Opinion ID: 562667
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence--conspiracy to distribute

Text: COCAINE (DAVIS, GINES) 38 Davis and Gines join in challenging their convictions under count two of the complaint, which charged them with conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841(a)(1) and 846. Davis points to various inconsistencies in the testimony of the witnesses who appeared on the government's behalf at trial as well as the fact that the only people who testified that they had witnessed Davis participate in drug activities were themselves under arrest for drug activities. Gines alleges that there was no evidence linking him to the conspiracy for the entire period identified in the indictment or to the amount of drugs which the conspiracy was charged with distributing. 39 We have already noted the standard we apply in reviewing challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting jury verdicts. Ante at 840. To prove that a defendant was a member of a conspiracy the government must present sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the defendant knew of the conspiracy and that he intended to join and associate himself with its criminal design and purpose. United States v. Auerbach, 913 F.2d 407, 414-15 (7th Cir.1990); see United States v. Townsend, 924 F.2d 1385, 1390 (7th Cir.1991); United States v. Durrive, 902 F.2d 1221, 1225 (7th Cir.1990); United States v. Mealy, 851 F.2d 890, 897 (7th Cir.1988). In meeting its burden of proof, the government may use circumstantial evidence, and, in fact, such evidence 'may be the sole support for a conviction.'  Durrive, 902 F.2d at 1225 (quoting United States v. Nesbitt, 852 F.2d 1502, 1511 (7th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1015, 109 S.Ct. 808, 102 L.Ed.2d 798 (1989)); see Townsend, 924 F.2d at 1391; United States v. Cea, 914 F.2d 881, 886 (7th Cir.1990). 40 Turning to Davis' challenge first, he essentially argues that many of the witnesses who testified for the government presented testimony that was so biased and inconsistent that no reasonable juror could convict based upon it. Absent unusual circumstances, we are not free to reassess the credibility of the witnesses who appeared on the government's behalf at trial in light of their checkered pasts or their biases. The jury decides they are credible when it chooses to convict. See United States v. Ruiz, 932 F.2d 1174, 1178 (7th Cir.1991); United States v. Klein, 910 F.2d 1533, 1538 (7th Cir.1990); United States v. Dunigan, 884 F.2d 1010, 1013 (7th Cir.1989); United States v. DeCorte, 851 F.2d 948, 952 (7th Cir.1988). 41 Accepting that the testimony of the witnesses who testified against Davis was true, there was certainly enough of it for reasonable jurors to conclude that he entered an agreement with others to, and did, distribute crack cocaine. Kimberly Smith, a resident of 1479 Belmont, testified that Davis would frequently visit the house to bring Jackson cocaine, which Jackson would then distribute to her to sell. Tr. at 275-280. When asked to describe the relationship between Davis and Jackson, Smith replied, Mandell Jackson worked for Reverend Davis selling his cocaine. Tr. at 280. Keith Flakes also lived at 1479 Belmont, and he testified that Davis was the one that used to bring large quantities that we used to sell and pick up cash and stuff like that. Tr. at 312. He also testified that operations at 1479 Belmont were directed by Jackson and Gines, and that after he had finished making street sales, he would hand over the money he had received to the two of them. Tr. at 318. Marcie Rupert testified that Davis told Jackson to add Marcie to the sales force that operated out of the Belmont Avenue house, Tr. at 357, and that she would give money to Jackson who would then turn it over to Davis. Tr. at 378. We think that this testimony, which is only the tip of the iceberg, suffices to establish that reasonable jurors could find that Davis was guilty of joining the conspiracy charged in count two. 42 Gines' challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence on the conspiracy count is that the government failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he was a member of the conspiracy for the entire period identified in the indictment, October 1987 to April 1989, or that he conspired to participate in sales of more than 50 grams of cocaine base, the amount which the conspirators are charged with distributing. As to the first of these propositions, it is well settled that [t]he time period of a conspiracy is determined not by the dates alleged in the indictment, but by the evidence adduced at trial. United States v. Guzman, 852 F.2d 1117, 1121 (9th Cir.1988); see