Opinion ID: 62334
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jury Unanimity as to Object of Conspiracy

Text: At trial, Patino-Prado objected to the following instruction: The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant conspired to possess with intent to distribute some controlled substance, but need not prove that the defendant knew which particular controlled substance was involved. The district court overruled his objection. This instruction was taken from this court's pattern criminal jury instructions. Fifth Circuit Pattern Jury Instruction: Criminal § 2.89 (Note). We preview, as an aid to clarity, that there is an important pair of special interrogatories that were given the jurors on the verdict form that did require them to determine whether marihuana, cocaine, or both were the object of the conspiracy. Those interrogatories were to be used only after a finding of guilt of the more general-object conspiracy and are therefore primarily relevant as to the sentencing issue we will discuss below. [2] Patino-Prado argues that this and related jury instructions were flawed because they did not require unanimous agreement as to the precise object of the charged conspiracy. This argument draws directly from the argument on evidentiary sufficiency that we have already discussed, but we review it separately if not without some overlapping analysis. We review Patino-Prado's challenge to the jury instructions for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Clayton, 506 F.3d 405, 410 (5th Cir.2007). A district court has broad discretion in framing the instructions to the jury and this Court will not reverse unless the instructions taken as a whole do not correctly reflect the issues and law. Id. We have already shown that Patino-Prado need not have known that he possessed both controlled substances alleged in the indictment in order to be convicted under Section 841(a). In one precedent, we approved a supplemental instruction to the effect that the jury could convict [the defendant] for possession of heroin if it believed beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew there was some controlled substance in the car, whether or not he knew it was actually heroin or some other drug or narcotic .... Gonzalez, 700 F.2d at 200 (internal quotation marks omitted). The knowledge required for guilt is that the defendant knew he possessed a controlled substance, regardless of whether he was right, wrong, or unaware regarding which substance. Similarly, jury unanimity must be about the accused's general knowledge  since that is what guilt is based upon  regardless of what version of the alternatives each individual juror might accept. Patino-Prado relies on numerous cases holding that when the government charges a defendant with a multi-object conspiracy, the jury must unanimously agree as to at least one object of the conspiracy in order to return a conviction. See United States v. Capozzi, 486 F.3d 711 (1st Cir. 2007); United States v. Sharpsteen, 913 F.2d 59 (2d Cir.1990); United States v. Fisher, 106 F.3d 622 (5th Cir.1997) abrogated on other grounds by Ohler v. United States, 529 U.S. 753, 120 S.Ct. 1851, 146 L.Ed.2d 826 (2000); United States v. Pierce, 479 F.3d 546 (8th Cir.2007). But all of these cases involved indictments alleging multi-object conspiracies where the defendants were accused of conspiring to violate multiple statutes by a single course of action. In this case, Patino-Prado is accused of conspiring to violate a single federal drug statute. The single object of the alleged conspiracy was the possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance; both marihuana and cocaine are controlled substances. As noted above, there is overwhelming and undisputed evidence to support Patino-Prado's conviction for a marihuana-related conspiracy. In one precedent relied upon by Patino-Prado, one of the legal theories submitted to the jury as a basis for a conspiracy conviction under federal wire fraud statutes was flawed because the statute did not extend to the facts of the case. United States v. Brown, 459 F.3d 509, 517 (5th Cir.2006). We reversed the conviction because the general jury verdict left open the possibility that the defendants were convicted on the basis of this impermissible theory. Id. at 519-23. Such a defect does not exist in Patino-Prado's conviction. In another cited case, the defendant's sentence was vacated under Section 841(b)(1)(B)'s cocaine-related maximum where a general verdict did not clearly reveal that the jury found the defendant guilty of conspiring to possess both marihuana and cocaine. United States v. Dale, 178 F.3d 429, 432-34 (6th Cir.1999). Dale did not reverse the judgment of conviction. The relevant sentencing issue will be discussed in the last section of our opinion. Dale is not implicated because of specific findings made by the jurors here. The cases cited by Patino-Prado do not stand for the proposition that, if the government alleges that a defendant conspired to possess several controlled substances, the jury must unanimously agree about each of the several controlled substances the defendant's conspiracy was actually aimed at possessing. See United States v. Toliver, 351 F.3d 423, 431 (9th Cir.2003) (The jury's inability to determine the quantity or type of drugs involved in the conspiracy did not justify an acquittal; it only prevented the district court from imposing a sentence that exceeded 20 years, the maximum allowable sentence under section 841(b)(1)(C) when the offense involves an unknown quantity of drugs.). To the contrary, to obtain a conviction under the knowledge element of Section 846, the government is only required to show that the defendant knew that the substance was a controlled substance. United States v. Cartwright, 6 F.3d 294, 303 (5th Cir.1993). We also note that this case is a peculiarly inappropriate one for challenging the precedents involving the scope of jury unanimity on controlled substance conspiracies. Because of the jury interrogatories that we analyze in the next section, we have the jurors' acknowledgment that they were unanimous both as to the cocaine and the marihuana conspiracies.