Opinion ID: 503754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: insufficient evidence on count iv

Text: 74 Vest claims that as a matter of law the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction on Count IV. 75 The government correctly notes that Vest waived his motion for acquittal by failing to raise it at the completion of all the evidence. Although Vest had moved for acquittal at the close of the government's evidence, he then proceeded to introduce evidence in his own behalf and did not thereafter renew the motion. This omission served to waive the earlier motion. See United States v. Notarantonio, 758 F.2d 777, 788 (1st Cir.1985). In such circumstances, a conviction shall only be overturned upon a showing of clear and gross injustice. United States v. Greenleaf, 692 F.2d 182, 185 (1st Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1069, 103 S.Ct. 1523, 75 L.Ed.2d 946 (1983). However, we find that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's verdict even under the usual, more searching standard of review. 76 Count IV alleged that the following underlined response was a false declaration: 77 Q. You've never been given money from cash registers in any of Mr. Waters's stores that he owns; any of his variety stores? 78
79 The specific gap in the evidence claimed by Vest is that the government failed to prove that Vest knew the payoffs originated in the registers in Waters's stores. 80 In reviewing this claim of insufficient evidence, we consider the evidence as a whole, taken in the light most favorable to the government, together with all legitimate inferences to be drawn therefrom.... United States v. Drougas, 748 F.2d 8, 15 (1st Cir.1984). Whether the defendant had knowledge of a certain fact, like whether a defendant had the intention to conspire, see id., can rarely be proven by direct evidence, and this case is no exception. However, given the strong circumstantial evidence, the jury could reasonably have inferred that Vest knew the origin of the payoff money. 81 The relevant testimony is that of four witnesses--Jesse Waters and three of the cashiers who worked in Waters's Warren Street store. They stated that payoffs were made to police officers on a regular basis and that several procedures were employed. Vest was one of the regular pickup men--he received payoffs as often as once a week. Usually, the money was given to police officers in paper bags. If Waters planned to be out of the store when the police officers came by, he would leave a bag of money with the cashier. If Waters was in the store when the officer arrived, the officer and Waters would meet in the back of the store. If Waters did not have the payoff money in his pocket, he would go to the cashier's station located in the middle of the store. Then Waters would either ask the cashier to fill a bag of money or Waters would do it himself. The money was taken from either the register or from the marijuana stash which was kept underneath the register. Waters would then return to the back of the store and hand the bag to the waiting officer. This evidence is sufficient for the jury to find that Vest had in fact received money from the cash registers in Waters's stores. 82 The evidence also showed that the cash register was visible from the back of the store, which was the location where Waters would hand the payoff to the police officer. First, the testimony showed that Waters's Warren Street store was like one long, narrow room, with the cash register located in the middle. Second, two of the cashiers testified that they had observed Waters hand bags of money to police officers. Finally, Waters testified that on the night of the shooting, he was in the back of the store when he observed Tarantino jump up on the counter where the cash register was located. Vest's argument to the contrary relies on the fact that one cashier labeled the back of the store a secluded place. However, the same witness was also able to observe Waters and Vest converse in this location. Apparently, the back of the store was secluded in relation to the front of the store, but it was visible from the cashier's station. 83 Given the evidence that the payoff money was taken from the register, that one could see the register from the back of the store, and that Waters regularly gave payoffs to Vest in the back of the store, the jury could reasonably have inferred that Vest had knowledge of the origin of the payoff money. Thus we find that the evidence is sufficient to support the verdict in Count IV, and that the conviction certainly does not approach a clear and gross injustice.