Opinion ID: 659857
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 The current prosecution arose out of an investigation begun by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Florida in June 1989 and continued in Connecticut with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement agents until 1991. Evidence of the events was presented at trial principally through (a) testimony of surveillance agents and agents to whom, in their undercover roles, Aguilar sold cocaine, (b) tape recordings of conversations in which Aguilar or his associates discussed the distribution of cocaine, (c) physical evidence including cocaine, drug paraphernalia, a large array of weapons, and voluminous drug records, and (d) testimony of two coconspirators who, after being arrested, pleaded guilty and entered into cooperation agreements with the government.
3 Taken in the light most favorable to the government, the evidence, whose sufficiency is not disputed, showed that Aguilar was the leader of a narcotics organization that he aptly described as a factory-size operation. See Part II.B.2. below. During the course of the investigation, Aguilar negotiated to have undercover agents sell him, or import for him, hundreds of kilograms of cocaine. He told agents he was looking for a source that could provide him with 100 kilograms a week. Aguilar himself negotiated several sales of cocaine and distributed cocaine to other undercover agents. Tracy was the organization's chief enforcer, responsible for its security and for collecting debts owed to it. 4 Aguilar and seven other members of his organization, not including Tracy, were arrested on October 25, 1990, pursuant to an October 24, 1990 Complaint supported by a 45-page affidavit (collectively the Complaint) detailing the offenses with which they were to be charged and evidence supporting the charges. They and Tracy were eventually named in a superseding indictment handed down in January 1991. Aguilar was charged with the eight counts of narcotics violations indicated above; Tracy was charged with one count of narcotics conspiracy as indicated above. 5 Tracy was arrested on February 1, 1991. In executing a search warrant for Tracy's home in January 1991, agents found a loaded .44 caliber Magnum revolver, ammunition for .44 and .38 caliber weapons, and a copy of the Complaint, with annotations on ten of its pages in handwriting later stipulated to be that of Tracy. The notations identified informants who were referred to in the Complaint only in code and promised death to the informants and to DEA Special Agent Terrence Sprankle who had signed the Complaint. For example, on the first page of the document, Tracy had written, all informants will die a bad death [expletive] snitches before I die I will kill all your [sic ] lousy [expletive] scum. Under a reference to an informant to whom the Complaint referred only as CI#1, Tracy had written, I know you you will get it the worst put in a barrel of acid scum [expletive] put in acid real slow you lousy bastard. Next to another reference to CI#1, Tracy had written, Snitch # 5 Shorty. Dead real slow stabbed 50 times cut throat put on fire I will do this. Under Sprankle's signature on the Complaint, Tracy had written, you must go also cop your family too. For this threat to Sprankle and his family, Tracy was convicted, under a separate indictment, on two counts of threatening a law enforcement officer and his family, respectively, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 115(a)(1) (1988), and was sentenced in May 1991 to two consecutive five-year terms of imprisonment (the 1991 sentence). 6 Of the nine individuals named as defendants in the superseding indictment in the present case, seven entered pleas of guilty. Tracy and Aguilar went to trial.
7 As discussed in Part II.A. below, prior to trial Aguilar informed the district court that he was dissatisfied with the services of his attorney Howard Eckenrode and moved to represent himself for purposes of the suppression hearing or to have a hybrid representation. The court, after advising Aguilar against proceeding pro se, warning him of the dangers of doing so, and conducting an inquiry as to Aguilar's awareness of his rights and the vulnerability of those rights during self-representation, allowed Aguilar to proceed pro se and appointed Eckenrode as stand-by counsel to provide advice upon Aguilar's request. Largely on the basis of these earlier proceedings, the court also permitted Aguilar to represent himself at trial. 8 After a five-week trial, the jury found both defendants guilty of all charges against them. The Probation Department's presentence reports (PSRs) prepared on Tracy and Aguilar concluded that the imprisonment ranges prescribed by the federal Sentencing Guidelines (Guidelines) were 324-405 months for Tracy and 360 months to life for Aguilar. After evidentiary hearings as to each defendant, the district court agreed with these recommendations. Finding Aguilar responsible for conspiring to distribute 50-150 kilograms of cocaine, the court sentenced him to 480 months' imprisonment, stating that it had chosen that sentence principally because of the size and sophistication of the drug organization, Aguilar's decision-making role, the violent aspects of the organization, and Aguilar's persistent denial of any role in the operation. The court overruled Tracy's objections to various aspects of his PSR, see Part II.E.2 below, and sentenced him to 327 months' imprisonment. As discussed in Part II.E.3. below, the court ordered Tracy to serve the present sentence consecutively to his 1991 sentence. 9 These appeals followed.