Opinion ID: 2976114
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Intercepted Telephone Conversations

Text: Webber argues that if he had been a conspirator in the drug trafficking business, he would have been caught discussing drugs or money in the intercepted phone conversations. Webber claims that the government developed a theory that Webber’s phone conversations were deliberately coded to sound like those made by ordinary people, and that this was not a reasonable conclusion. The government argues that the evidence in support of these charges included the actual recordings of intercepted conversations containing Webber’s voice and the narcotics investigator’s opinion of the coded language used in the conversations. The government contends that it was the ultimate decision of the jury to determine what weight to give the interpretations of the intercepted conversations, and whether or not the conversations were in furtherance of the conspiracy. The standard of review for insufficient evidence claims is whether, after viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Sykes, 292 F.3d 495, 498-99 (6th Cir. 2002) (citing Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). Webber did not contest the authenticity of the transcriptions or the accuracy of the transcriptions of the recorded conversations because Webber’s strategy was to argue that the voice 12 on the recorded conversations was not Webber. (J.A. at 338-39). Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of using a telephone to facilitate a felony beyond a reasonable doubt.