Opinion ID: 688684
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 21 U.S.C. Sec. 860(a) violation

Text: 9 Johnson asserts that the district court erred in denying his motion for judgments of acquittal as to two counts of the indictment and in admitting evidence that he had committed another wrongful act by lying when he stated that he worked for the Sports Factory. The only assignment of merit is his assertion that the government introduced insufficient evidence to prove that he violated Title 21 U.S.C. Sec. 860(a) (Supp. II 1990), which provides an enhanced penalty for drug law violators who distribute, possess with intent to distribute, or manufacture a controlled substance within 1000 feet of a school. In support of its charge that Johnson violated this provision, the government inexplicably offered evidence not of the distance from a school to the point in the house where Johnson possessed the drugs, but only of a measurement made by Officer Reid from Randle Highlands Elementary School to a point five feet up the walkway to Johnson's house. 1 Johnson argues correctly that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt all of the elements of the offense with which the defendant is charged, see, e.g., Patterson v. New York, 432 U.S. 197, 210, 97 S.Ct. 2319, 2327, 53 L.Ed.2d 281 (1977), and that based upon the improper terminal point of the measurement, the government failed to carry its burden of proof. 10 The government notes that the measurement made by Reid was a pedestrian travel route, and that a straight line measure, rather than a pedestrian travel route, may be used for purposes of establishing a violation of this statute. See United States v. Clavis, 956 F.2d 1079, 1088 (11th Cir.1992), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 1619, 123 L.Ed.2d 178 (1993); United States v. Watson, 887 F.2d 980, 981 (9th Cir.1989); United States v. Ofarril, 779 F.2d 791, 792 (2d Cir.1985) (per curiam), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1029, 106 S.Ct. 1231, 89 L.Ed.2d 340 (1986). Thus, under this rule, a person may be convicted of possessing with intent to distribute crack cocaine within 1000 feet of a school even if the distance by street is over 1000 feet, as long as the straight line distance between the site of the possession with intent to distribute and the school is within 1000 feet. 11 As the evidence at trial showed that Officer Reid diverted from a straight line path because of obstacles such as buildings, the government's position is that a straight line distance to the property would be a good deal shorter than 994 feet. This, the government argues, would easily have established that the point at which Johnson possessed the drugs was within 1000 feet of the school. It is entirely possible--perhaps probable--that this is true. If so, we have no idea why the government did not prove it. For it to be both true and sufficient to make out the violation, Reid's pedestrian measurement (994 feet) must exceed the straight line distance between the two points measured by a number of feet greater than the sum of six feet and the distance between the end of Reid's measurement and the point of Johnson's possession. Since there is no evidence of either the straight line measurement or the distance between the terminal point of Reid's measurement and the point of possession, it is impossible to determine whether or not this equation is true. Therefore, the government cannot prevail. 12 The government relies on United States v. Watson, 887 F.2d at 981, where the court upheld a conviction for violating 21 U.S.C. Sec. 845a(a) (1988), the precursor to section 860(a), on evidence that did not establish that the distance from the nearest point of the school property to the exact location of the [violation] was less than 1000 feet, but only that the distance between the nearest point of the two property lines was 922 feet. However, the government's reliance is misplaced. In that case the government also offered [e]vidence ... in the form of a map clearly show[ing] that the distance between the property line closest to the school and the property line farthest from the school was significantly less than 78 feet. Id. Therefore, the evidence before the court in Watson did establish that any point within the property was less than 1000 feet from the school. While the same may be true of the property in the present case, the government, for whatever reason, offered no map establishing that fact. Nor did it provide any other evidence from which the jury could establish that the possession occurred within 1000 feet from a school. Accordingly, Johnson's conviction on this charge cannot stand.