Opinion ID: 679522
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tosta

Text: 32 Tosta also challenges the district court's denial of his motion for acquittal. Tosta argues that the Government's case would not support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that Tosta knew of and voluntarily participated in the conspiracy. We agree. 33 The Government's evidence showed Tosta's involvement in two events. The first was on July 18, 1990, when Grieco and Giuffre met to discuss the details of the July 20 cocaine transfer and for Grieco to turn over the trucks with concealed compartments. On July 18, Tosta appeared in response to Grieco's whistle and produced an open envelope containing the keys, registration, and insurance binder for one of the trucks. After handing over the envelope, Tosta and Grieco exchanged a few words in Spanish. 4 After Grieco and Giuffre concluded their meeting, Tosta and Grieco left together. 34 The second event was Grieco and Aguilera's countersurveillance on July 20, 1990, the day of Tosta's arrest. On that day, Tosta was present in the car with Grieco and Aguilera, and later just Aguilera, as Grieco and then Aguilera drove erratically over a course that took them back and forth past the sites where the cocaine-laden trucks were to be parked. Agents finally stopped the car and arrested Tosta and Aguilera. When one of the agents mentioned Tosta's actions on July 18, Tosta responded, So, what's wrong with that? 35 This case is very close, but the Government's case fatally lacks evidence that would support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that Tosta voluntarily participated in the conspiracy. The sum of the inferences from the evidence is tantamount to that presented against Evasio Garcia in United States v. Kelly, 749 F.2d 1541 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 1029, 105 S.Ct. 3506, 87 L.Ed.2d 636 (1985). In Kelly, the Government showed that Garcia had inspected a shrimpboat that was later used to import marijuana. Id. at 1548. The Government also showed that Garcia had been present at a meeting of key conspirators, and that Garcia had been sitting in a parked car near the house where the offloading crew had been preparing to go meet the shrimpboat with its load of contraband. Id. The Kelly court concluded that all the record shows is that [Garcia] was an acquaintance of [a key conspirator]. Id. 36 Tosta's case is very similar to Garcia's. Like Garcia, Tosta performed a facially innocent act that furthered the conspiracy's use of one of its instrumentalities. Garcia inspected the shrimpboat, and Tosta was a runner for the keys and registration papers of a truck with concealed compartments. Furthermore, Tosta, like Garcia, was present in very suspicious circumstances. Garcia was sitting in a parked car where the smugglers were preparing to offload the marijuana; Tosta was riding in a countersurveillance vehicle near the site of a cocaine transfer. 37 The Kelly court concluded that [a] reasonable jury could not conclude that Evasio Garcia was a co-conspirator in the importation and distribution schemes. Id. at 1549. Likewise, a reasonable jury could not ignore the doubts raised by the possibility that Tosta was an unwitting dupe in his sole action that furthered the conspiracy. See United States v. Littrell, 574 F.2d 828, 833 (5th Cir.1978). Furthermore, in the absence of any evidence that Tosta himself was on the lookout, a reasonable jury could not infer from Tosta's mere presence in Aguilera's rental car that Tosta was knowingly engaged in countersurveillance in furtherance of the conspiracy. Cf. United States v. Villegas, 911 F.2d 623, 628 (11th Cir.1990) (holding that the defendant's looking left and right in the vicinity of the defendant's brother's cocaine deal was not sufficient to show participation in the conspiracy). 38 Thus, we conclude that the Government's evidence was insufficient to convict Tosta of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. We therefore reverse Tosta's conviction. 39