United States v. Omar A. Mudie, 97 F.3d 1450, 4th Cir. (1996)

97 F.
3d 1450
NOTICE: Fourth Circuit Local Rule 36(c) states that citation

of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing
res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires
service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Fourth
Circuit.
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Omar A. MUDIE, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 95-5596.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued July 18, 1996.
Decided Sept. 5, 1996.
ARGUED: Vincent L. Gambale, Assistant United States Attorney,

Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant. Benedict P. Kuehne, SALE &
KUEHNE, P.A., Miami, Florida, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Helen F.
Fahey, United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia; Robert E.
Bradenham, II, Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for
Appellant.
Before MURNAGHAN and ERVIN, Circuit Judges, and PHILLIPS,
Senior Circuit Judge.
OPINION
ERVIN, Circuit Judge:
Following his convictions on crack-cocaine charges, appellee Omar Mudie

moved for a new trial. The district court granted his motion, based on evidence
of a gun that was admitted and then excluded, and the prosecutor's alleged
references to that evidence during closing argument. The United States appeals.
Because we find that evidence of the gun should not have been excluded in the
first instance, we find that any reference to that evidence was harmless.
Accordingly, we reverse the district court's grant of a new trial.
This case began when a maintenance man entered an apartment to make a

repair, and observed what he thought to be drugs. He also noticed that the
apartment had almost no furniture, and that its windows were covered with
cardboard and tape. He notified the police, who obtained a search warrant for
the apartment. In executing the warrant, the police observed minimal
furnishings, no food and few dishes in the kitchen, and only a few pieces of
clothing. During the search, Mudie put his key into the door of the apartment
and the police arrested him. The search yielded a number of items of evidence:
on Mudie's person were two pagers, a cellular telephone, nine $50 bills, and a
key ring. In the apartment, police found 3.6 kilos of crack and .9 kilos of
powder cocaine; drug paraphernalia, including electronic scales, coffee pots
without coffee makers, and baking soda; a cellular phone battery and charger
compatible with Mudie's cell phone; a credit card application with Mudie's
name; and a $500 check drawn on Mudie's account. Later, police discovered
Mudie's fingerprints on one of the coffeepots. George McNeil, a convicted
cocaine dealer, testified at trial that he had bought crack from Mudie on a
number of occasions.
During the initial search, the police also examined Mudie's key ring, which had
a "Mazda" key. They discovered one Mazda car parked near the apartment.
When officers searched the car, they found a loaded .38 semi-automatic
handgun in the map pocket behind the driver's seat, and Mudie's checkbook on
the floorboard. Mudie was indicted on two counts of distributing crack, one
count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and one count of
possession of crack with intent to distribute. He moved to suppress a number of
items of evidence, including the crack and cocaine discovered during the search
of the apartment, an oral statement he made following his arrest, and the
weapon recovered during the search of his car. The district court (Judge
Clarke) denied the motion to suppress. Mudie's first trial ended in a hung jury.
At his second trial, the district court (Judge Jackson) refused to grant Mudie's
renewed motion to suppress, except as to the postarrest statement. Near the
close of the government's evidence, the district court decided that the gun had
been improperly admitted, and instructed the jury to disregard it. Judge Jackson
found that the police did not have probable cause to search Mudie's car; the
court recognized that the police could have conducted an inventory search in
the interest of safeguarding Mudie's property, but found that their actual motive
was to find evidence against Mudie. The court cautioned the jury:
5
During
this trial you have heard testimony about the search of the defendant's
automobile and the recovery of a gun. Additionally, you have heard testimony about
the role that a firearm plays in the distribution of illegal narcotics. I instruct you that
you are to totally disregard the testimony, as well as the firearm exhibit that was
introduced in this record. The testimony that was introduced about the firearm, the
search of the vehicle, as well as the exhibit, should not be considered in any way in
your determination of a verdict in this case.
6 you to in any way consider this evidence I am asking you to disregard would be
For
a violation of the oath that you have taken as a juror, and I will give you the same
instruction again prior to the time that you begin to deliberate.
7
In his closing argument, the prosecutor commented, "Here's a man that is

visiting an apartment armed with two pagers, cellular tele phones, $450 in
cash...." In his rebuttal, the prosecutor stated, "Pagers, telephones, coupled with
the $450, that's what he had, that's what he was armed with, that's what he had
on his person when he went to that apartment on November 14th." Mudie's
counsel did not object contemporaneously and the district court rejected
Mudie's objection to these comments on the following day. Mudie was
convicted on all charges, and moved for a post-verdict judgment of acquittal,
or, in the alternative, a new trial. The district court ordered a new trial some
three months after the verdict was rendered.
The district court concluded that George McNeil's uncorroborated testimony

