Opinion ID: 2775033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Barnes’s Motion for Judgment of Acquittal

Text: Defendant Barnes argues that insufficient evidence supported his convictions because the only evidence presented against him was wiretapped telephone calls between himself and Barbary that were devoid of the words “cocaine,” “Oxycodone,” “drugs,” or any related code words. We disagree. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, a jury reasonably could have found Barnes guilty of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone and between 500 and 5,000 grams of cocaine and conspiring to use a communication facility to facilitate a narcotics crime. In multiple recorded phone calls with Barbary, Barnes used veiled language that a jury reasonably could infer referred to distributing cocaine and searching for sources to obtain oxycodone. While Barnes attempts to minimize the intercepted phone calls, the incriminating content and frequency of the phone calls between Barnes and Barbary provided strong evidence of Barnes’s guilt. Specifically, the jury heard recordings of more than 15 intercepted phone calls between Barnes and Barbary— which occurred over the course of just a few months—that involved discussions that the jurors could reasonably find related to the procurement and distribution of cocaine and oxycodone. 42 Case: 13-10453 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 43 of 67 For example, in some of these phone calls, Barnes referenced “serv[ing] a lil bit” multiple times, complained that he was “losing” his “customers,” and indicated that he had money for Barbary. Barnes also gave repeated updates to Barbary concerning his drug sales, such as stating that he had “three left” or was “working on the last one.” And Barnes used multiple words that a jury reasonably could infer were code words for particular drugs, including calling cocaine “the regular.” Finally, as to cocaine quantity, in an intercepted call in which Barnes and Barbary discussed the price for an unspecified substance supplied by Barnes’s “cousin,” Barnes used language that a jury reasonably could infer referred to 1,000 grams (i.e., one kilogram) of cocaine. Specifically, Barnes and Barbary discussed the price of “29” or “30,” which Agent Sargent testified likely referred to the price of a kilogram of cocaine, $29,000 or $30,000.