United States v. Bobby Wade, Jr.
16-10434
| 9th Cir. | Oct 23, 2017Background
- Bobby Wade was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to 96 months; he also received a concurrent 24-month sentence for a supervised release violation.
- Police obtained and searched Wade’s cell phone under a warrant that authorized searching broad categories of data for evidence of firearm ownership.
- At trial the government introduced evidence from text messages, photographs, account info, and contacts from Wade’s phone, plus jail calls and DNA on the gun.
- Wade challenged the phone search as overbroad and moved to suppress the phone evidence; he also contested the sentencing calculation based on prior convictions and argued the supervised-release sentence should be vacated if the firearms conviction were overturned.
- The government produced records showing Wade’s prior convictions included an Oregon controlled-substance offense and a California conviction under Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11352(a) for selling cocaine base.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Validity/scope of cellphone search warrant | Warrant overbroad; affidavit lacked probable cause for searching all phone data | Probable cause supported searches of texts, photos, accounts, contacts; alternatively officers acted in good-faith reliance on warrant | Court upheld admission: probable cause supported the searched categories; good-faith exception also applies; any error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt |
| Prejudice from allegedly overbroad warrant | Suppression required to remedy overbreadth and protect Fourth Amendment rights | Only evidence from legitimately searchable categories was used at trial, so no prejudice | No prejudice shown; suppression denial affirmed |
| Classification of prior convictions for sentencing | District court erred by relying solely on factual descriptions to classify prior offenses as controlled-substance convictions | Government submitted judicially noticed records showing convictions for an Oregon controlled-substance offense and for selling cocaine base in California | Court took judicial notice of records, found prior convictions qualify as controlled-substance offenses, and affirmed sentence |
| Challenge to supervised-release sentence | Supervised-release sentence should be vacated if firearms conviction is vacated because sentences were a package | Wade failed to raise distinct arguments on appeal; and because firearms conviction was affirmed, supervised-release argument fails | Waived on appeal; in any event, argument fails because firearms conviction stands |
Key Cases Cited
- United States v. Terry, 911 F.2d 272 (9th Cir. 1990) (guidance on scope of electronic device searches)
- United States v. Gomez-Soto, 723 F.2d 649 (9th Cir. 1984) (prejudice requirement for suppression based on overbroad warrants)
- United States v. Crews, 502 F.3d 1130 (9th Cir. 2007) (good-faith exception for warrant reliance)
- Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18 (1967) (harmless beyond a reasonable doubt standard for constitutional errors)
- United States v. Pimentel-Flores, 339 F.3d 959 (9th Cir. 2003) (limits on using factual descriptions to classify prior offenses)
- United States v. Martinez-Lopez, 864 F.3d 1034 (9th Cir. 2017) (divisible statutes and categorical approach)
- United States v. Torre-Jimenez, 771 F.3d 1163 (9th Cir. 2014) (use of charging documents to identify controlled-substance offense)
- Cabantac v. Holder, 693 F.3d 825 (9th Cir. 2012) (determining offense type from record)
- United States v. Lee, 704 F.3d 785 (9th Cir. 2012) (selling cocaine base is a controlled-substance offense)
- United States v. Black, 482 F.3d 1035 (9th Cir. 2007) (affirming sentence where resentencing would merely delay inevitable outcome)
- United States v. Patterson, 230 F.3d 1168 (9th Cir. 2000) (issues not distinctly raised in opening brief are waived)