In the United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit ________

AUGUST TERM 2021

ARGUED: SEPTEMBER 1, 2021 DECIDED: JUNE 21, 2022

No. 19-4362-cr

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee,

v.

SCOTT BODNAR, AKA PEP, TERRELL GIVENS, DONALD BURNS, Defendants,

ROBERT CAPELLI, Defendant-Appellant. ________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. ________ Before: WALKER, CALABRESI, and MENASHI, Circuit Judges. ________

Robert Capelli was convicted of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute, and of conspiracy to distribute and possess with 2 No. 19-4362 intent to distribute, 100 kilograms or more of marijuana following a jury trial in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. On appeal, he claims that (1) the district court (Janet Bond Arterton, J.) erred in denying his motion to suppress marijuana that was obtained during a warrantless search of a private single- engine airplane; (2) the government improperly bolstered the testimony of its cooperating witnesses at trial; and (3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing. We hold that the vehicle exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement applies to the search of the private aircraft used to transport Capelli’s marijuana and that there was probable cause to search the plane. There is no merit to Capelli’s remaining challenges. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the denial of the motion to suppress, the judgment of conviction, and the sentence.

________

RAHUL KALE (Marc H. Silverman, on the brief), Assistant United States Attorneys, for Leonard C. Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, New Haven, CT, for Appellee the United States of America.

TINA SCHNEIDER, Portland, ME, for Defendant- Appellant Robert Capelli. ________ 3 No. 19-4362 JOHN M. WALKER, JR., Circuit Judge:

Robert Capelli was convicted of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute, and of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute, 100 kilograms or more of marijuana following a jury trial in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. On appeal, he claims that (1) the district court (Janet Bond Arterton, J.) erred in denying his motion to suppress marijuana that was obtained during a warrantless search of a private single- engine airplane; (2) the government improperly bolstered the testimony of its cooperating witnesses at trial; and (3) he received ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing. We hold that the vehicle exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement applies to the search of the private aircraft used to transport Capelli’s marijuana and that there was probable cause to search the plane. There is no merit to Capelli’s remaining challenges. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the denial of the motion to suppress, the judgment of conviction, and the sentence.

BACKGROUND

The following background is taken from the undisputed facts in Capelli’s motion to suppress, as well as from the evidence introduced at trial.

The Charged Conduct

Beginning in 2013, Capelli, together with co-defendants Scott Bodn