

judicial

unfairness

coercion
and

of

partiality

a

it

guilty
in

the

judicial process; and it eliminates the misleading impression
that the judge is an advocate for the agreement rather than a

*

Wilson also initially appealed the denial of his
suppression motion.
However, this court has already concluded
that the good-faith exception does indeed render admissible
evidence obtained by warrantless GPS trackers prior to Jones.
See United States v. Stephens, 764 F.3d 327, 338 (4th Cir.
2014).
We therefore affirm the district court’s denial of
Wilson’s suppression motion.
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neutral arbiter.”

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United States v. Bradley, 455 F.3d 453, 460

(4th Cir. 2006) (quoting United States v. Cannady, 283 F.3d 641,
644–45 (4th Cir. 2002)) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Because Wilson did not object to the judge’s involvement
during

the

plea

discussions,

we

review

his

claim

under

the

rigorous plain error standard.

See United States v. Sanya, 774

F.3d 812, 815 (4th Cir. 2014).

Wilson must establish that “(1)

the asserted violation of Rule 11(c)(1) is error, (2) the error
is plain, and (3) the error affected [his] substantial rights.”
Bradley, 455 F.3d at 461.
his

substantial

To establish that the error affected

rights,

Wilson

must

show

“a

reasonable

probability that, but for the error, he would not have entered
the plea.”

United States v. Davila (Davila I), 133 S. Ct. 2139,

2147 (2013).

If these three conditions are met, we can exercise

our “discretion to notice a forfeited error, but only if (4) the
error

seriously

affects

the

fairness,

reputation of judicial proceedings.”

integrity,

or

public

Bradley, 455 F.3d at 461.

The Government rightly concedes that the district court’s
participation

in

Wilson’s

plea

discussions

11(c)(1) and that this error was plain.
consider

the

third

and

affected

whether

the

error

whether

it

seriously

proceedings.

Because

fourth

prongs

Wilson’s

affected
the

record
6

the

of

violated

Thus, we need only
plain

error

substantial
integrity

lacks

Rule

any

review:

rights
of

and

judicial

indication

that

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Wilson’s eventual guilty plea was voluntary, we conclude that
Wilson has satisfied both prongs.
At the initial Rule 11 hearing, the district court strongly
urged Wilson to agree to the negotiated plea deal.

The judge

commented

evidence,

on

questioned

the

strength

Wilson’s

reasons

of

the

for

Government’s

proceeding

to

trial,

criticized Wilson’s rejection of the plea agreement.

and

Thus, this

clearly “is not a case involving a single or even a few brief
remarks by the court.”

Braxton, 784 F.3d at 243.

Nor were the

remarks impartial, as in Cannady, 283 F.3d at 645, where the
judge “never suggested that Cannady should plead guilty” but
only

“requir[ed]

guilty

or

go

Cannady

to

to

trial.”

make

a

Instead,

decision
in

--

either

response

to

plead

Wilson’s

rejection of the plea deal, the district court rebuked him and
ended the hearing.

Although the record indicates that Wilson

was calm and cogent at the hearing, the judge expressly said
Wilson needed a “cooling off period” -- that is, a period during
which Wilson would change his mind and accept the plea deal.
When the second hearing occurred months later, Wilson did accept
a plea deal.
Importantly, in circumstances that are hopefully unique to
this

case,

ultimate

nothing

guilty

plea

in

the

was

record

voluntary.

establishes
Although

that
a

Wilson’s

defendant’s

assertion of voluntariness during the Rule 11 colloquy will not
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itself

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“dispel

[our]

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concern”

that

judicial

participation

rendered a plea involuntary, Braxton, 784 F.3d at 245, such an
assertion does inform our inquiry.
S. Ct. at 2149-50.

See, e.g., Davila I, 133

In this case, we do not have the transcript

from Wilson’s second Rule 11 hearing, and the cursory statement
of the proceedings leaves much to be desired.
When forced by equipment failure to generate the record
themselves, the parties submitted a single paragraph describing
the hearing.
Rule

11

The statement does not indicate whether a proper

colloquy

took

place,

voluntarily entered his plea.

let

alone

whether

Wilson

One of the few specifics it does

relate is that Wilson does not remember being informed of the
terms of the plea agreement at the hearing.

The hearing, as

described by the parties, did nothing to combat the effect of
the earlier Rule 11 violation, and leaves substantial doubt as
to the voluntariness of the ultimate plea.

Cf. Braxton, 784

F.3d at 245 (“[T]he plea colloquy in this case only exacerbates
the [Rule 11(c)] error.”).
The record thus shows that Wilson appeared at his first
Rule 11 hearing adamant about refusing the Government’s deal and
prepared to do so.

Instead of allowing him this choice, the

judge berated him and stopped the hearing.

When Wilson appeared

at

mind

the

second

hearing,

he

changed

his

under

unknown

conditions and potentially without the benefit of a proper Rule
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11 colloquy.

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For these reasons, we conclude that Wilson has

demonstrated a reasonable probability that, absent the district
court’s involvement, he would not have pled guilty.
We thus turn to the last inquiry:

whether refusing to

notice this plain error would “seriously affect the fairness,
integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.”

United

States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 736 (1993) (quoting United States
v. Atkinson, 297 U.S. 157, 160 (1936)) (internal quotation marks
omitted).
This court has recognized that “failure to notice [] [a]
clear Rule 11 error would almost inevitably seriously affect the
fairness and integrity of judicial proceedings.”
F.3d

at

463.

This

is

unsurprising,

“given

Bradley, 455
the

critical

interests served by the prohibition [on judicial involvement in
plea

negotiations],”

impartiality

throughout

including
the

“preserving

proceedings

and

the

judge’s

preventing

the

public from gaining the misleading impression that a judge is
anything less than a neutral arbiter.”
marks omitted).

Id. (internal quotation

Indeed, we have found no cases where a Rule

11(c) violation that affected substantial rights did not also
affect the fairness of judicial proceedings.

The instant case

does not present an exception to the “general rule,” Braxton,
784 F.3d at 244.

Accordingly, we vacate the judgment and remand

the case for further proceedings.
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As is our usual practice, we remand the case for assignment
to a different district judge.
F.3d at 465.
preside

fairly

See id. at 247; Bradley, 455

We do not doubt that the original judge would
and

impartially

over

this

case.

However,

“[r]egardless of the judge’s objectivity, it is the defendant’s
perception

of

the

judge

that

will

determine

defendant will feel coerced to enter a plea.”

whether

the

Bradley, 455 F.3d

at 465.
AFFIRMED IN PART AND VACATED AND REMANDED

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