Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-06-02435/USCOURTS-ca8-06-02435-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
United States of America
Appellee
Julio Valera-Ramirez
Appellant

Document Text:

1

The Honorable Lyle E. Strom, United States District Judge for the District of

Nebraska. 

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 06-2435

___________

United States of America, *

*

Appellee, *

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

* District of Nebraska.

Julio Valera-Ramirez, also known *

as Roberto, *

*

Appellant. *

___________

Submitted: April 9, 2007

Filed: July 6, 2007

___________

Before WOLLMAN, COLLOTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.

___________

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

Julio Valera-Ramirez was convicted of conspiring to distribute

methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1), and 846, and

possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine, in violation of §§ 841(a)(1) and

(b)(1). The district court1

 sentenced him to 180 months’ imprisonment. ValeraRamirez appeals from his convictions, contesting the sufficiency of the evidence. We

affirm.

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I. 

On March 30, 2005, Trooper Ryan Hayes of the Nebraska State Patrol,

traveling westbound on Interstate 80, noticed a pick-up truck that lacked a front

license plate, as required by Nebraska law. He followed the truck and, after a

registration check indicated that there was no registration for the truck on file, initiated

a traffic stop. 

There were two occupants in the vehicle: the driver, Valera-Ramirez, and the

passenger, Alberto Lizarro-Castro. The two men handed Hayes their Mexican voter

registration cards as well as the rental agreement for the truck. Lizarro-Castro told

Hayes that they were coming back from Denver, where they had spent a week painting

a house. Hayes noticed that the rental agreement stated that the truck had been due

back two days earlier and that it was authorized to be driven “en route to MN.” The

agreement also stated that the vehicle had been rented to a Brenda Medina and that

Valera-Ramirez was one of the authorized drivers.

The men acknowledged that they were in the United States illegally, and were

arrested. Their vehicle was taken to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

office. At the ICE office, a drug-sniffing dog alerted to the area underneath the

steering column. When the dog’s handler reached under the steering column, he

discovered a cylindrical package about one foot long and wrapped in electrical tape.

In the middle of this package was a white crystal substance later determined to be

methamphetamine. Hayes noticed that there were bolts holding the dash together that

appeared tooled or scarred in a manner consistent with their recent removal. Because

they lacked the tools necessary to dismantle the area under the steering column and

investigate further, law enforcement agents towed the truck to a nearby auto

dealership. At the dealership, mechanics removed the impact bar, which contained

seven additional packages of methamphetamine. The methamphetamine collected

from the vehicle weighed a total of 2.44 pounds and had a value in excess of $35,000,

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which could be increased by diluting the methamphetamine and breaking it down into

smaller packages for resale. 

At trial, Medina, the woman who had rented the truck, testified that her husband

had asked her to rent the vehicle for some friends of his. Valera-Ramirez, Medina’s

husband, and an unidentified man accompanied her to the rental company. When she

asked her husband’s friends whether they wanted a small car, the unidentified man

told her that they would be needing a larger vehicle. At the rental counter, this other

man also stated that Valera-Ramirez would be the driver and that they would be going

to Minnesota. 

The jury also heard testimony from a Nebraska state trooper regarding the

modus operandi of drug couriers. He explained that drug suppliers utilize drug

couriers, who rent vehicles that are later loaded with narcotics. The drug courier then

drives the narcotics-laden vehicle to another location, sometimes making deliveries

and sometimes bringing the vehicle to a location where drugs that have been more

securely stowed can be removed. 

II. 

Valera-Ramirez argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he had

possessed the methamphetamine or that he had conspired with anyone to distribute it.

We disagree. 

Viewing the evidence and the inferences that may be reasonably drawn

therefrom in the light most favorable to the verdict, United States v. Barajas, 474 F.3d

1023, 1025 (8th Cir. 2007), there was sufficient evidence that Valera-Ramirez

possessed the drugs and conspired with others to distribute them. First, there was

sufficient evidence that Valera-Ramirez had constructive possession of the drugs. To

establish constructive possession, the government was required to prove that ValeraAppellate Case: 06-2435 Page: 3 Date Filed: 07/06/2007 Entry ID: 3326861
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Valera-Ramirez points out that there was no information regarding the

vehicle’s rental history, apparently attempting to imply that the drugs could have been

stashed by someone unconnected to Valera-Ramirez who had rented the vehicle

previously. In light of the aforementioned evidence and considering the low

probability that an individual would rent a car, load it with valuable contraband, and

then return it to the rental company, the jury could reasonably have rejected this

hypothesis. 

3

That this conspiracy was directed toward distribution can be inferred by the

large quantity of drugs involved. See United States v. Billingsley, 160 F.3d 502, 506

(8th Cir. 1998) (remarking that a large quantity of drugs is circumstantial evidence of

an intent to distribute). 

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Ramirez had “knowledge and ‘ownership, dominion, or control over the contraband

itself, or dominion over the [vehicle] in which the contraband [was] concealed.’”

United States v. Flores, 362 F.3d 1030, 1036 (8th Cir. 2004) (quoting Ortega v. United

States, 270 F.3d 540, 545 (8th Cir. 2001)) (first alteration in the original). The fact

that Valera-Ramirez was the driver and an authorized operator of the vehicle in which

the methamphetamine was found suffices to establish his control over the drugs. See

Flores, 362 F.3d at 1036 (the fact that the defendant was the driver of the car in which

drugs were found was enough to establish his control over those drugs). As for

knowledge, in addition to the aforementioned evidence, there was testimony that

Valera-Ramirez was present when the pick-up truck was rented and that he had heard

another man remark that a larger vehicle was needed. Moreover, the events in this

case were consonant with the drug courier modus operandi described by the trooper.

Collectively, this evidence was sufficient to establish that Valera-Ramirez was a drug

courier who knew that a large quantity of drugs had been stashed in his rental vehicle.2

This evidence also suffices to establish that he had conspired with others.3

The convictions are affirmed. 

______________________________

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