Opinion ID: 697036
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of the Cocaine

Text: 13 Huerta challenges the admission of Exhibit 47, cocaine which he allegedly sold to an undercover informant, Denioso Barrios, on April 30, 1992. He contends the government failed to establish a chain of custody for the cocaine, as required by Fed. R. Evid. 901. We disagree. 14 A federal agent testified that Barrios notified him he had arranged to buy cocaine from Huerta. The agent and Barrios called Huerta to set up the transaction. Before buying the cocaine, the agent searched Barrios and his car. Agents followed Barrios to outside Huerta's apartment, where the transaction took place. Barrios returned to his car, and was followed by the agents as he drove nonstop to the agent's office. Barrios turned over the cocaine to the agent, the cocaine was field tested, and placed in an evidence locker. Expert testimony and analysis of the tape recording from the transaction established that Huerta delivered the cocaine to Barrios. The evidence was sufficient to support a finding that the [cocaine was] what [the government] claim[ed]. Fed. R. Evid. 901. 15 Missing from this chain of evidence, according to Huerta, is Barrios's testimony. Both the government and the defense declined to call Barrios after he denied, outside the presence of the jury, that he worked as a government informant, and testified he bought the cocaine for his own use. Barrios's absence, however, is of no moment, because the government was not required to produce every person who ever had possession of the cocaine. United States v. Harrington, 923 F.2d 1371, 1374 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 854 (1991). The possibility of a break in the chain of custody goes only to the weight of the evidence. Id. Huerta pointed out Barrios's absence to the jury, and argued that delivery was never made, an argument which the jury obviously rejected. 16 The district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting Exhibit 47, the cocaine, into evidence. Id.