United States Fourth Circuit

Conviction of defendant for drug related offenses and sentence to 136 months' imprisonment is affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded where: 1) district court did not err in concluding that officers complied with their knock-and-announce obligations; 2) there is no basis to suppress the evidence found in defendant's house; 3) the evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for conspiring to distribute cocaine; but 4) the defendant's sentence is vacated and remanded for resentencing as the district court erred by viewing the jury's drug-quantity determination as precluding the court from finding a higher quantity for sentencing purposes, and this error was not harmless.

Appellate Information

• Argued 05/11/2010
• Decided 06/28/2010
• Published 06/28/2010

Judges

• TRAXLER, Chief Judge

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• William A. Mitchell, Jr., Tonya Kelly Kowitz