Opinion ID: 495278
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Deters's Conviction on Count VII

Text: 89 Deters asserts that there is not sufficient evidence to support his conviction on Count VII, which charged that on or about August 16, 1980, Deters traveled in interstate commerce, from Minnesota to Florida, for the purpose of promoting drug trafficking, a violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1952(a). The government introduced credit-card records and an airline-ticket stub which show that Deters traveled from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Miami on August 16, 1980, P.Ex. 2Y, and Deters concedes that he made this trip. However, Deters maintains, and our examination of the record persuades us to agree, that the government introduced no evidence to show that the purpose of this trip was to promote unlawful activity. 90 The government asserts that testimony from Benanti concerning two trips Deters made to Miami in 1980 to plan drug flights to Colombia establishes that the August 16, 1980 trip was to promote unlawful activity. According to the government, Benanti's testimony does not tie these trips to specific dates in 1980, so the jury could have concluded that one of them occurred on August 16. However, the government has mischaracterized Benanti's testimony, which, in fact, establishes that neither of the two planning meetings occurred on Deters's August 16 trip to Miami. The first meeting was held in early 1980 to plan the first flight to Colombia, Tr. 1754-55, which, as the government acknowledges, Brief of Appellee at xxviii, took place in mid-April 1980. The second Miami meeting to which Benanti testified, Tr. 1758-59, was to plan the second flight to Colombia; Benanti testified, Tr. 1759-60, and the government's statement of facts agrees, Brief of Appellee at xxviii, that this second flight took place on July 21, 1980. The evidence relied upon by the government thus provides no proof of Deters's purpose in traveling to Miami on August 16, 1980; finding no other evidence on this point in the record, we conclude that Deters's conviction on Count VII must be overturned.