UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD BERNARD GARDNER (20-1118); MARTINELLUS NIX (20-1170); RYAN RASHAD BROWN (20-1260); DOUGLAS EMMANUEL CAREY, III, (20-1265); MARVIN QUANTEZ NIX (20-1266); SALENA E. KOLARICH (20-1272) - Articles

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD BERNARD GARDNER (20-1118); MARTINELLUS NIX (20-1170); RYAN RASHAD BROWN (20-1260); DOUGLAS EMMANUEL CAREY, III, (20-1265); MARVIN QUANTEZ NIX (20-1266); SALENA E. KOLARICH (20-1272)

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Apr 25, 2022

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED and ON BRIEF: Mary Chartier, CHARTIER & NYAMFUKUDZA, P.L.C., Okemos, Michigan, for Appellant in 20-1265.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: Daniel T. McGraw, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: Michael J. Manning, MANNINGLAW, Escanaba, Michigan, for Appellant in 20-1118.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: Lawrence J. Phelan, Walker, Michigan, for Appellant in 20-1170.

Attorneys 5: ON BRIEF: John M. Karafa, GRAVIS LAW, PLLC, Muskegon, Michigan, for Appellant in 20-1260.

Attorneys 6: ON BRIEF: Daniel R. Fagan, DANIEL R. FAGAN & ASSOCIATES, P.C., Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellant in 20-1266.

Attorneys 7: ON BRIEF: Mark Louis Dobias, MARK L. DOBIAS, P.C., Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, for Appellant in 20-1272.

Attorneys 8: ON BRIEF: Daniel T. McGraw, Kate Zell, Kathryn Dalzell, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee.

Judge(s): McKEAGUE, NALBANDIAN, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids

NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. This case is about a drug-trafficking conspiracy that distributed more than 100 kilograms of powder and crack cocaine in Southwest Michigan from 2017 to 2018. The conspiracy involved dozens of actors across the states of Michigan, Texas, and Arkansas. But only eight members of the operation play a relevant role here. The first, Howard Mayfield, served as the Grand Rapids-based ringleader of the drug-trafficking organization. The second, Wilbert Gentry, supplied Mayfield from Houston, Texas, with kilogram quantities of cocaine. The next six players—Donald Gardner, Martinellus Nix, Ryan Brown, Douglas Emmanuel Carey, Marvin Nix, and Salena Kolarich—acted as money couriers, wholesale distributors, and street-level dealers in the Grand Rapids area.

Federal prosecutors indicted a grand total of 27 coconspirators in 2018. And all were convicted for their various roles in the conspiracy. These appeals are brought by six of those coconspirators—Gardner, Brown, Carey, Kolarich, Marvin Nix, and Martinellus Nix. Together, their consolidated appeals present 17 issues, ranging from the denial of their motions to suppress wiretap evidence to sentencing errors. We take each in turn, affirming the district court on all but one issue.

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