Opinion ID: 765611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Assaults on the Customs Officers

Text: 67 Escobar argues that the court erred in instructing the jury that it could convict on counts 5 and 6 (charging him with the April 14, 1986 shootings of the customs officers) on the basis of Pinkerton liability, 26 as there was insufficient evidence to establish his participation in a conspiracy on that date. Specifically, Escobar contends that the absence of any direct evidence of an importation actually having occurred on April 14th made it impossible for any rational factfinder to conclude that a conspiracy existed; and that, in any event, the evidence established only his mere presence at the scene where some of the conspiratorial activities allegedly took place. 27 Without sufficient evidence of his participation in a conspiracy on the evening of April 14th, he argues, the Pinkerton instruction was improper. 68 To prove the elements of a conspiracy, the government must show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant and one or more coconspirators intended to agree and . . . to commit the substantive criminal offense which was the object of their unlawful agreement. United States v. Tejeda, 974 F.2d 210, 212 (1st Cir. 1992) (quoting United States v. Lopez, 944 F.2d 33, 39 (1st Cir. 1991)) (alteration in original); see United States v. Cruz, 981 F.2d 613, 616 (1st Cir. 1992). No particular formalities attend this showing: the agreement may be express or tacit and may be proved by direct or circumstantial evidence. See United States v. Sepulveda, 15 F.3d 1161, 1173 (1st Cir. 1993); United States v. Gomez-Pabon, 911 F.2d 847, 853 (1st Cir. 1990). Indeed, [d]ue to the clandestine nature of criminal conspiracies, the law recognizes that . . . a common purpose and plan may be inferred from a development and collocation of circumstances. Tejeda, 974 F.2d at 212 (quoting United States v. Sanchez, 917 F.2d 607, 610 (1st Cir. 1990)) (internal quotation marks omitted). 69 Applying these standards here, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to support the Pinkerton charge. First, contrary to Escobar's assertion, the fact that the government introduced no direct evidence of contraband having been imported by plane on April 14th does not preclude the jury from concluding that Escobar and his cohorts were engaged in a conspiracy to achieve such ends. Proof of the conspiracy's objective having been accomplished is not required to sustain a conspiracy conviction. See David, 940 F.2d at 735 (noting that the law is well-settled that a criminal conspiracy can exist despite the eventual failure of its objective). 28 70 As to Escobar's claim that the evidence established only his mere presence at the scene of the conspiratorial activities, see, e.g., United States v. Ocampo, 964 F.2d 80, 82 (1st Cir. 1992), we disagree. Proof of participation in a conspiracy may consist of circumstantial evidence, and jurors are neither required to divorce themselves from their common sense nor to abandon the dictates of mature experience. United States v. Ortiz, 966 F.2d 707, 712 (1st Cir. 1992). The government presented evidence that on April 14th co-defendant Flores purchased more than one hundred gallons of aviation gasoline; that Flores and co-defendant Morales entered the Potrero Cuevas Farm in separate vehicles; that law enforcement agents waiting nearby then heard a plane flying overhead; that shortly thereafter agents observed several vehicles exit the farm, including a truck driven by Escobar that carried six passengers, four of whom were dressed in camouflage; that a few days later agents searching the farm discovered a clandestine landing strip, battery-powered lamps that had been purchased by Escobar (one of which had Escobar's fingerprints on it), and sixty gallons of missing aviation fuel. The jury was entitled to infer from this evidence Escobar's participation, rather than mere presence, in the conspiratorial activities. See United States v. Batista-Polanco, 927 F.2d 14, 18 (1st Cir. 1991); Tejeda, 974 F.2d at 213 ([T]he factfinder may fairly infer . . . that it runs counter to human experience to suppose that criminal conspirators would welcome innocent nonparticipants as witnesses to their crimes.). The evidence was sufficient to support the Pinkerton charge.