Opinion ID: 183935
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Smith argues the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's verdict that he conspired to distribute crack cocaine. We review the sufficiency of the evidence de novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and accepting all reasonable inferences that support the verdict. United States v. Hernandez, 569 F.3d 893, 896 (8th Cir.2009), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 1308, 175 L.Ed.2d 1093 (2010). At trial, Iowa City detective and Drug Enforcement Agency task-force member Jerry Blomgren testified that Jeffery Pickett was arrested on January 17, 2008, after a series of controlled buys by a confidential informant. Pickett agreed to participate in a controlled buy from one of his crack sources, Anthony Smith, also known as Red. Pickett placed a call on his cell phone to the number listed for Redy and arranged to purchase crack. Pickett was searched, outfitted with a hidden transmitter, provided $200 in serialized bills, and driven to an apartment building in Coralville, Iowa. Special Agent Charles Pettrone accompanied Pickett to the door of apartment 11 and watched as Pickett entered the apartment and exited a minute later with baggies containing five rocks weighing 3.5 grams that were later tested and found to contain three grams of crack. A subsequent warrant search of apartment 11 uncovered evidence that the apartment was occupied by Smith and by Patrick Williams, as well as razor blades, sandwich bags commonly used to package drugs, fifteen cell phones, $1200 in cash, a pellet gun, and three sets of brass knuckles. Pickett testified that Smith was the person in apartment 11 who sold the crack on January 17, that Smith introduced Pickett to selling crack, and that on six occasions Pickett, Smith, and Williams pooled their money and purchased up to 4.5 ounces of crack from drug dealers in Chicago. Witness Catherine Lair, who lived next door to apartment 11, identified Smith as her neighbor, confirmed he was known as Red, and testified she obtained a cell phone for Smith with the number called by Pickett to arrange the January 17 sale. Patrick Williams testified that he and Smith were in the business of selling crack, that Smith dealt some fifteen ounces per month, and that he (Williams) initially lied about Smith's involvement because he feared reprisal from a Chicago gang. Benjamin Boyd identified Smith as Red, estimated that he (Boyd) purchased one hundred grams of crack from Smith, and once saw Smith with a rock of crack larger than a tennis ball. Daniel Davis testified that Smith fronted several eight-balls of crack (approximately 3.5 grams each) and later sold Davis about thirty grams of crack in a series of transactions. Records from the cell phone registered to Lair showed sixty-seven outgoing calls to Williams, eighteen to Pickett, twelve to Boyd, nine to Davis, and over 1000 to other persons during a twenty-one day period in late 2007 and early 2008. Smith argues this evidence proved only his mere presence at drug deals or his physical proximity to contraband. But if credited by the jury, the evidence showed far more than one sale of crack at Smith's residence. Numerous witnesses testified to his substantial involvement in county-wide drug dealing. We have repeatedly upheld jury verdicts based solely on the testimony of cooperating witnesses. See, e.g., United States v. Buckley, 525 F.3d 629, 632-33 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 475, 172 L.Ed.2d 340 (2008). Here, cell phone records tended to corroborate the testimony of drug trafficking, particularly the sale to Pickett on January 17. The evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury's finding that Smith participated in a conspiracy to distribute far more than fifty grams of crack cocaine.