[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 23-11461 ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus CONSTANTINE VARSAMAS VARAZO, II, a.k.a. Smoke,

Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 4:21-cr-00032-CDL-MSH-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 23-11461 Document: 30-1 Date Filed: 10/10/2024 Page: 2 of 21

23-11461 Opinion of the Court 2

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and LUCK and HULL, Circuit Judges. HULL, Circuit Judge: A jury convicted Constantine Varazo II of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. On appeal, defendant Varazo argues that the district court abused its discretion in admitting (1) Deputy Chandler Buchanan’s testimony about statements made by Russell Chapman to explain officer conduct, and (2) a book bag containing drugs, a firearm, and a cell phone over Varazo’s chain-of-custody objection. Although Varazo did not object at the time, he also contends the district court plainly erred in admitting hearsay statements by James Eidson and Cliff Miller regarding the discovery of the bag. After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm defendant Varazo’s convictions. I. INDICTMENT On August 12, 2021, defendant Varazo was indicted on three counts: (1) possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A)(viii); (2) possession with intent to distribute heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C); and (3) possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). Varazo pled not guilty. We recount in detail the trial evidence because this appeal involves evidentiary issues. USCA11 Case: 23-11461 Document: 30-1 Date Filed: 10/10/2024 Page: 3 of 21

23-11461 Opinion of the Court 3

II. TRIAL EVIDENCE 1 A. Attempted Traffic Stop The government’s first witness was Deputy Chandler Buchanan with the sheriff’s office of Randolph County, Georgia, who testified as follows. On March 15, 2020, Deputy Buchanan attempted to conduct a traffic stop of a car. Refusing to stop, the driver led Buchanan on a 45-mile high-speed chase along Highway 82. During the chase, Buchanan observed items being thrown out of the car. Buchanan radioed other officers to tell them the locations where items were thrown from the car. Ultimately, Deputy Buchanan stopped the car using a precision immobilization technique (PIT) maneuver. Buchanan detained all three occupants: (1) codefendant Robert Perkins, the driver; (2) codefendant Taylor Perkins, Robert’s wife and the front seat passenger; and (3) defendant Varazo, the backseat passenger. 2 The next morning, March 16, Deputy Buchanan and other officers searched the location