Source: http://openjurist.org/130/f3d/381/united-states-v-cain
Timestamp: 2013-12-10 19:07:37
Document Index: 80206044

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 841', '§ 3231', '§ 3742', '§ 1291', '§ 841', '§ 841']

130 F3d 381 United States v. Cain | OpenJurist
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130 F3d 381 United States v. Cain 130 F.3d 381
97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8723, 97 Daily JournalD.A.R. 14,145UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Albert Dean CAIN, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.
No. 94-50518.
Argued and Submitted March 5, 1996.Submission Withdrawn July 10, 1996.Resubmitted Sept. 24, 1997.Decided Nov. 19, 1997.
Henry F. Reynolds, Santa Monica, California, for defendant-appellant.
Jonathan S. Shapiro, Assistant United States Attorney, Los Angeles, California, for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California; Linda H. McLaughlin, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-93-00019-LM(RR)-2.
Before: BROWNING, WALLACE, and FARRIS, Circuit Judges.
Cain appeals from his conviction for possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We exercise jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a) and 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm.
* On December 2, 1992, Cain met Connie Brown, Angelo Morris, and Douglas and James Burnside at the Ontario Airport in Ontario, California, and drove them to a Rialto, California, residence. Soon thereafter, Cain and Douglas Burnside drove to a nearby Price Club store and parked next to a 1983 Mercury. Carlos Valdez-Verdugo and Francisco Contreras-Lopez emerged from the Mercury, walked to Cain's vehicle, and exchanged packages with its occupants. Later that day, police officers stopped Brown, Morris, and the Burnsides, and arrested them upon discovery on Brown of a package of cocaine weighing approximately three kilograms. Valdez-Verdugo and Contreras-Lopez were arrested the next day, in possession of over $65,000 in cash. A federal grand jury indicted Cain on one count charging him with possession with the intent to distribute approximately three kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). A jury subsequently found Cain guilty as charged in the indictment.
The statute under which Cain was convicted states that "it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally [ ] to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled substance." 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). We have interpreted this statutory offense as having three elements: "[t]he government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant (1) knowingly, (2) possessed the cocaine, (3) with an intent to distribute it." United States v. Ocampo, 937 F.2d 485, 488 (9th Cir.1991). Often, as here, the three are combined into two elements: knowing possession and with intent to distribute.
Cain argues that the jointly proposed jury instructions misdefined the element, "possession."