Opinion ID: 201314
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Under ordinary circumstances, we review the grant or denial of motions for judgment of acquittal de novo. United States v. Hernandez, 146 F.3d 30, 32 (1st Cir. 1998). Here, however, the circumstances are not ordinary. A defendant who elects to adduce -7- evidence in [his] defense after the district court has denied a Rule 29 motion made at the close of the government's case is deemed to have abandoned the earlier motion and waived any objection to its denial. United States v. Amparo, 961 F.2d 288, 290 (1st Cir. 1992). So it is here: the appellants' failure to renew their earlier motions for judgment of acquittal after presenting evidence pretermits the usual de novo review. See United States v. Hadfield, 918 F.2d 987, 996 (1st Cir. 1990). Instead, we inquire into the evidentiary sufficiency of the government's case only to ensure against clear and gross injustice. United States v. Stein, 233 F.3d 6, 20 (1st Cir. 2000); Hadfield, 918 F.2d at 996. We find no hint of injustice here. The conspiracy statute under which the appellants were convicted provides that [a]ny person who attempts or conspires to commit any [federal drug] offense . . . shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense. 21 U.S.C. § 846. To ground a conviction under this statute, the government must show beyond a reasonable doubt that a conspiracy existed and that a defendant agreed to participate in it, intending to commit the underlying substantive offense. United States v. Sepulveda, 15 F.3d 1161, 1173 (1st Cir. 1993). The government may meet its burden of proof by direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, or any combination of the two. United States v. Marrero-Ortiz, 160 F.3d 768, 772 (1st Cir. 1998). [B]oth the conspiracy's existence and -8- a particular defendant's participation in it may be inferred from the members' words and actions and the interdependence of activities and persons involved. United States v. Ortiz de Jesus, 230 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir. 2000) (quoting United States v. Boylan, 898 F.2d 230, 241-42 (1st Cir. 1990)). We need not tarry. In this case, the testimony of Ramírez points directly to the existence of an express agreement among a band of coconspirators that included both appellants. He met face to face with Del Rosario and Pacheco, directly implicated them in the drug-trafficking scheme, and detailed their participation (citing book and verse). Ramírez's testimony alone is adequate to sustain the conspiracy convictions. See, e.g., United States v. Martínez-Medina, 279 F.3d 105, 115 (1st Cir. 2002) (explaining that uncorroborated testimony of a government informant is sufficient for conviction if the testimony is not incredible or insubstantial on its face) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Ortiz de Jesus, 230 F.3d at 6. In an endeavor to parry this thrust, Pacheco charges that Ramírez's testimony was unworthy of credence and compromised by inconsistencies. This charge overlooks that judgments as to a witness's veracity (or lack of veracity) ordinarily are for the jury, not for an appellate court. See, e.g., United States v. Franky-Ortiz, 230 F.3d 405, 407 (1st Cir. 2000); United States v. O'Brien, 14 F.3d 703, 707 (1st Cir. 1994). The jury is free to -9- credit or discount testimony depending upon its collective evaluation of a witness's credibility. O'Brien, 14 F.3d at 707. And, similarly, the existence and effect of any inconsistencies are grist for the jury's mill. See, e.g., United States v. Carroll, 105 F.3d 740, 743 (1st Cir. 1997); United States v. Romero, 32 F.3d 641, 646 (1st Cir. 1994). In this instance, Pacheco's trial counsel ably crossexamined Ramírez and forcefully attacked the latter's credibility during closing argument. The jurors saw and heard the witness and were at liberty to make their own informed assessment of his truthfulness. For present purposes, it is conclusive that the jury apparently accepted Ramírez's account. See United States v. Alicea, 205 F.3d 480, 483 (1st Cir. 2000) (explaining that a jury has the prerogative to credit some parts of a witness's testimony and disregard other potentially contradictory portions). To be sure, the appellants note that Ramírez was hip-deep in the plot and emphasize the inherent unreliability of accomplice testimony. But that too was for the jury. It would revolutionize the trial of criminal cases if the turncoat status of a cooperating witness was enough to strip his testimony of probative value as a matter of law. There is no such rule. See id. In addition to challenging his conspiracy conviction, Del Rosario also challenges his convictions on the two substantive counts. Those counts, charging possession with intent to -10- distribute, arise out of the same nucleus of operative facts: the July 29 airport incident. The first of them (count 2) charged that Del Rosario, at that time and place, knowingly possessed five or more kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute. The second (count 3) charged that, at the same time and place, he knowingly possessed one or more kilograms of heroin with intent to distribute. Del Rosario initially argues that the government never proved that he possessed either the cocaine or the heroin. This is sheer persiflage. For purposes of the statute of conviction, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), possession may be either actual or constructive. United States v. Bergodere, 40 F.3d 512, 518 (1st Cir. 1994). Actual possession is the state of immediate, hands-on physical possession. United States v. Zavala Maldonado, 23 F.3d 4, 6 (1st Cir. 1994). Constructive possession exists when a person knowingly has the power and intention at a given time to exercise dominion and control over an object, either directly or through others. United States v. Ocampo-Guarin, 968 F.2d 1406, 1409 (1st Cir. 1992) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). In a drug case, constructive possession may be inferred from a defendant's dominion and control over an area where narcotics are found. United States v. Echeverri, 982 F.2d 675, 678 (1st Cir. 1993). -11- In this case, the evidence shows that Del Rosario, having accepted an assignment to transport drugs from San Juan to New York, removed a suitcase (later found to contain narcotics) from the back of a van and wheeled it through a restricted-access airport door. He was seen straddling this suitcase with his legs as he awaited a boarding call for his New York flight. These facts are capable of supporting an inference of either actual or constructive possession. Del Rosario's claim that the government failed to establish his intent to distribute cocaine and heroin is equally unavailing. On this record, the illation that he knew this suitcase was packed with narcotics was an easy (and wholly reasonable) one for jurors to draw. Del Rosario's claim to the contrary ignores, among other things, the axiomatic principle that an intent to distribute drugs can legitimately be inferred from factors such as quantity and purity. Id. To illustrate, the DEA agents found twenty-one packages in Del Rosario's suitcase. One distinctively wrapped parcel was tested separately and found to contain between 665 and 690 grams of heroin (the record does not contain any information as to its purity). When the DEA tested the twenty remaining packages, one of them was shown to contain 787 grams of heroin, 71% pure. The other nineteen parcels contained, in the ensemble, 19.89 kilograms of -12- cocaine, 79% pure.1 The large quantity of contraband found in Del Rosario's possession warrants the inferences that he knew the drugs would be released into the stream of commerce and that he intended to facilitate that action. See United States v. Smith, 680 F.2d 255, 260 (1st Cir. 1982) (Neither juries nor judges are required to divorce themselves of common sense, but rather should apply to facts which they find proven such reasonable inferences as are justified in the light of their experience as to the natural inclinations of human beings.). That ends this aspect of the matter. The evidence presented at trial was more than sufficient to sustain the appellants' convictions.