Opinion ID: 2434794
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The multiple conspiracy instruction

Text: Next, López-Capó argues that the district court erred by refusing to give the jury a multiple conspiracy instruction, which would have allowed the jury to find that López-Capó participated in a different conspiracy than Díaz, Rodríguez, and Rodríguez-Romero. We review the district court's decision not to provide the jury instruction for abuse of discretion. United States v. De La Cruz, 514 F.3d 121, 139 (1st Cir.2008). A district court should give a multiple conspiracy instruction when a reasonable jury could find more than one illicit agreement, or an illicit agreement other than the one charged, based upon the evidence put forward at trial. United States v. Balthazard, 360 F.3d 309, 315-16 (1st Cir.2004). We will reverse a district court's decision not to provide a multiple conspiracy instruction only if the defendant can show that he suffered substantial prejudice. De La Cruz, 514 F.3d at 139. In the context of alleged multiple conspiracies, the defendant's main concern is that jurors will be misled into attributing guilt to a particular defendant based on evidence presented against others who were involved in a different and separate conspiratorial scheme. United States v. Brandon, 17 F.3d 409, 450 (1st Cir.1994). It was only after the district court finished instructing the jury that Díaz requested a multiple conspiracy instruction, and López-Capó joined in that request. Although López-Capó did submit a written request for a jury instruction, asking the court to instruct the jury regarding the weight they should give his criminal record, that motion contained no mention of a multiple conspiracy instruction. López-Capó's motion belies his claim that the court gave him no opportunity to request the multiple conspiracy instruction, which is his excuse for failing to comply with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 30. Because we find that López-Capó's claim fails on its merits, however, we need not decide whether López-Capó forfeited that claim as a result of his failure to comply with Rule 30. See, e.g., United States v. Upton, 559 F.3d 3, 9 (1st Cir.2009) (The right to a jury instruction can be waived by not requesting the instruction, or not objecting at the proper time.). López-Capó has pointed to no evidence in the record indicating that a reasonable jury could have found that he participated in an illicit agreement other than the one charged. Rather, the evidence established that López-Capó participated in the very same conspiracy to distribute drugs at Carioca as his co-defendants. López-Capó seems to argue that a multiple conspiracy instruction was necessary because the evidence failed to establish that he participated in the Carioca drug point in 2009. [13] Even assuming that is true, we do not see why it would necessitate a multiple conspiracy instruction. A conspiracy with a continuity of purpose and a continued performance of acts . . . is presumed to exist until there has been an affirmative showing that it has terminated. United States v. Elwell, 984 F.2d 1289, 1293 (1st Cir.1993) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). The trial testimony established that this conspiracy operated continuously between 2006 and 2009 and that López-Capó was active in the drug point at least in 2007 and 2008. López-Capó has put forward no evidence that he acted affirmatively either to defeat or disavow the purposes of the conspiracy in 2009. United States v. Juodakis, 834 F.2d 1099, 1102 (1st Cir.1987). Nor does he provide any support for his conclusory claim that the lack of a multiple conspiracy instruction made it difficult for the jury to believe [his] testimony and arguments that he was not involved in the conspiracy. There was no abuse of discretion.