Source: http://openjurist.org/562/f2d/201/united-states-v-beverly
Timestamp: 2017-05-28 05:54:16
Document Index: 257334725

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 846', '§ 841', '§ 2', '§ 844', '§ 841', '§ 841', '§ 841', '§ 846', '§ 844', '§ 841']

562 F2d 201 United States v. Beverly | OpenJurist
562 F. 2d 201 - United States v. Beverly HomeFederal Reporter, Second Series 562 F.2d.
562 F2d 201 United States v. Beverly 562 F.2d 201
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,v.Glen Thomas BEVERLY and Faon De Jesus Rodriguez, Appellants.
Nos. 1374, 1375, Dockets 77-1121, 77-1198.
Argued June 24, 1977.Decided Sept. 19, 1977.
Defendants Glen Thomas Beverly and Faon De Jesus Rodriguez appeal from judgments of conviction for violations of federal narcotics laws entered on March 2, 1977 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, after a jury trial before the Hon. George C. Pratt, District Judge. Appellants were charged in a five count indictment with conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine between November, 1975 and March, 1976 in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, Count One; with the substantive offenses of distributing and of possessing with intent to distribute cocaine on November 4, 1975, Counts Two and Three; and on March 3, 1976, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2, Counts Four and Five. Both Rodriguez and Beverly were convicted of the conspiracy charged in Count One. In addition, Beverly was convicted of the substantive charges, Counts Four and Five. The defendants were acquitted of the charges contained in the remaining counts.
Appellants do not contest the sufficiency of the evidence but raise other points. Appellants urge that Judge Pratt committed reversible error in refusing to give the charge set forth in the margin.1 This proposed defense charge required the trial court to give a hybrid instruction combining within the single charge instructions on the lesser included offense of simple possession, 21 U.S.C. § 844,2 and entrapment with respect to that offense. No request was made for an instruction on entrapment on either the offense of possession with intent to distribute or the offense of distribution. Judge Pratt denied this requested charge. The trial court reasoned that if the jury believed Beverly's testimony that he was only holding the cocaine as a favor for Goncieski then they could not convict on the counts under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) since the requisite intent would not be present. In that situation he also concluded that entrapment on the simple possession count would have been established as a matter of law. Since, under his analysis, the jury in no event could convict Beverly of simple possession, Judge Pratt refused to instruct them on it. Instead, the court offered to instruct the jury that
A defendant is entitled to a lesser included offense charge only if the evidence would permit a jury rationally to find him guilty of the lesser offense but not guilty of the greater. Keeble v. United States, 412 U.S. 205, 208, 93 S.Ct. 1993, 36 L.Ed.2d 844 (1973). Here the defendant admitted possession of cocaine; the element in dispute was his intention with respect to the drug. If Beverly's testimony was believed, not only could he not be convicted of either possession with intent to distribute or of distribution, but he also could not be found guilty of simple possession because, as the trial court found as a matter of law, on those facts he would have been entrapped into committing that crime. Therefore, under Keeble v. United States, supra, the instruction on the lesser included offense was not to be given since no jury rationally could have found Beverly guilty of committing the crime of simple possession.
Judge Pratt could properly determine that if the jury believed Beverly, entrapment on the simple possession count was established as a matter of law. The defendant's testimony clearly established the inducement by a government agent to take possession of the cocaine; the prosecution failed to establish sufficiently Beverly's predisposition to commit the crime. Compare Hampton v. United States, 425 U.S. 484, 488-89, 96 S.Ct. 1646, 48 L.Ed.2d 113 (1976) with Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 372-73, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 (1958). Under the unique circumstances of this case, we find that the defendant could not have been rationally convicted of simple possession because the only evidence that would have supported a conviction on that offense also established entrapment as a matter of law. Thus Judge Pratt correctly refused the requested instruction.
Beverly also urges that the convictions on Count Four for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and Count Five for distribution of cocaine in violation of the same statutory provision merge. Thus, he argues, the judgment of conviction and sentence on Count Four must be vacated and the case remanded for resentencing.
This Circuit has never decided whether a conviction under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) (1) for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute merged with a conviction under the identical statutory section for distribution of the same cocaine. However, as in United States v. Vasquez, 468 F.2d 565 (2d Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 945, 93 S.Ct. 1400, 35 L.Ed.2d 612 (1973) we find no need to reach this issue since Beverly was sentenced concurrently on both Counts Four and Five. See United States v. Gaines, 460 F.2d 176, 179-80 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 883, 93 S.Ct. 172, 34 L.Ed.2d 139 (1972).
Appellant Rodriguez contends that this court must vacate his conviction on the conspiracy count, 21 U.S.C. § 846, because it is inconsistent with Judge Pratt's instructions to the jury on that count. He asserts that the trial court charged the jury that it could not return a guilty verdict on the conspiracy count unless it found Rodriguez guilty of one of the substantive counts. In essence, the appellant's argument is based on the premise that an acquittal on the charges of possession with intent to distribute, of distribution, and of aiding and abetting the commission of these offenses is factually inconsistent with a finding of guilt on a count of conspiracy to commit these offenses. There is no authority to support appellant's argument; indeed, the law is to the contrary. United States v. Zane, 495 F.2d 683, 690 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 895, 95 S.Ct. 174, 42 L.Ed.2d 139 (1974). A conviction on Count One was not necessarily inconsistent with acquittal on the substantive counts since there were other overt acts, included in the indictment and proved, to support that conviction. Nor did Judge Pratt charge that a finding of guilt on one of the substantive counts was necessary to return a guilty verdict on the conspiracy count. In any event, we find appellant's argument meritless and totally unsupported by both the facts and the law.
21 U.S.C. § 844 is a lesser included offense of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). United States v. Swiderski, 548 F.2d 445, 452 (2d Cir. 1977)