Opinion ID: 658545
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hernandez's Conspiracy and Sec. 1959 Convictions

Text: 149 Hernandez makes two sufficiency challenges. First, he contends that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction of conspiracy, arguing that in 1989 he was a competitor, not a member, of the Organization, and that in any event the evidence showed that the Organization consisted of multiple independent conspiracies, not one overall conspiracy. Second, he contends the evidence was insufficient to establish that he murdered Hambrick and that he did so in order to maintain or increase his position in the Organization in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1959. We reject his challenges. 150 The matter of whether the evidence has established one conspiracy or more than one is a question of fact for a properly instructed jury. See, e.g., United States v. Aracri, 968 F.2d 1512, 1519 (2d Cir.1992); United States v. Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp., 871 F.2d 1181, 1192 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 933, 110 S.Ct. 324, 107 L.Ed.2d 314 (1989); United States v. Alessi, 638 F.2d 466, 472 (2d Cir.1980). We cannot disturb the jury's verdict if the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the government, could have led a reasonable juror to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt (1) that the scope of the criminal enterprise proven fits the pattern of the single conspiracy alleged in the indictment, and (2) that the defendant participated in the alleged enterprise with a consciousness of its general nature and extent. United States v. Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp., 871 F.2d at 1192. 151 There was ample evidence from the many accomplice witnesses, who testified as to the Organization's activities, from which a rational juror could have inferred that there was one conspiracy, rather than several. Hernandez has made no challenge to the instructions given to the jury on this issue. Further, though there was some indication that Hernandez was not a member of the Organization in 1987 or 1988, there was also ample evidence that Hernandez, who had first joined the Organization in 1986, was running Organization spots in 1989 with Lopez and two other long-time Organization members. Thus, a reasonable juror could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that in 1989 Hernandez was running spots on behalf of, rather than in competition with, the Organization. 152 Hernandez's challenge to his Sec. 1959 conviction for the Hambrick murder is also meritless. When Hernandez became an Organization worker in 1986 he performed many lower-level tasks; he rose to become one of its leaders in the summer of 1989. On Labor Day in 1989, Hernandez killed Hambrick, an Organization lookout for a spot run by Hernandez. An eyewitness testified that he saw Hernandez, who was armed, arguing with Hambrick, who was unarmed. The eyewitness saw Hernandez, in the course of that dispute, shoot Hambrick four or five times until his gun clicked empty; the witness then saw Hambrick lying on the ground. The first police officer to arrive on the scene found Hambrick lying in the same position, dead. The autopsy report stated the observations that Hambrick had sustained gunshot wounds to, among other places, his chest. After Hernandez was apprehended, he said that his dispute with Hambrick related to the spot. The evidence was plainly ample to permit a rational juror to conclude that Hernandez murdered Hambrick and did so for the purpose of maintaining or increasing his position in the Organization.