was sufficient to support a finding of guilt on the cocaine distribution charges.
As to the possession with intent to distribute counts, the court noted that the
government had to prove Mudie's constructive possession of the drugs found in
the apartment in order to support conviction on those charges. The court
concluded that the evidence was "barely" sufficient to justify the convictions,
but further concluded that "the slim evidence supporting the verdict weighs in
favor of a finding that the admission of evidence that Mudie possessed a
firearm improperly and significantly influenced the jury's determination of
guilt."
Jurisdiction of this appeal is proper under 18 U.S.C. 3731, which authorizes

the United States to appeal to this court following a district court's grant of a
new trial after judgment in a criminal case. Although a district court's grant of a
new trial generally is reviewed for abuse of discretion, United States v. Bynum,
3 F.3d 769, 773 (4th Cir.1993), cert. denied, 114 S.Ct. 1105 (1994), purely
legal determinations are reviewed de novo, Waters v. Gaston County, 57 F.3d
422, 425 (4th Cir.1995). As explained by the Seventh Circuit, when a district
court judge considering a new trial motion "has occasion to resolve a pure issue
of law, our review of that resolution is plenary." United States v. Boyd, 55 F.3d
239, 242 (7th Cir.1995) (citation omitted). Because in this case the district
court's ultimate grant of a new trial stemmed from the legal decision to exclude
certain evidence, we first review that decision.

10
The "automobile exception" to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement is

well-established. The Supreme Court has recently summarized the exception:
11 first cases establishing the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment's

Our
warrant requirement were based on the automobile's "ready mobility," an exigency
sufficient to excuse failure to obtain a search warrant once probable cause to conduct
the search is clear. California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 390-91, 105 S.Ct. 2066,
2068-2069, 85 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985) (tracing the history of the exception); Carroll v.
United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). More recent cases
provide a further justification: the individual's reduced expectation of privacy in an
automobile, owing to its pervasive regulation. Carney, supra, at 391-92, 105 S.Ct., at
2069-2070. If a car is readily mobile and probable cause exists to believe it contains
contraband, the Fourth Amendment thus permits police to search the vehicle without
more. Carney, supra, at 393, 105 S.Ct., at 2070. Pennsylvania v. Labron, 116 S.Ct.
2485, 2487 (1996). In Labron, for instance, the Court upheld the search of a vehicle
after police "had seen [the owner of the vehicle] act in ways that suggested he had
drugs in his truck." Id.
12
In this case, police had discovered significant evidence of a crack cocaine

processing operation within the apartment, as well as evidence linking Mudie to
that apartment. Though the police did not see Mudie driving the car they
eventually searched, they did lawfully find on his person a "Mazda" key and
discovered a single Mazda automobile parked close by, so it was reasonable to
assume that Mudie had arrived at the apartment via that vehicle. Before
searching the car, officers confirmed that the Mazda's tags were registered to
Omar Mudie. We find that this evidence provided probable cause to believe
that the automobile contained contraband, and therefore the police were entitled
to search it without a warrant.*
13
Having determined that the search of Mudie's car was permissible, we must
conclude that there was no basis for exclusion of the evidence seized from that
vehicle. Consequently, the district court erred in suppressing evidence of the
gun, and any reference by the prosecutor to the improperly-suppressed evidence
(inadvertent or otherwise) was not error. This leads to the further conclusion
that the district court erred in granting Mudie a new trial on these bases.
Accordingly, the decision below is
14
REVERSED.
Because the search in this case was justified by the automobile exception to the
Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement, we need not reach the question of
whether it might also have been proper as an inventory search

United States v. Omar A. Mudie, 97 F.3d 1450, 4th Cir. (1996)

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97 F.

NOTICE: Fourth Circuit Local Rule 36(c) states that citation

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

ARGUED: Vincent L. Gambale, Assistant United States Attorney,

Following his convictions on crack-cocaine charges, appellee Omar Mudie

This case began when a maintenance man entered an apartment to make a

In his closing argument, the prosecutor commented, "Here's a man that is

The district court concluded that George McNeil's uncorroborated testimony

Jurisdiction of this appeal is proper under 18 U.S.C. 3731, which authorizes

certain evidence, we first review that decision.

The "automobile exception" to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement is

11 first cases establishing the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment's

In this case, police had discovered significant evidence of a crack cocaine

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