U.S. v. Thurman

In prosecution on drug distribution charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress statement following his arrest, as well as evidence obtained from search of his cell phone. Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendant had voluntarily waived his 4^th and 5^th Amendment rights, even though defendant had failed to sign any waiver form, since Dist. Ct. could properly credit examining officers’ testimonies that defendant had given verbal consent to said questioning, as well as to search of cell phone, and defendant’s appeal would improperly require Ct. of Appeals to re-evaluate said credibility findings. Moreover, defendant’s refusal to sign consent forms is not enough to defeat evidence of implied waiver, and record otherwise showed that defendant had assisted officers in identifying particular names and numbers in his cell phone. Also, defendant had failed to show that any consent had been coerced. Too, Dist. Ct. did not err in sentencing defendant to 72-month term of incarceration that was based, in part, on finding that defendant was responsible for between 700 grams and 1 kilogram of heroin, even though jury convicted defendant of distributing only 100 grams of heroin, since record supported finding that defendant was responsible for larger amount of heroin based on preponderance of evidence standard.