Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/669/964/149131/
Timestamp: 2020-02-17 08:58:01
Document Index: 582896082

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2312', '§ 2312', '§ 2314', '§ 2312', '§ 2314', '§ 2312', '§ 2314', '§ 2314', '§ 2314', '§ 2314', '§ 2314']

United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Jack Graves, Defendant-appellant, 669 F.2d 964 (5th Cir. 1982) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Fifth Circuit › 1982 › United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Jack Graves, Defendant-appellant
United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Jack Graves, Defendant-appellant, 669 F.2d 964 (5th Cir. 1982)
US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - 669 F.2d 964 (5th Cir. 1982) March 8, 1982
Each of Graves's arguments suffers from the same flaw. He was charged with conspiracy to violate the Dyer Act and not with a substantive Dyer Act violation itself. Therefore, the sufficiency of the indictment must be measured with regard to a conspiracy to violate federal law rather than with regard for the substantive violations Graves conspired to commit. Viewed in this light, the indictment easily passes muster. " '(A)n indictment is sufficient if it, first, contains the elements of the offense charged and fairly informs the defendant of the charge against which he must defend, and, second, enables him to plead an acquittal or conviction in bar of future prosecutions for the same offense.' " United States v. Bailey, 444 U.S. 394, 414, 100 S. Ct. 624, 636, 62 L. Ed. 2d 575 (1980), quoting Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 117, 94 S. Ct. 2887, 2907, 41 L. Ed. 2d 590 (1974); United States v. L'Hoste, 609 F.2d 796, 800 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 833, 101 S. Ct. 104, 66 L. Ed. 2d 39 (1980). The indictment here satisfies both requirements, and therefore we cannot accept Graves's second argument.3 Graves's first and third arguments-that the indictment is flawed because of its failure to allege the elements of a substantive violation of §§ 2312 and 2314-ignores literally decades of black-letter law to the contrary. In 1908, the Supreme Court rejected the same argument Graves advances here in Williamson v. United States, 207 U.S. 425, 447, 28 S. Ct. 163, 171, 52 L. Ed. 278:
Wong Tai v. United States, 273 U.S. 77, 81, 47 S. Ct. 300, 301-02, 71 L. Ed. 545 (citations omitted). Relying upon Williamson and Wong Tai, this Circuit has consistently rejected the argument that a conspiracy charge must spell out the elements of the substantive offense the accused conspired to commit. E.g., United States v. Cuesta, 597 F.2d 903, 917 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 964, 100 S. Ct. 451, 62 L. Ed. 2d 377 (1979); United States v. Perez, 489 F.2d 51, 70 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 945, 94 S. Ct. 3067, 41 L. Ed. 2d 664 (1974); United States v. Fischetti, 450 F.2d 34, 40 (5th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 1016, 92 S. Ct. 1290, 31 L. Ed. 2d 478 (1972); Brown v. United States, 403 F.2d 489, 490 (5th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 927, 90 S. Ct. 932, 25 L. Ed. 2d 106 (1970); Walker v. United States, 342 F.2d 22, 27 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 859, 86 S. Ct. 117, 15 L. Ed. 2d 97 (1965). See also United States v. Evans, 572 F.2d 455, 483 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 870, 99 S. Ct. 200, 58 L. Ed. 2d 182 (1978); United States v. Bullock, 451 F.2d 884, 888 (5th Cir. 1971). None of the cases cited by Graves are to the contrary.
Graves also argues that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. He does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his own participation in the conspiracy. Instead, his primary challenge is to the sufficiency of the evidence to support Perez's participation in the conspiracy. Relying upon selected portions of the transcript of Perez's testimony, Graves argues that Perez never realized that the trucks were stolen, refused to accept stolen trucks from Graves, and refused to participate in a scheme to transport stolen trucks into Mexico for resale. Because the evidence was insufficient to support Perez's involvement in the conspiracy, the jury should not have been permitted to consider this theory as a basis for convicting Graves. Therefore, because the jury could have rendered its verdict on a basis for which the evidence was insufficient, his conviction must be set aside under Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359, 51 S. Ct. 532, 75 L. Ed. 1117 (1931). We disagree.4
Conspiracy is an inchoate offense usually defined as an agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act or to achieve a lawful end by illegal means. See Iannelli v. United States, 420 U.S. 770, 777, 95 S. Ct. 1284, 1289, 43 L. Ed. 2d 616 (1975); United States v. Wilson, 657 F.2d 755, 758 (5th Cir. 1981). The essential elements of the offense of conspiracy are an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime and an overt act by one of them in furtherance of the agreement. United States v. Wilson, supra, 657 F.2d at 758; United States v. Malatesta, 590 F.2d 1379, 1381 (5th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 962, 99 S. Ct. 1508, 59 L. Ed. 2d 777 (1979). The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a conspiracy existed, that the defendant knew of the conspiracy, and that, with that knowledge, he voluntarily became a part of it. United States v. Davis, 666 F.2d 195, 200-201 (5th Cir. 1982); United States v. Welch, 656 F.2d 1039, 1055 (5th Cir. 1981). However, the government need not establish its proof by direct evidence. Proof of a conspiracy may be established by circumstantial evidence and may be inferred from concert of action. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S. Ct. 457, 469, 86 L. Ed. 680 (1942); United States v. Wilson, supra, 657 F.2d at 759. See United States v. Sutherland, 656 F.2d 1181, 1188 (5th Cir. 1981).
