Opinion ID: 537041
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Identification of Surratt

Text: 26 Defendant Surratt maintains that the evidence at trial was insufficient to identify him as a member of the conspiracy. This argument merely reasserts that simple association with known criminals should not be the basis for a conspiracy conviction. The government does not dispute that mere association is insufficient. Rather, the government argues that the evidence at trial did more than establish Surratt's mere association with the other conspirators. 27 Surratt's burden in challenging the sufficiency of the evidence is a heavy one. In United States v. Douglas, 874 F.2d 1145, 1151 (1989), certiorari denied sub nom. Pruitt v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 126, 107 L.Ed.2d 87, this Court stated that a conviction must be affirmed if any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Surratt argues that evidence of his mere presence while the marijuana was being loaded and covered with lettuce does not demonstrate that he knowingly participated in the conspiracy. One of the government's witnesses, Jeffrey Tuchband, testified that Surratt did not merely deliver a load of lettuce to the warehouse, but was near the truck while 60,000 pounds of marijuana was being loaded. According to Tuchband this loading procedure caused the air surrounding the truck to fill with the dust and the odor of marijuana. Tuchband further testified that Surratt helped cover the marijuana with the lettuce. Surratt now asks this Court to believe that he could not recognize marijuana by sight or smell, and in addition that he found nothing unusual about covering an enormous load of unknown material with lettuce. Based on the evidence adduced at trial, it would have been irrational for the jury to have found that Surratt was ignorant of what was going on around him. 28 Surratt also contends that only two of the numerous government witnesses specifically identified him as the individual who transported lettuce and witnessed or participated in the camouflaging of the truckload of marijuana. He concedes that other witnesses referred to the participation of someone named Harley, (defendant Surratt's first name) but he argues that such an identification is insufficient. This argument must fail, since the testimony of only one witness would suffice to establish Surratt's participation in the conspiracy if the jury determined to credit that testimony. See Brown v. Bowen, 847 F.2d 342, 344 (7th Cir.1988). 29 Furthermore, there is ample precedent that inference and circumstantial evidence are sufficient to establish that the John Doe referred to by various witnesses is in fact the same John Doe as the defendant. See, e.g., United States v. Weed, 689 F.2d 752, 754-755 (7th Cir.1982); United States v. Cooper, 733 F.2d 91, 92 (11th Cir.1984). Surratt maintains that the Fifth Circuit's decision in United States v. Darrell, 629 F.2d 1089 (1980), supports his argument that he was not sufficiently identified. In Darrell, the court acknowledged that circumstantial evidence would suffice, but reversed a conviction where no evidence connected the defendant seated in court with the individual being named by the witnesses. Surratt cannot and does not argue that no evidence was offered during his trial to support the inference that he is the Harley named by various witnesses. Therefore, Darrell is inapposite. 30 The government's evidence at trial was sufficient to establish that the defendant Harley Surratt was a member of the conspiracy charged in the indictment. 31