Opinion ID: 1199978
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Andrea Lorenzo

Text: The evidence as to Andrea's knowing participation in the conspiracy is even more sparse and requires little discussion. The government contends that it was permissible for the jury to infer that Andrea knowingly participated in the conspiracy with the specific intent to import and distribute cocaine from: (1) the record of conversations between Amauri and Andrea on the evening of October 13, 2005; (2) Andrea's instruction to Leerdam that evening that she come to the Lorenzo residence to take a different taxi to a hotel; (3) her greeting of Leerdam as she arrived; (4) her transfer of one of Leerdam's suitcases from the taxi into her house; (5) Andrea's presence in the S.U.V. during Leerdam's September visit; and (6) Andrea's false exculpatory statement following her arrest that she had never seen Leerdam before and did not know her. This evidence, considered in the aggregate and viewed in the light most favorable to the government, supports at most an inference that Andrea knew that she was assisting suspicious behavior; viewed in this light, it is also, as Andrea contends, consistent with providing hospitality to her nephew's girlfriend and regretting providing such assistance. See Glenn, 312 F.3d at 70 ([I]f the evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution gives equal or nearly equal circumstantial support to a theory of guilt and a theory of innocence, then a reasonable jury must necessarily entertain a reasonable doubt. (internal quotation marks omitted)).
Because the government proceeded on an aiding and abetting theory with respect to the substantive importation count, the government was required to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant knew the specific nature of the... underlying crime, United States v. Friedman, 300 F.3d 111, 124 (2d Cir.2002). For the reasons discussed with respect to the conspiracy counts against Andrea, the evidence was also insufficient to support a conviction on this count.