also United States v. Davis, 679 F.2d 845, 852 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1207, 103 S.Ct. 1198, 75 L.Ed.2d 441 (1983) (time not an essential element of a conspiracy indictment so long as the time frame proved was within the period alleged in the indictment.). A claim that the evidence was insufficient to prove that a defendant was a member of a conspiracy for the entire period charged in the indictment is in truth a claim that the evidence at trial varied from the allegations of the indictment. Cf. Townsend, 924 F.2d at 1385 (noting relationship between variance challenge and sufficiency challenge). Particularly in a conspiracy case, a defendant must show more than that a variance existed between the time period charged in the indictment and the time period shown by the facts which emerged at trial. He must also show that he was prejudiced by the variance. See id., 924 F.2d at 1390; United States v. Bruun, 809 F.2d 397, 406 (7th Cir.1987); Fed.R.Crim.Pro. 52(a) (Any ... variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded.). 43 In this case, Gines cannot plausibly claim that he was prejudiced by the variance. The total time period charged in the indictment was the nineteen months between October 1987 and April 1989. Though the government's witnesses did not always identify precisely when particular events occurred, the evidence did show Gines' involvement with the conspiracy over a period contained within the period charged. For example, Gines was involved in a sale to an undercover police officer who drove up to the Belmont Avenue house on December 22, 1988. Tr. at 250. During the search for the runaway child the same day, Gines told the police that he worked for Jackson. Tr. at 531. Keith Flakes was introduced to Davis in the Summer of 1988 by Mandell Jackson. Tr. at 324. He stopped dealing drugs when he was arrested in October 1988. Tr. at 320-21. During this period of a few months he was repeatedly directed by Gines to pick up cocaine at the Wabashaw house when the Belmont house would run short. Tr. at 319. This evidence, particularly taken together with the numerous witnesses who placed Gines at the Belmont house during their stays there, is sufficient to establish that Gines participated in the conspiracy during at least the latter half of 1988. Gines was arrested in January 1989, curtailing his contribution to the conspiracy. Given Gines' participation for a substantial portion of the period charged in the indictment, it is safe to say that he was not prejudiced by the variance between this period and the longer period charged by the government. 44 Gines' second argument is that the government failed to prove that he personally participated in the sale of 50 or more grams of cocaine base as charged in the indictment. The short answer to this claim is that the government need not prove that an individual defendant played a role in all the activities of a conspiracy to be charged with conspiring with others to promote those activities. Rather, to be a member of a conspiracy, a person does not need to know or participate in every detail of the conspiracy, or to know all the conspiracy's members. United States v. Sophie, 900 F.2d 1064, 1081 (7th Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 124, 112 L.Ed.2d 92 (1990). As we wrote in Townsend, [t]o join a conspiracy [ ] is to join an agreement.... 924 F.2d at 1390. Where that agreement includes the distribution of large quantities of narcotics, it is no defense to a conspiracy charge for a party to the agreement to argue that he was personally involved in the distribution of a smaller amount. The only defense is to show that the evidence at trial failed to establish that the conspiracy as a whole distributed the amount stated in the indictment. 45 In this case, that argument is woefully deficient. The testimony at trial established that the agreement Gines joined was intended to, and did, distribute an amount of cocaine base far in excess of 50 grams. Keith Flakes testified that the Belmont house took in two to three thousand dollars a day. Tr. at 327-28. At prices of $100 for a sixteenth of an ounce of cocaine, this would represent the sale of over an ounce (slightly more than 28 grams) a day. Dwayne Scruggs, who described the Wabashaw house as being like a McDonald's, Tr. at 423, testified that he sold approximately 150 sixteenths, pieces of crack weighing one-sixteenth of an ounce and costing $100, in an average 24-hour period. Taken together, these figures suggest that the conspiracy's sales exceeded 50 grams in a day, let alone in the 19 months charged in the indictment or even the shorter period during which Gines was a member of the conspiracy. 46