United States of America v. Troy D. Huff

London, Kentucky drug case criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant.

In July 2021, an incarcerated informant told Lake Cumberland Area Drug Task Force Director Wayne Conn that Huff was selling large amounts of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. She also reported that Huff often drove rented vehicles and kept his drugs in a safe within the car.



Two months later, a paid confidential informant told Wayne County Sheriff's Deputy Derek Dennis that Huff was dealing drugs and that he wanted to sell her an ounce of methamphetamine. The confidential informant had a reliable track record-she previously had provided accurate information leading to criminal convictions and drug seizures, and she had made undercover drug buys for law enforcement. So Director Conn and Deputy Dennis decided to set up a "buy-bust" operation. They asked the confidential informant to arrange the purchase of methamphetamine from Huff.



Using Facebook Messenger, the confidential informant communicated with Huff and came to an agreement: he would sell her an ounce of methamphetamine in the parking lot of Hicks Grocery. Huff stated he would arrive in a white Hyundai. The confidential informant contemporaneously relayed the conversation to Deputy Dennis, sending him text messages about and screenshots of her communications with Huff. Because Huff's Facebook account was in his own name, the screenshots showed that the conversation was with "Troy," and Huff's picture accompanied his messages.



After arriving at Hicks Grocery, the confidential informant waited for Huff while Director Conn surveilled the parking lot in an unmarked car. From his vantage point, Director Conn could see any vehicles entering or exiting the parking lot, and he had a copy of Huff's driver's license with him to identify Huff. Deputy Dennis waited close by in another vehicle with his K-9, Dunya.



Huff arrived when expected, though he was driving a gray pickup truck instead of a white Hyundai. As anticipated, he parked alongside the confidential informant's car, positioning his truck so that the driver's side windows were next to one another. Director Conn testified that, in his law-enforcement experience, he had "seen several drug transactions take place with the cars in that" otherwise unusual position.



Recognizing Huff, Director Conn pulled his unmarked car behind Huff's truck and activated his emergency lights. Both Director Conn and Huff exited their vehicles as Deputy Dennis approached and began speaking with Huff. Huff told Deputy Dennis that he did not know the driver of the car next to which he had just parked and explained that the truck he was driving was a rental.



Huff declined to consent to a search, so Deputy Dennis deployed Dunya to sniff around Huff's truck. Dunya alerted at the driver's side door, and Deputy Dennis then searched the truck. Inside, he found illegal drugs and a loaded gun.





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After Huff was charged with drug and gun offenses, he moved to suppress the evidence recovered from the search and 'the fruits thereof' (including incriminating statements he made at the scene). The district court denied Huff's motion following an evidentiary hearing.



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The Fourth Amendment protects "against unreasonable searches and seizures" by police. U.S. Const. amend. IV. Its protection extends to searches of vehicles. United States v. Brooks, 987 F.3d 593, 599 (6th Cir. 2021). Generally, for a search to be reasonable, police must have obtained a judicial warrant authorizing it. California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 390 (1985). Without a warrant, "a search is reasonable only if it falls within a specific exception to the warrant requirement." Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373, 382 (2014). One such exception-the automobile exception-allows officers to search a car and containers within it if they have probable cause to believe that each contains evidence of a crime. California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565, 580 (1991); United States v. Graham, 275 F.3d 490, 509-10 (6th Cir. 2001).

Defendant was sentenced to 240 months in prison consecutive to 60 months in prison based on a conviction for felony possession of a firearm.