By: Derek Hawkins//September 10, 2019//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: United States of America v. Michael Clark
Case No.: 18-2604
Officials: BAUER, HAMILTON, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Sentencing Guidelines
Defendant-appellant Michael Clark was convicted of possessing a mixture containing fentanyl in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Clark had been found in a hotel room with more than 80 grams of a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, a digital scale, and cellophane bags. He does not appeal any aspect of his jury trial, but he challenges the denial of his motion for a Franks hearing challenging the issuance of the search warrant for the hotel room. He also challenges the denial of his motion to suppress without an evidentiary hearing. And he challenges two aspects of his sentence: the guideline treatment of his conviction for drug distribution that occurred in Illinois seven months after his Wisconsin arrest and one condition of supervised release. We vacate Clark’s conviction and remand for an evidentiary hearing on his Franks challenge. We affirm on the denial of his motion to suppress without a hearing. We also affirm on the guideline issue and determine that the supervised release challenge was waived. We address in Part I the need for a Franks hearing and in Part II the need for an evidentiary hearing on the motion to suppress. We address the sentencing issues in Part III.
Vacated and remanded in part. Affirmed in part.