Opinion ID: 14713
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Impact of the Dismissal of the Drug Conspiracy

Text: Count on the Substantive Drug Convictions Counts 3-10, 17, and 28 of Garcia Abrego’s indictment charged him with violations of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), which criminalizes the knowing possession of controlled substances, including cocaine and marijuana, with intent to distribute. Garcia Abrego contends that his convictions for these substantive drug offenses are not sustainable on a theory of coconspirator 2 We also note that Garcia Abrego’s proposed instruction, while perhaps not a technically inaccurate statement of the law, at a minimum had the potential to confuse or mislead the jury. The proposed instruction focuses exclusively on the role of the prosecutor and fails to state expressly that only the court has the authority to grant a § 5K1.1 or Rule 35 motion. The district court could thus properly conclude that Garcia Abrego’s proposed instruction could have given the jury the mistaken impression that the prosecutor actually possesses the authority to reduce the sentences of government witnesses. See United States v. Tucker, 137 F.3d 1016, 1036 (8th Cir. 1998) (holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant’s proposed instruction because it had the potential for “misleading the jury and would have focussed the jury’s attention on collateral issues”). 18 vicarious liability. Garcia Abrego notes that the jury received a Pinkerton instruction in connection with the conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute count which instructed the jury that, if it found Garcia Abrego guilty of that count, it could convict him of any substantive drug offenses committed by a coconspirator in furtherance of the conspiracy even though Garcia Abrego did not participate in the substantive offenses or have any knowledge of them. See Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 645-47 (1946). However, after the jury returned a verdict of guilty with respect to all counts, the district court dismissed the drug conspiracy count because it constituted a lesser-included offense of conducting a CCE. Garcia Abrego argues that he could not be convicted pursuant to the Pinkerton instruction because the district court dismissed the drug conspiracy count upon which the charge was based. He therefore contends that his convictions for the substantive drug offenses cannot stand because insufficient evidence exists to prove that he is directly liable for these offenses--that is, insufficient evidence exists for the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that he actually or constructively possessed the cocaine in question with intent to distribute it. The gist of Garcia Abrego’s argument appears to be that he cannot be convicted of the substantive drug offenses on a coconspirator vicarious liability theory because the district court did not enter judgment convicting him on the drug conspiracy count even 19 though the jury found him guilty on that count. Garcia Abrego has cited no authority in support of this contention. Assuming, merely for the sake of argument, that a conspiracy conviction is a necessary predicate to a conviction of substantive offenses on the basis of a theory of coconspirator vicarious liability, such a conviction exists in this case because the jury also found Garcia Abrego guilty of conducting a CCE, and the district court entered a judgment of conviction on this count. The Supreme Court has held that conspiracy constitutes a lesser-included offense of conducting a CCE. See Rutledge v. United States, 517 U.S. 292 (1996). Therefore, in finding Garcia Abrego guilty of conducting a CCE, the jury necessarily found that he participated in a conspiracy. Garcia Abrego’s conviction of conducting a CCE is thus tantamount to a conspiracy conviction. See United States v. Graewe, 774 F.2d 106, 108 (6th Cir. 1985) (“A [CCE] charge is a conspiracy charge, and one convicted of a CCE is subject to Pinkerton liability.”).3 3 Garcia Abrego contends that the CCE conviction provides no basis for sustaining his substantive drug convictions on a theory of coconspirator vicarious liability because the Pinkerton instruction did not inform the jury that, if it found Garcia Abrego guilty of conducting a CCE, it could convict him of any substantive drug offenses committed in furtherance of the CCE. However, the authorities that Garcia Abrego cites in support of this proposition establish nothing more than that the jury charge must inform the jury of the Pinkerton principle in order for a conviction of a substantive offense to be sustainable on the basis of coconspirator vicarious liability. See United States v. Sanchez-Sotelo, 8 F.3d 202, 208 (5th Cir. 1993); United States v. Pierce, 893 F.2d 669, 675-76 (5th Cir. 1990). As indicated supra, the jury charge accurately apprised the jury of the Pinkerton principle. 20 The jury instruction in this case expressly apprised the jury of the Pinkerton principle. As the government observes, in finding Garcia Abrego guilty of the drug conspiracy count, the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that a drug conspiracy existed and that Garcia Abrego was a voluntary participant in this conspiracy. Moreover, the district court dismissed the drug conspiracy count only because it constituted a lesser-included offense of the CCE count of which the jury also found Garcia Abrego guilty. We therefore conclude that the district court’s dismissal of the drug conspiracy count in connection with which the jury received the Pinkerton instruction does not foreclose our affirmance of Garcia Abrego’s convictions of the substantive drug offenses on the basis of coconspirator vicarious liability.