In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction, an appellate court must determine "whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1979) (emphasis in original); United States v. Lerma, 657 F.2d 786, 789 (5th Cir. 1981), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 102 S. Ct. ----, 70 L. Ed. 2d --- (1982). All of the evidence must be considered in the light most favorable to the government, Jackson v. Virginia, supra, and we must accept all credibility judgments and reasonable inferences that support the verdict. United States v. Dean, 666 F.2d 174, 177 (5th Cir. 1982). See United States v. Lerma, supra, 657 F.2d at 789.
Knowledge by the defendant that the property moving in interstate or foreign commerce was stolen is an essential element of a violation of either § 2312 or § 2314. United States v. Beil, 577 F.2d 1313, 1314 (5th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 946, 99 S. Ct. 1422, 59 L. Ed. 2d 634 (1979) (§ 2312); United States v. Franklin, 586 F.2d 560, 564 (5th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 972, 99 S. Ct. 1536, 59 L. Ed. 2d 789 (1979) (§ 2314). Therefore, the government must prove that a defendant knew that the vehicles were stolen in order to prove a conspiracy to violate § 2312 or § 2314. In reviewing the sufficiency of a district court's jury instructions, we must examine the adequacy of the charges as a whole in the context of the entire trial to determine whether they adequately presented the issues to the jury. United States v. Park, 421 U.S. 658, 674-75, 95 S. Ct. 1903, 1912-13, 44 L. Ed. 2d 489 (1975). A district court has substantial latitude in tailoring his instructions so long as they fairly and adequately cover the issues presented by the case. United States v. Pool, 660 F.2d 547, 558 (5th Cir. 1981). Moreover, where, as here, the defendant neither submits proposed instructions nor objects to the instructions given by the district court he must demonstrate plain error to obtain a reversal. United States v. Hinds, 662 F.2d 362, 370 (5th Cir. 1981). We can find plain error only if the error is so obvious that our failure to notice it would seriously affect the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings and result in a miscarriage of justice. Id.
Appellant's second argument-that the district court committed plain error by failing to instruct the jury that the vehicles had to have a minimum value of $5,000-misses the mark. While proof that the vehicles had a minimum value of $5,000 would have been necessary had Graves been charged with a substantive violation of § 2314, United States v. Perry, 638 F.2d 862, 864-65 (5th Cir. 1981), that proof is unnecessary here because Graves was charged with conspiracy to violate § 2314. United States v. Rose, 590 F.2d 232, 236 (7th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 929, 99 S. Ct. 2859, 61 L. Ed. 2d 297 (1979); United States v. Maddox, 492 F.2d 104, 106 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 851, 95 S. Ct. 92, 42 L. Ed. 2d 82 (1974); Carlson v. United States, 187 F.2d 366, 369-70 (10th Cir. 1951). Cf. United States v. Rose, supra, 590 F.2d at 235-36 (proof that goods travelled in interstate or foreign commerce unnecessary for conspiracy to violate § 2314); United States v. Franklin, supra, 586 F.2d at 565-66 (proof that defendant knew that goods had travelled in interstate or foreign commerce unnecessary for conspiracy to violate § 2314). The district court did not err by omitting this charge.
Finally, we do not believe that the district court's comments upon the evidence during jury instructions requires reversal. While instructing the jury, the court made the following remark: "I don't think the defendant or anyone really argues too much that these trucks were stolen and they were taken from where they were stolen down to Laredo." Any error was neither substantial nor harmful. The evidence was overwhelming that the trucks had been stolen and that they had been transported from Fort Worth to Laredo. Finally, at another point in the instructions, the district court made it clear to the jury that it was to decide the factual issues in the case, including the question of whether the trucks had been stolen. The district court's comments do not constitute plain error. Cf. United States v. Gerald, 624 F.2d 1291, 1299-300 (5th Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 920, 101 S. Ct. 1369, 67 L. Ed. 2d 348 (1981).
