Opinion ID: 402379
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Conspirators

Text: 6 Even if the traditional rule applies, the government argues that the trial court should have allowed the jury's conspiracy verdict to stand, because the evidence showed that Dr. Albert conspired with other persons to the grand jurors known and unknown. 2 It is true that the traditional rule bars a conspirator's convictions only when all other coconspirators are acquitted. As the government correctly observes, where named coconspirators are acquitted, 'a person can be convicted of conspiring with persons whose names are unknown as long as the indictment asserts that such other persons exist and the evidence supports their existence (and complicity).'  Espinosa-Cerpa, supra, 630 F.2d at 331 n.2, quoting United States v. Klein, 560 F.2d 1236, 1242 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1073, 98 S.Ct. 1259, 55 L.Ed.2d 777 (1978). 7 Here, the indictment charged Dr. Albert for conspiring with Cleveland and other persons to the grand jurors known and unknown. But the trial court stated in its Order on Post Trial Motions that Cleveland was the only other co-conspirator whose existence was disclosed by the evidence. The question, therefore, is whether the trial court clearly erred in making this finding-in other words, whether, although there is evidence to support the trial court's finding, a review of the entire evidence leaves the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. See Wright v. Western Electric Co., 664 F.2d 959, 963 (5th Cir. 1981), citing United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S.Ct. 525, 542, 92 L.Ed. 746, 766 (1948). After examining the evidence, we must answer the question in the affirmative and reverse the trial court's grant of Dr. Albert's motion for acquittal. 8 We think that the evidence clearly shows the conspiratorial participation of at least two persons-the Francises-and of perhaps a third-Beverly Hannah, one of Cleveland's employees. At a pretrial hearing, the government stated that the Francises and Beverly Hannah were the unnamed coconspirators mentioned in the indictment, and the evidence presented at trial proved beyond a reasonable doubt their membership in a criminal conspiracy with Dr. Albert. As the evidence shows, Dr. Albert, Cleveland, and the Francises met in October 1978 and discussed the possibility of trading merchandise for the drugs that Dr. Albert had been prescribing for Doris Francis. Shortly thereafter, the Francises brought a television set to Albert's office, in return for sixty Preludin pills and forty-eight Tuinal capsules. 3 This type of trading continued for several months, during which time the Francises obtained several hundred capsules of Preludin and Tuinal; they bartered such diverse goods as a shotgun, handguns, and television sets (including sets with the identification numbers removed). None of these trades for merchandise were entered in Dr. Albert's medical records. 9 At the same time, Doris Francis continued to make her regular and quite frequent visits as a patient to Dr. Albert in order to receive rather large quantities of Preludin and Tuinal pills for her ostensible weight loss needs. Dr. Albert prescribed these drugs even though Ms. Francis was hospitalized three times from January to March 1979-once for a Tuinal overdose, once for major surgery, and once for psychiatric treatment. His examinations of Ms. Francis were cursory at best, and his medical advice and supervision were almost nonexistent. 10 In April and May of 1979, the Francises met with local law enforcement officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents to discuss the Francises' cooperation in an investigation into local drug activities. The Francises agreed to cooperate, and on May 14, 1979, they began their part of the investigation by wearing electronic transmission equipment to their meetings with Dr. Albert and Cleveland. The DEA agents monitored the transmissions, which revealed the full details of the drug trading arrangement. 4 Dr. Albert and Cleveland prescribed, as before, large quantities of Preludin and Tuinal in return for a diverse assortment of merchandise-again, without adequate medical examination or supervision. Several of these visits were not recorded in Dr. Albert's medical files, and most of them were consummated by the delivery of drug prescriptions using fictitious names, names which Dr. Albert admitted having requested from the Francises. 11 In our view, as in the jury's, this evidence reveals without doubt that Dr. Albert conspired, with at least two others, 5 to dispense Schedule II controlled substances not in the course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. As the government's eminently believable expert testimony showed, sound medical practice would not permit the prescription of Preludin and Tuinal in the quantity, frequency, or manner in which Dr. Albert administered them. Therefore, we must disagree with the trial court's grant of the motion for acquittal.