PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 23-4568

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

TAEYAN RAYMOND WILLIAMS,

Defendant - Appellant.

No. 23-4595

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

SCOTT ANTHONY WILLIAMS,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt. Theodore D. Chuang, District Judge. (8:18−cr−00631−TDC−2; 8:18−cr−00631−TDC−1)

Argued: December 10, 2024 Decided: March 4, 2025 USCA4 Appeal: 23-4568 Doc: 70 Filed: 03/04/2025 Pg: 2 of 17

Before WILKINSON, QUATTLEBAUM, and BERNER, Circuit Judges.

Nos. 23-4568 and 23-4595 affirmed by published opinion. Judge Quattlebaum wrote the opinion, in which Judge Wilkinson and Judge Berner joined.

ARGUED: Brent Evan Newton, Gaithersburg, Maryland; Alfred Guillaume III, LAW OFFICES OF ALFRED GUILLAUME III, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellants. Thomas Ernest Booth, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Nicole M. Argentieri, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Lisa H. Miller, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Appellate Section, Criminal Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.; Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, William D. Moomau, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.

2 USCA4 Appeal: 23-4568 Doc: 70 Filed: 03/04/2025 Pg: 3 of 17

QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judge:

After a federal jury convicted a father—Scott Williams—and a son—Taeyan

Williams—of various offenses related to their drug distribution to college students, each

appealed his judgment for separate reasons. Taeyan claims there was insufficient evidence

to support his conviction for possession with intent to distribute the controlled substances

found in Scott’s home. Scott raises three issues. First, he argues the district court should

have suppressed evidence found in his home because law enforcement failed to knock and

announce before entering. Second, he asks us to remand for the district court to apply newly

promulgated U.S.S.G. § 4C1.1 to his sentence. And third, Scott contends the district court

improperly delegated judicial powers to the United States Probation Office in imposing

substance abuse and mental health counseling as a condition of supervised release. Having

considered the parties’ arguments and reviewed the record, we affirm the district court with

respect to both appeals and both judgments.

I.

This case arose from an investigation into the disappearance of a suspected drug

dealer, Noah Smothers, and a large stash of his narcotics. Smothers was the primary

marijuana supplier to Scott and Taeyan, who in turn operated a large-scale enterprise

selling drugs to college students. Smothers had plans to meet Scott and Taeyan to resolve

a dispute about money they owed him for drugs. But sometime after that scheduled

meeting, Smothers disappeared, and his drug storage facility was left empty. Investigating

these events, local law enforcement began tracking his last known locations, inspecting

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