Opinion ID: 3165718
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Testimony of Antonio Equihua-Ramirez

Text: Like Burns, Equihua-Ramirez gave equivocal testimony regarding the frequency with which he bought and sold heroin. Officer Manzella’s testimony revealed that, before trial, Equihua-Ramirez contradicted himself in his statements to the police. For example, he initially told Officer Manzella that he had been dealing for a period of six months, but later stated that he had only been dealing since mid-March. It “seemed to [Officer Manzella] that he was pretty confused about the exact start and end date.” Equihua-Ramirez also gave different statements to police at different times regarding the amount that he sold to Burns. At trial, Equihua-Ramirez testified that he began selling heroin in March of 2012, upon taking over the business of a UNITED STATES V. NAVARRETTE-AGUILAR 11 friend of his while that friend returned to Mexico. It was to be a temporary arrangement. Equihua-Ramirez only bought drugs from “Califas,” the name by which he knew Navarrette. Navarrette “fronted” him the drugs, meaning that EquihuaRamirez only paid for the drugs after he sold them to others, and did not order more until he had sold all of the drugs that he had previously bought. It also meant that he did not buy more than he thought he could sell. Equihua-Ramirez testified that he began by ordering an ounce (twenty-eight grams) at a time, which would take him about three days to sell. Equihua-Ramirez further testified that he purchased drugs “thirteen or fourteen” times. Equihua-Ramirez later testified that he purchased heroin from his supplier “between ten and thirteen [times],” but that he “[did]n’t remember well.” He maintained that it could not have been fewer than ten times. Equihua-Ramirez testified that, while he did not always purchase a single ounce (28 grams), the most that he ever purchased at a single time was four ounces (112 grams), which he did shortly before he was arrested. However, his last order had been for 200 grams; this would have been his largest order. Equihua-Ramirez testified that Josef Burns was his biggest customer, and that the last sale that he made to Burns was for fifty grams. He further stated that Burns usually purchased “sometimes one, sometimes two” pieces at a time (twenty-five to fifty grams), and once purchased three pieces (seventy-five grams). At one point, Equihua-Ramirez testified that there was a period in April during which the heroin was bad, and his customers stopped buying from him; he stated that, as a result, he sold heroin only once in the 12 UNITED STATES V. NAVARRETTE-AGUILAR month of April. He further testified that the poor quality of the heroin angered him, and that he wanted to quit as a result. He later testified, however, that the period in which Burns refused to buy from him was approximately fifteen days, that Burns then bought an ounce (twenty-eight grams) from him in order to test the quality, and that he did not recall when that purchase had taken place. Like Burns, Equihua-Ramirez did not concretely or consistently testify as to the number of transactions or their amount, and no clearer pattern of sales emerges from his testimony than from Burns’s.