Opinion ID: 320663
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: SUSAN McDUFFIE WEEKS

Text: 59 In addition to her Business Records Act claim 15 and her discovery claim, 16 defendant Susan McDuffie Weeks contends that the government failed to offer sufficient evidence to support a conviction for conspiracy, and that the trial court therefore erred by denying her motions for judgment of acquittal. Having examined the record with great care, we concede that the issue is extremely close; but we conclude ultimately that the evidence was sufficient to go to the jury and that the trial court did not err by refusing to order a judgment of acquittal. 60 In analyzing the evidence against defendant Weeks, we begin with the oftquoted standard set forth by the Supreme Court in Glasser v. United States, 1942, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 469, 86 LEd. 680, 704: 61 The verdict of a jury must be sustained if there is substantial evidence, taking the view most favorably to the Government, to support it . . .. Participation in a criminal conspiracy need not be proved by direct evidence; a common purpose and plan may be inferred from a 'development and collocation of circumstances'. 62 As in every case resting on circumstantial evidence it is unnecessary to find either the smoking pistol or the bottle of non-tax-paid whiskey in the hand of the defendant. This Court has held that, once a conspiracy is established, the government need only show 'slight evidence' that a particular person was a member of the conspiracy. United States v. Morado, 5 Cir. 1972, 454 F.2d 167, 175, cert. denied, 406 U.S. 917, 92 S.Ct. 1767, 32 L.Ed.2d 116; United States v. Warner, 5 Cir. 1971, 441 F.2d 821, 830, cert. denied, 404 U.S. 829, 92 S.Ct. 65, 30 L.Ed.2d 58. As we cautioned in Morado, however, 63 our adherence to the 'slight evidence' rule should make us nonetheless insistent that guilt remain 'individual and personal' and that the government show beyond a reasonable doubt that each and every alleged member of the conspiracy had the deliberate, knowing, specific intent to join the conspiracy. 64 454 F.2d at 175. 65 The government's evidence in the case sub judice clearly incicates that a conspiracy existed and that defendant Weeks performed acts whose effect was to further that conspiracy. Weeks' claim of insufficient evidence rests on the argument that the government failed to prove that she had knowledge of the conspiracy or that she intentionally acted to further its objectives, both of which are prerequisite to conviction. See Causey v. United States, 5 Cir. 1965, 352 F.2d 203, 207; Duke v. United States, 5 Cir. 1956, 233 F.2d 897, 901. Although we recognize that knowledge of a conspiracy is seldom capable of direct proof and must usually appear from surrounding circumstances, United States v. Martinez, 5 Cir. 1973, 486 F.2d 15, 24, we also demand that 'the evidence of knowledge must be clear, not equivocal . . . because charges of conspiracy are not to be made out by piling inference upon inference . . ..' Ingram v. United States, 1959, 360 U.S. 672, 680, 79 S.Ct. 1314, 1320, 3 L.Ed.2d 1503, Quoting Direct Sales Co. v. United States, 1943, 319 U.S. 703, 711, 63 S.Ct. 1265, 87 L.Ed. 1674. 66 Defendant Weeks is the daughter of defendant McDuffie, and unitl late 1972 or early 1973 was employed as a secretary by defendant Miller in his business as a manufacturer's representative. Much of the government's evidence of Weeks' involvement in the conspiracy related to Weeks' activities in her secretarial capacity. First, the government introduced evidence to show that Weeks had rented a post office bos at Kathleen, Georgia, in the name of John Carroll, Vice President, Trans Aero Corporation. (Defendant Miller allegedly had used Trans Aero as a cover for certain of his illicit operations). Weeks testified, however, that in renting the post office box at the direction of her employer, she was doing only what she had often done before as a courtesy for companies represented by Miller; she frequently signed the names of corporations and their officers in connection with her work. Weeks made no effort to conceal her identity when she rented the box; she followed her signing of John Carroll's name with the word 'by' and her initials. 67 The government also showed that Weeks had arranged with Flint Electric Company to have electricity turned on, in the name of Trans Aero Corporation, at the Kathleen, Georgia warehouse where the distillery was later discovered. Weeks noted that she had had electricity connected on several previous occasions at Miller's direction, that she again accompanied the corporate signature with her own initials, and that she was well known at Flint Electric, where she regularly paid her own electric bills in person. 68 In addition, evidence was presented which established that Weeks had partially filled out money orders to Walter Puhan, the owner of the property on which the still was found, and that those money orders bore notations indicating that they were in payment for the Kathleen, Georgia warehouse for specified periods of time. Weeks gave uncontradicted testimony, however, that Miller customarily placed bills on her desk with checks or money orders attached for her to fill out. 69 The government also offered evidence that Weeks had a citizens' band radio antenna on her house similar to one found at the location of the illicit still twelve miles from Weeks' home. No evidence was introduced, however, to indicate that her antenna was connected to radio equipment; moreover a representative of the distributing company testified that such radios could not be used for private conversations and that the average antenna range was only five miles. The government also introduced telephone company records to establish that numerous toll calls had been made between Weeks' residence and defendant McDuffie's residence, a situation not difficult to understand in view of the parent-child relationship, and particularly at a time when daughter Weeks (at that time, Susan McDuffie) was planning her wedding. 70 If the evidence thus far described had been the only information adduced at trial, we would be compelled to conclude that the jury must have entertained a reasonable doubt as to Weeks' knowledge of the conspiracy. None of that evidence is inconsistent with the hypothesis urged by Weeks that she was acting innocently in her capacity as McDuffie's daughter and Miller's secretary. 71 Two final items of evidence, however, when considered together, demonstrated enough inconsistency in Weeks' theory to make the government's case strong enough to submit to the jury. First was the testimony of witness Henry McDowell, with whom Miller had discussed his distillery operations and from whom Miller sought to abtain large quantities of sugar and plastic jugs. Asked whether, in a meeting on January 2, 1973, Miller had given him any instructions as to how to contact him, McDowell replied: 72 He told me if I would call his office and I had any information for him at all just to give it to his secretary, that there would be no problem, that she knew what was going on and just give her that information. (Recore, Vol. III, p. 303). 17 73 Weeks argues that McDowell's testimony is meaningless as to her participation in the conspiracy, since she terminated her employment with Miller at Christmas of 1972, and the record is silent as to the identity of Miller's secretary on January 2, 1973. 74 A second piece of evidence, however, appears to cast doubt on Weeks' argument. Philip White, a handwriting expert, testified that, through a comparison of writing samples, he had determined that Weeks 'probably' wrote fm18 a money order sent to Walter Puhan (the owner of the still site property) on January 8, 1973. Fron this testimony the jury could reasonably have reached either of two damaging conclusions: 1) that Weeks had misstated the date of her termination as Miller's secretary and that she was in fact in Miller's employ on the date of Miller's incriminating comment to McDowell; or 2) that Weeks filled out money orders in furtherance of the illicit distillery operation, not as an innocent secratary, but even beyond her secretarial tenure as a knowing member of the conspiracy. In either case the jury could have decided that Weeks, if less than a majordomo, was more than a cubicle secretary or an unsuspecting pawn. 75 We emphasize that we consider the government's case against Weeks to be far from overwhelming. In reading and analyzing the record, we found the barometric pressure of guilt rising and falling. As in all sufficiency of the evidence cases, our opinion is tied closely to its facts. Although we have not written an opinion for all seasons, or for all stills, we are satisfied that the jury could, on the basis of the government's evidence, have felt the wintry blast of Weeks' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.