Source: http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19830304_0040419.C02.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2017-08-22 02:06:05
Document Index: 640533743

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 846', '§ 812', '§ 2', '§ 846', '§ 812', '§ 2']

YVETTE CARSON, LEMUEL MONT, A/K/A "LAM," AND KENNETH THOMAS, A/K/A "KENNETH DAVIS," DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.
Appeals from judgments of conviction entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York after a four-week jury trial before Brieant, Judge, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and for distribution and possession with intent to distribute heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 812, 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A), and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Affirmed.
OAKES and WINTER, Circuit Judges, and MACMAHON, District Judge.*fn*
The fifteen-count indictment charged Carson, Mont, Thomas and sixteen co-defendants with violations of the federal narcotics laws. Count 1 charged all defendants with conspiracy to distribute heroin and to possess it with intent to distribute from June 1980 until October 1981, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (1976).*fn1 The remaining counts (Counts 2 through 15) charged various defendants with distribution of heroin and possession with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 812, 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A) (1976), and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (1976).*fn2 Carson was charged in three substantive counts (Counts 13 through 15) and Mont in seven counts (Counts 3 through 9). Thomas was named in the conspiracy count only.
Trial commenced against Carson, Mont, Thomas and co-defendant Gayburnetta Galloway.*fn3 At the close of the government's case, Judge Brieant dismissed Count 13 against Carson and Counts 3 through 6 against Mont and consolidated Counts 8 and 9 which named Mont.
After deliberating for three days, the jury found Carson guilty of the conspiracy count and one of the remaining substantive counts (Count 15), but found her not guilty on the other substantive count (Count 14). Mont was found guilty on the conspiracy count, the consolidated substantive count (Count 8), and the remaining substantive count (Count 7). The jury found Thomas guilty on the conspiracy count. Galloway was found not guilty on the conspiracy count, and the jury was unable to reach a verdict as to her on the substantive count (Count 15).*fn4
The evidence demonstrated that Mont was a major distributor of heroin. He was variously described as owning or operating the Our Place Bar,*fn5 a heroin marketplace. Thus, on several occasions, Guy Wilkins sold heroin to DEA Agents Baker, Coleman and Williams at or in the vicinity of the Our Place Bar. On August 13, 1980, Wilkins sold a sample to the agents and informed them that he and his brother, David Wilkins, received their heroin from the same source -- the owner of the Our Place Bar.*fn6 During this sale, the agents indicated that they could sell quinine to Wilkins' source, and Wilkins agreed to arrange a meeting between his source and the agents. On September 29, 1980, Guy Wilkins sold the agents two ounces of heroin for a price of $20,000 at the Our Place Bar.
Mont's heavy involvement in the heroin business was solidly shown by his dealings with the agents in October 1980. On October 3, Agents Baker and Coleman met with Mont at the Our Place Bar, and he agreed to purchase liquor from them.*fn7 En route to Queens to pick up the liquor, Baker told Mont that he was unhappy with the Wilkins brothers and was seeking a reliable source of heroin. Baker also offered to sell some quinine.Mont replied that he had heroin connections and could supply the four ounces that Baker wanted. After picking up the liquor, they returned to the bar, where Mont paid Baker $900 for the liquor in $100 bills. The serial numbers on two of the bills matched those on two of the bills that the agents had paid to Guy Wilkins for the heroin the agents bought on September 29. Mont stated that his connection was returning that evening and that the agents should remain at the bar.After a wait of two hours, nobody appeared and the agents left.
Carson's role in the conspiracy was shown in a series of meetings between the conspirators and the agents. On July 21, 1981, Wilkins agreed with the agents to arrange their purchase of heroin from Fred Galloway. Subsequently, on July 25, the agents went to the Flash Inn at the appointed time and place. When Wilkins arrived, he was accompanied by Carson, whom he introduced as his "partner." Carson told the agents that she had met Wilkins through Fred Chaffin and acknowledged that she and Wilkins were now partners. Wilkins, Carson and Agent Johnson discussed the irony of Wilkins' dealing Carson's narcotics over a year, although neither was known to the other. Wilkins stated that Carson had an overseas heroin connection,*fn8 and Johnson asked Carson how it worked. Carson replied that a friend of hers had the connection, that her friend employed overweight women to carry the heroin into the country on their person, and offered to act as an intermediary between her friend and the agents if the agents wanted to buy heroin. Agent Williams asked Carson if she knew the people whom they were going to do business with that morning. Carson stated that she did and that she had met them through her "old man."
Later that day, at Close Encounters Discotheque, where the sale was consummated, Carson elaborated on her role in the heroin business.*fn9 She told Agent Williams that her "old man" was in jail, that she was running his heroin business, and that she had to be careful because she wanted to save money to "set him up right" upon his release from prison. She also stated that she had been Chaffin's partner for quite a while and that their partnership had ended "just recently."
On July 28, 1981, Agents Johnson and Baker met with Guy Wilkins and Carson's son, Kevin, at the Flash Inn.*fn10 Wilkins stated that he and Carson each had a half-pound of heroin and needed quinine. Later that day, Johnson and Baker met with Wilkins and Carson at a Jack-in-the-Box Restaurant in the Bronx. Carson said that she was rushed because of the presence of customers from Washington, D.C., to whom she was selling heroin. She also told Johnson that she would meet two potential sources later in the week and that she was "not too sure" about one but "85 per cent sure" of the other. Baker told Carson that he wanted to become her partner and asked her to mention him to her "Italian source," whom she planned to meet on July 30. Carson also reiterated the existence of her partnership with Wilkins.
Later that evening, Howard suggested that the agents buy heroin from another source, which he indicated as someone sitting in a Lincoln Continental parked in front of the agents' car. When the agents seemed reluctant, Howard assured them that this person's heroin was from the same source as that provided by Wilson. The agents agreed to buy the heroin from the person in the Lincoln Continental, but the transaction did not take place because Thomas, Howard and a young woman spotted a surveillance vehicle across the street, walked toward it, and stood facing the vehicle for a short time. The driver of the Lincoln ...