Opinion ID: 2775033
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cooperating Co-Conspirators’ Testimony

Text: Government witness Lamar Bennett, who was convicted in a separate case, testified that he had known defendant Barbary since the ninth grade and that he and Barbary began “[s]elling drugs on the corner” together in Opa-locka in 1995.5 Barbary would pay Bennett $100 per day to sell $4,500 to $5,000 worth of drugs, including crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and heroin. Bennett was incarcerated from 1996 to 2000. When Bennett was released from prison in 2000, Barbary was transporting cocaine from Florida to South Carolina in quantities of three to five kilograms at a time. Bennett, joined sometimes by defendant Hartfield, accompanied and assisted Barbary on six or seven trips transporting cocaine to South Carolina. Bennett further testified that, sometime after 2007, he started transporting tens of thousands pills per month from South Florida into Alabama, including pills supplied by Barbary. During that time period, Bennett also was purchasing cocaine from Barbary to sell in Alabama. Defendant Barbary sometimes used defendant Holt to deliver drugs to Bennett. Defendants Barbary, Hartfield, and Holt, as well as Bennett, all used cell phones to contact each other concerning their 5 Counsel for Barnes objected to this testimony, stating, “Judge, I am going to object. This is 1995. It is outside the scope of the indictment.” 15 Case: 13-10453 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 16 of 67 drug organization and used code words to discuss drug deals. Barbary kept multiple cell phones, and routinely would change out his phones out of fear that the government was monitoring his calls. Bennett additionally testified that, prior to his arrest in April 2011, he also assisted defendant Barbary in packaging cocaine for delivery to Robert Jackson on the west coast of Florida. Kim Carswell and defendant Lewis transported the drugs to the west coast of Florida. On cross-examination, Bennett conceded that he had not personally seen Lewis with drugs, but he had seen her arrive at Barbary’s house with large amounts of cash. Moreover, Bennett testified, Barbary had told him that Lewis “was across the street,” which Bennett understood to mean that Lewis was on the west coast of Florida delivering drugs.6 Finally, Bennett testified that defendant Barbary’s organization was also transporting drugs into Boston, Massachusetts. Cooperating codefendant Carswell also testified that, in September 2010, Barbary had her “go pick up the money from Boston” after defendant Hartfield was arrested at a train station in Boston with pills in his possession. Ultimately, Carswell made four to six trips to Boston via plane for Barbary, picking up around $75,000 in cash each time. 6 Lewis’s counsel did not contemporaneously object to this testimony. Rather, Lewis’s counsel stated, after Bennett’s testimony concluded, that he wished to reserve on a motion at the end of the day. After the jury was excused for the day, Lewis’s counsel made a hearsay objection to Bennett’s testimony about Barbary’s statements as to Lewis being “across the street.” The district court overruled the objection because it was untimely and the testimony was admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E). 16 Case: 13-10453 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 17 of 67 Cooperating codefendant Robert Lespinasse testified that he moved into the apartment underneath defendant Holt’s unit in summer 2011. After Lespinasse lost his job, Holt indicated that he was willing to help Lespinasse sell drugs. Holt told Lespinasse that Holt and Barbary were “moving cocaine out of town” and selling heroin, and that Holt used to transport oxycodone up to Boston. Lespinasse further testified that, after he purchased a half-ounce of cocaine from an unspecified source, Holt arranged to have Barbary cook the cocaine into crack cocaine for him. And later Barbary asked Lespinasse if Lespinasse’s source would sell Barbary a kilogram of cocaine. Subsequently, Lespinasse sold Barbary a half-kilogram of cocaine for $14,400 and a quarter-kilogram of cocaine for $7,200.