Opinion ID: 2718562
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence Relevant to Young

Text: The government also presented wiretapped conversations involving appellant Young. Specifically, it presented intercepted conversations between Young and Belmar as well as between Young and Mockabee. Of all the conversations replayed at trial for use against Young, perhaps the most damaging conversation involved Belmar. Before the prosecution played a recording of the telephone conversation between Young and Belmar from December 8, 2009, Detective Clark first provided some background about the process of turning powder cocaine into crack cocaine, noting, “Powder cocaine is taken and mixed with a certain amount of cutting agent, usually baking soda. Water’s added to that. It’s boiled. In the boiling process, the oils and the moisture in the cocaine evaporate, and you’re left with a hard, solid substance, which is crack cocaine.” No. 11-2267 Dkt. 78-2, 143–44. The prosecution then played the December 8th conversation, in which Young was overheard telling Belmar, “My person has some software, it won’t get hard when you cook it.” Belmar responded by advising Young to “melt it down,” “pour the water off,” “throw [baking] soda on it,” and “keep stirring it up.” Young later told Mockabee that the person with the software “owe[d]” him. Detective Clark testified that the “person” with the troublesome “software” discussed in this conversation was likely one of Young’s customers. Clark further suggested that this particular customer was in a “fronting” relationship with Young, such that Young had given cocaine to this customer 10 Nos. 11-2267, 11-2288, 11-2535 & 11-2687 “on consignment,” and the customer now owed Young money “on the back end.” No. 11-2267 Dkt. 78-2, 144–48. Young’s wiretapped conversations with Mockabee certainly did not help his case either. For example, the prosecution played a recording of a January 7, 2010 conversation, in which Young was overheard telling Mockabee that he “was trying to come up this way,” and Mockabee responded, “It’d be a couple hours.” No. 11-2267 Dkt. 78-3, 42. Detective Clark interpreted this conversation to mean that Young wanted to purchase cocaine from Mockabee, but Mockabee was not presently available. In subsequent conversations that day, Young continued to ask Mockabee if he was “ready.” Once Mockabee responded affirmatively in a conversation on January 8 (by saying, “I’ll be there in ten minutes”), Young told Mockabee that he “probably needed the same thing.” Clark interpreted this statement to mean that Young needed the “same amount of cocaine that he had previously obtained from Mr. Mockabee.” Id. at 44. Based on this interpretation of the January 8 conversation, law enforcement believed that a drug transaction between Mockabee and Young was imminent at the 781 West 25th Street residence. As a result, law enforcement officers stopped Young’s vehicle after it left the residence that day. Finding Young and his associate, Gary Davis, in the car, police recovered 41.9 grams of powder cocaine from Davis’s crotch area. At trial, three witnesses—Gary Davis, Ernest French, and Brooke Taggart—all testified that Young was more than just a mere buyer of cocaine; rather, he was actively engaged in the sale of cocaine to others. Davis, an Indianapolis native who had been using illegal drugs since age twenty, spent the Nos. 11-2267, 11-2288, 11-2535 & 11-2687 11 three years between 2005 and 2008 in Kentucky getting clean and sober. Upon moving back to Indianapolis, Davis promptly became reacquainted with two of his old friends: Young and crack cocaine. No. 11-2267 App. Dkt. 78-2, 30-39. Davis’s rekindled friendships soon convinced him to begin working for Young; Young, in turn, would compensate Davis in crack cocaine. According to Davis’s testimony, this arrangement began after Young approached him in October 2008 and asked Davis to accompany him to Columbus, Indiana. Davis agreed to ride with Young, and thus began Young’s and Davis’s weekly trips to Columbus, which continued until their interdiction stop on January 8, 2010. On these weekly trips, Young would hand Davis an amount of crack cocaine (typically one ounce) for Davis to hide in his underwear in order to avoid detection by law enforcement. Next, the two men would drive to either an apartment or a parking lot in Columbus. Davis would then hand the crack cocaine back to Young upon arrival, and Young would deliver the crack to his customers and collect payment. These customers, according to Davis, included both Ernest French and Brooke Taggart. No. 11-2267 App. Dkt. 78-2, 39-47. French, like Davis, also testified at trial for the prosecution. French indicated that from the spring of 2008 until January 2010, he purchased crack cocaine from Young during his trips to Columbus. With the exception of one ninety-day break, French bought one to two ounces of crack cocaine every week during this two-year period. On some occasions, Young advanced (that is, fronted) the cocaine to French without payment. French corroborated that Davis was with Young for some of the trips but indicated that another per12 Nos. 11-2267, 11-2288, 11-2535 & 11-2687 son rode along instead of Davis on some occasions. No. 112267 App. Dkt. 78-3, 148-51. In Taggart’s testimony for the prosecution, she too corroborated that Young made regular trips to Columbus with someone else in order to sell crack cocaine (although Taggart could only identify the person accompanying Young on these trips as “Fats”). Taggart began transacting with Young in June 2010 as a matter of convenience; since Young came to her in Columbus, she no longer had to drive to Indianapolis to obtain crack cocaine. Taggart testified that she typically purchased a quarter-ounce to a half-ounce of crack cocaine from Young twice per week using cash; she then resold the crack cocaine to someone else. No. 11-2267 App. Dkt. 78-2, 78-81.