Opinion ID: 761767
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Countersurveillance

Text: The government initially argued that by sending Yossunthorn to the McDonald's parking lot and by driving by the McDonald's at the time he had prearranged with a heroin supplier, Mekvichitsang conducted countersurveillance designed to detect law enforcement activity. The government contended that such countersurveillance constituted a substantial step toward possession of heroin with intent to distribute. The government argued that Mekvichitsang drove away from the McDonald's without entering the parking lot because he detected the government agents and/or because he discovered that Kovittamakron had not shown up for the meeting. Mekvichitsang's countersurveillance activity is similar to the reconnoitering by the defendants in United States v. Buffington, 815 F.2d 1292, 1295 (9th Cir.1987), where we found insufficient evidence of a substantial step toward bank robbery. In Buffington, the police observed the defendant twice drive slowly by a bank while staring into it, drive to the rear of the bank, enter a nearby store and walk to a window overlooking the bank, leave the store and join his two codefendants as they stood facing the bank. See id. at 1295. We held that the evidence of reconnoitering was insufficient to uphold the attempt convictions: Not only did appellants not take a single step toward the bank, they displayed no weapons and no indication that they were about to make an entry. Standing alone, their conduct did not constitute that requisite 'appreciable fragment' of a bank robbery.... Id. at 1303. The Buffington court distinguished United States v. Stallworth, 543 F.2d 1038 (2d Cir.1976), where the defendant not only reconnoitered the bank he intended to rob but was armed, had stolen materials for disguises and had moved toward the bank. The reasoning of Buffington is bolstered by two other cases reversing attempted bank robbery convictions for lack of a substantial step. In United States v. Still, 850 F.2d 607, 609-610 (9th Cir.1988), the accused attempted bank robber, wearing a wig, was parked in his car with the motor running 200 yards from the bank he admitted he intended to rob. The court reversed the attempt conviction because the facts did not establish actual movement toward the bank or actions that are analytically similar to such movement. Id. at 610. In United States v. Harper, 33 F.3d 1143, 1147 (9th Cir.1994), the defendant, in preparation for a robbery, had left money in an ATM machine to create a bill trap that would bring service people to the ATM. Reversing the conviction, we stated that [m]aking an appointment with a potential victim is not of itself such a commitment to an intended crime as to constitute an attempt, even though it may make a later attempt possible. Id. at 1148. Had Mekvichitsang intended to rob the McDonald's, under these authorities his countersurveillance activities, without more, would clearly be insufficient evidence of an attempt. A fortiori, Mekvichitsang's act of surveying the McDonald's not to rob it or even to take possession of drugs, but merely to ensure the security of an alleged meeting to make arrangements for some future drug purchase, did not constitute an appreciable fragment of the crime of drug possession with intent to distribute and, thus, is insufficient evidence of an attempt. Buffington, 815 F.2d at 1302 (quoting Mandujano, 499 F.2d at 376).