Opinion ID: 782607
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cocaine Attributable to Jackson's Own Smuggling Efforts

Text: 62 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government and drawing all inferences in the Government's favor, as we must, there can be no dispute that a rational jury could have found that Jackson personally conspired to import 1 kilogram of cocaine on each of his three trips to Jamaica. This conclusion is consistent with Sinkler's testimony that Brown paid Jackson $5,000 — the agreed price for importing 1 kilogram of cocaine — after each of his three trips to Jamaica (in December 1998, February 1999, and August 1999). This conclusion is also supported by Sinkler's personal observations as to the number of pellets Jackson swallowed and excreted on his trips to Jamaica. 63 Additional support that the 3 kilograms are attributable to Jackson for his own Jamaica trips is found in his complaints to Sinkler that they were being underpaid for the key and a half they were collectively smuggling on each trip. According to Sinkler, Brown also requested that Jackson travel to Jamaica alone in February 1999 because he needed only 1 kilogram of cocaine. Finally, this conclusion is bolstered by the comment of Guthrie, who it is fair to infer was familiar with Jackson's smuggling skills, that Jackson was like a dump truck because he was capable of smuggling a whole kilogram of cocaine at a time. 64 A rational jury could also have found Jackson responsible for another 1 kilogram of cocaine in connection with his cancelled trip to Jamaica in November 1999. Our decision in United States v. Dallas, 229 F.3d 105 (2d Cir.2000), is instructive. In Dallas, we found that a defendant who had agreed to sell cocaine, but later decided to substitute flour for the cocaine, was nonetheless responsible for the amount of cocaine he had previously agreed to sell. See id. at 110-11. As we recognized, 65 [C]onspiracy law maintains a conspirator's liability once a conspiracy has been formed and a defendant has joined it. Abandoning the intent to continue with the conspiracy does not unring the bell; as long as the elements of the conspiracy offense have been established, the prior intent renders [the defendant] liable for conviction for conspiracy under criminal law and liable for punishment under the Guidelines for the amount of narcotics that he agreed and, at one time, intended to sell. 66 Id. (emphasis added); see also United States v. Rosa, 17 F.3d 1531, 1543 (2d Cir.1994) (What matters in a conspiracy prosecution is whether the defendants agreed to commit the underlying offense, not whether their conduct would actually have constituted that offense.). 67 A member of a conspiracy is therefore liable for an act he agreed to and intended to commit in furtherance of the conspiracy regardless of whether he ultimately committed the substantive act. Applying Dallas to this case, it is manifest that Jackson was accountable for conspiring to import 1 kilogram of cocaine — an amount consistent with his 3 previous trips to Jamaica — even though he never actually took the trip. 68 Withdrawal from the conspiracy would obviously constitute an exception to our holding in Dallas. Here, however, Jackson cannot plausibly argue that he withdrew from the conspiracy in November or December of 1999. To withdraw from a conspiracy, a person must take some affirmative action either [by] making ... a clean breast to the authorities ... or communicati[ng]... the abandonment in a manner reasonably calculated to reach co-conspirators. United States v. Salameh, 152 F.3d 88, 150 (2d Cir.1998) (internal quotations omitted). There is no evidence in the record to indicate that, at that time, Jackson did anything more than express reservations about going back to Jamaica. In fact, he rescheduled his November 1999 trip for the following month. 69