Opinion ID: 3010404
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: at 22. Hicks then left the car and waited. Around

Text: 6:30 p.m., Cooper spoke again with Hicks about the delay. At that time, Cooper spotted an unmarked police car containing a DEA agent. He charged the car and began sticking his tongue out and pointing at himself, saying, uh huh, this is me right here. A. at 24. He then accused Hicks of trying to set him up and ordered one of his friends to get his gun because he was going to kill Hicks. Hicks subsequently left the scene and was picked up by DEA agents. Later that evening, Cooper called the BTPD and told a BTPD detective that he knew Hicks was a cop . . . or police and that he was going to fuck up Kinny Hicks. S.A. at 5152. He also called Hicks' home and told Kinny Hicks' brother that Kinny had set him up. Later in June, he told Jermaine Perry, a mutual acquaintance, that Hicks had set him up and that when I see him I'm going to fuck him up. S.A. at 61. On August 2, 1995, Cooper spotted Hicks at a store and told him that he had better watch[his] back. A. at 33. The substance that Cooper attempted to sell to Hicks on June 23 was never recovered. In July 1995, the DEA learned that the substance that Hicks bought from Cooper 3 on April 3, 1995, was procaine, which is not a controlled substance. At trial, the government presented testimony from Hicks and other witnesses concerning these threats. At the conclusion of the trial, the district court instructed the jury that the government had the burden of proving that Cooper knowingly used intimidation and threats against a government informant with the intent to hinder, delay or prevent the communication to a law enforcement officer, here the drug enforcement agents, of information relating to the commission or possible commission of a federal offense, in this instance trafficking in drugs. A. at 90. The court also instructed the jury that [s]elling drugs, such as cocaine powder or crack, is a federal offense. So is selling what is called a counterfeit substance as though it were the genuine controlled substance, such as cocaine. A. at 91. There were no objections to these instructions. On March 20, 1996, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on both counts. On August 22, 1996, Cooper was sentenced to 42 months on each count, to be served concurrently. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.