Opinion ID: 658352
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Organizer, Supervisor, or Manager Element

Text: 138 The government argued at trial that the four CCE defendants could undertake different roles in different predicate offenses and thus manage each other. Although the CCE defendants did not object to this argument at trial, they argue on appeal that one cannot be convicted of engaging in a CCE if he is managed by others. We disagree. Because Sec. 848 deals with individual liability, a CCE defendant may be an organizer, supervisor, or manager in the predicate offenses underlying his CCE conviction and a subordinate in a predicate offense underlying another's CCE conviction. In other words, if one meets all the statutory requirements individually, he may properly be convicted under Sec. 848 even though he himself was managed. See United States v. Sophie, 900 F.2d 1064, 1078 (7th Cir.) (one CCE defendant supervised another CCE defendant for purposes of Sec. 848), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 843, 111 S.Ct. 124, 112 L.Ed.2d 92 (1990); United States v. Rosenthal, 793 F.2d 1214, 1226 (11th Cir.) (same), modified, 801 F.2d 378 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 919, 107 S.Ct. 1377, 94 L.Ed.2d 692 (1987). The Congressional intent of creating a separate offense to punish leaders of major drug organizations is not limited to the single person on the top rung of the ladder. See Zavala, 839 F.2d at 527 (defendant need not be ringleader to be among class of offenders sought to be penalized under Sec. 848). 139 The CCE defendants also argue that the jury instructions on the organizer element constituted reversible error under United States v. Jerome, 942 F.2d 1328, 1331 (9th Cir.1991). Because the defendants failed to object to these instructions at trial, we again review for plain error. The district court instructed that the word 'organizer' does not carry with it the implication that the organizer is necessarily able to control those whom he or she organizes. 19 In Jerome, we interpreted the language or any other position of management in Sec. 848 to mean that an 'organizer' must exercise some sort of managerial responsibility; one does not qualify if one simply sets up a system of supply. Id. The district court's instruction in this case squarely accords with our holding in United States v. Ray, 731 F.2d 1361, 1367 (9th Cir.1984). Moreover, contrary to the CCE defendants' assertion, Jerome does not render the instruction defective. The people organized by the CCE defendants in this case were not, as in Jerome, the suppliers of [their] suppliers, Jerome, 942 F.2d at 1330, but rather underlings in the Company's drug manufacturing and distribution activities. In view of the defendants' failure to object or to propose an alternate instruction, we find no plain error here. 140 Jerome also held that where some of the people named by the prosecution could not legally be counted as supervisees, a unanimity instruction was required. Id. at 1331; see LeMaux, 994 F.2d at 688. The CCE defendants suggest that their convictions may have been based on nonunanimous verdicts as to the identity of the five subordinates in each series of predicate offenses. There was substantial evidence that each of the CCE defendants managed, organized, or supervised five or more persons even without including his codefendants. Even if the prosecution named people who could not be considered subordinates, however, the court satisfied Jerome by instructing the jury that they must unanimously agree on each of the five or more persons with whom each of the defendants committed the violations.