Opinion ID: 808641
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Luis

Text: Like Javier, Luis raises three claims on appeal, two pertaining to his conviction and one pertaining to his sentence.
His first argument is that the district court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal as to Count 1, the conspiracy Count. He focuses his argument on the quantity of marijuana for which he was convicted, contending that the government did not prove a drug conspiracy involving 1000 kilograms or more. As before, we review this claim de novo and view the evidence in a light favorable to the government. See Midgett, 488 F.3d at 297. The government contends that Luis did not raise this specific objection at trial, in which case we would review for plain error. See Olano, 507 U.S. at 732. Assuming, but without deciding, that Luis preserved this objection, we find that a reasonable finder of fact could have convicted Luis on Count 1. Based on the testimony of one government witness alone, the government presented evidence that Luis, along with at least one other co-conspirator, actually 25 sold in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. This evidence is sufficient to convict Luis on Count 1. Additionally, the government presented evidence that Luis claimed to live at the main residence, he was present on the day of the search of the main residence, and his car was seen at both the main residence and the other residence. Thus, the evidence was more than sufficient to convict Luis on Count 1, and the district court, therefore, did not err in denying his acquittal motion.
Luis also challenges the search of the van, contending that the placement of the GPS tracker on the van and its use to monitor the vehicle’s movements ran afoul of the Fourth Amendment. He raises this argument in the reply brief only. Because Victor is the only other co-defendant who joined Luis in filing a reply brief, we consider this argument as to Luis and Victor only. 3 In advancing the argument, Luis directs us to the Supreme Court’s recent conclusion that the installation of such a device and its use to monitor vehicular movement constitutes a 3 Although each defendant joined in the arguments of his codefendants set forth in the opening brief, the failure on the part of the co-defendants other than Luis and Victor to file a reply brief, much less sign on to the arguments made therein, precludes our consideration of this claim as to those defendants. 26 search. See United States v. Jones, 132 S. Ct. 945, 949 (2012). Luis, however, acknowledges that the van did not belong to him and fails to direct the court to any place in the record suggesting that he had some legitimate expectation of privacy in the van. He, therefore, has no privacy interest in the van and lacks standing to challenge the search. See United States v. Carter, 300 F.3d 415, 421 (4th Cir. 2002) (per curiam) (“A [person who is not operating] a car normally has no legitimate expectation of privacy in an automobile in which he asserts neither a property interest nor a possessory interest . . . .”). 4
Finally, Luis argues that the district court erred in calculating the drug quantity at sentencing. The evidence that is sufficient to support Luis’s conviction for possession with intent to distribute over 1,000 kilograms of marijuana is likewise sufficient to support the district court’s drug weight calculation at sentencing. We therefore find no clear error on the part of the district court. See United States v. Cabrera- 4 Like Luis, Victor does not contend that he owned the van nor does he direct the court to any legitimate expectation of privacy that he has in the van. Therefore, we conclude that he, like Luis, lacks standing to challenge the search of the van. 27 Beltran, 660 F.3d 742, 756 (4th Cir. 2011); Randall, 171 F.3d at 210.