This case is quite unlike McKissick. Here, the district court did not make any legal or factual ruling of any type during the conference, and clearly did not jeopardize Graves's "valued right to have his trial completed by a particular tribunal," Wade v. Hunter, 336 U.S. 684, 689, 69 S. Ct. 834, 837, 93 L. Ed. 974 (1949), his right to confront the witnesses against him, or his right to the assistance of counsel. This conference, a type customarily occurring in criminal cases, was merely an informal interchange between the trial court and counsel for both parties that focused upon the jury instructions that the court would give at the end of trial. The trial court's decision to discuss jury instructions with counsel in the absence of the defendant was not error. A defendant does not have a federal constitutional or statutory right to attend a conference between the trial court and counsel concerned with the purely legal matter of determining what jury instructions the trial court will issue. Fed. R. Crim. P. 43(c) (3) (defendant need not be present "(a)t a conference or argument upon a question of law."); United States v. Gregorio, 497 F.2d 1253, 1256-60 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1024, 95 S. Ct. 501, 42 L. Ed. 2d 298 (1974); United States v. Lewis, 420 F.2d 686, 687 (5th Cir. 1970) (per curiam); Root v. Cunningham, 344 F.2d 1, 3-5 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 866, 86 S. Ct. 135, 15 L. Ed. 2d 104 (1965); Deschenes v. United States, 224 F.2d 688, 693 (10th Cir. 1955); Pope v. United States, 287 F. Supp. 214, 218-19 (W.D. Tex. 1967), aff'd, 398 F.2d 834 (5th Cir. 1968) (per curiam), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1097, 89 S. Ct. 886, 21 L. Ed. 2d 787 (1969); Brown v. Pepersack, 217 F. Supp. 547, 550 (D. Md. 1963), aff'd, 334 F.2d 9, 11 & n.5 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 917, 85 S. Ct. 269, 13 L. Ed. 2d 188 (1964). Cf. Schwab v. Berggren, 143 U.S. 442, 12 S. Ct. 525, 36 L. Ed. 218 (1892) (defendant has no constitutional or common law right to attend appellate proceedings); United States v. Sinclair, 438 F.2d 50, 52 (5th Cir. 1971) (defendant has no right to attend chamber's conference discussing admissibility of testimony); Steiner v. United States, 134 F.2d 931, 935 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 319 U.S. 774, 63 S. Ct. 1439, 87 L. Ed. 1721 (1943) (same, arguments on trial motions). In Lewis, supra, the defendant was absent from four conferences in chambers between the trial judge and counsel. Two of these conferences involved evidentiary matters and two involved jury instructions. We concluded that "none of the four meetings referred to was a stage of the trial which required the accused's presence," and held that his absence did not violate either Fed. R. Crim. P. 43 or our earlier decision in McKissick. United States v. Lewis, supra, 420 F.2d at 687. Lewis, not McKissick, is controlling here and requires us to reject appellant's claim that he was denied the right to attend every stage of his trial.
Because we conclude that the evidence is sufficient to support the conclusion that Perez was a full participant in the conspiracy, we need not consider the government's argument, relying upon our decision in United States v. Dilworth, 524 F.2d 470, 471 n.1 (5th Cir. 1975) (per curiam), that Stromberg is applicable only where the jury's verdict could have been based upon erroneous legal grounds, not erroneous factual grounds. See also Bradford v. United States, 413 F.2d 467, 470-71 (5th Cir. 1969) (reversal not required in conspiracy case where evidence of one overt act insufficient if evidence of another is sufficient). Further explication of Stromberg may be forthcoming. Stephens v. Zant, 631 F.2d 397 (5th Cir. 1980), amended on petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc, 648 F.2d 446 (5th Cir.), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 102 S. Ct. 90, 70 L. Ed. 2d 82 (1981). We do note, however, that appellant's suggestion that our holding in Dilworth was dicta because it was an alternative ground for decision simply will not wash. See Kimble v. D. J. McDuffy, Inc., --- U.S. ----, ---- n.4, 102 S. Ct. 687, 689 n.4, 70 L. Ed. 2d 651 (1981) (White, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari); id. (authorities cited)