Opinion ID: 419738
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 1 On June 5, 1981, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant Dennis Collazo twice telephoned Concepcion Rubio, a/k/a Carol Rubio, to arrange a meeting between her and Richard Rosado, prospective narcotics buyers, and DEA Special Agent Celerino Castillo, who was posing as a Mexican narcotics seller named Fernando Cordoba. Unknown to Rubio, the telephone calls originated from DEA headquarters and, with Collazo's consent, were being tape-recorded by Special Agent Castillo. During the course of the telephone conversations, Collazo informed Rubio that his man (Cordoba) was arriving that evening from Dallas and wanted to know if Rubio and Rosado were for real. Rubio assured the informant that if it's good, and the price is decent, yes. A meeting to discuss a possible sale was arranged for that evening at a lounge in the Holiday Inn on West 57th Street in Manhattan. 2 The meeting was held as planned. Castillo was introduced as Cordoba and the parties discussed terms for a cocaine transaction. Rubio and Rosado agreed to purchase two kilograms of cocaine for $100,000, telling Cordoba that they needed the drugs because their South American connection for cocaine had just been arrested; that they had customers waiting; and that on several occasions, they had used a scheme of rotating duplicate United States passports to conceal their frequent trips to Ecuador where they bought cocaine and smuggled it into this country. When Cordoba inquired whether raising $100,000 would be a problem, Rosado assured him that money [was] no object; he stated that he and his wife (Rubio) had been in the business for a long time, and that they had cocaine money in various safe deposit boxes around New York City. Arrangements were made to exchange the drugs and money the next day at the same Holiday Inn. 3 On June 6, 1981, Rubio and Rosado arrived at the Holiday Inn at approximately 12:30 p.m., and met Collazo and Cordoba in the lounge area. Rubio was carrying a purse and a plastic bag. The bag, she revealed to Cordoba, contained a triple beam scale, a device often used by narcotics traffickers to measure cocaine in grams; and also a bottle of Clorox bleach, often used to test cocaine. 1 Rubio and Rosado were arrested by DEA agents when they left the lounge enroute to Cordoba's room. 4 The agents searched the appellants and found a loaded .38 caliber revolver, an alkaloid kit for testing cocaine and $178 in currency in Rubio's purse. They found $778 in currency and two packets of heroin on Rosado's person. At the time of the arrests, Rosado was then carrying the plastic bag containing the scale and the bottle of Clorox. In the car which the appellants drove to the Holiday Inn, the agents found a safe-deposit box key and a blue canvas bag in which, after obtaining a search warrant, they found $48,810 in currency. 5 After being informed of his constitutional rights, Rosado was brought to DEA headquarters on 57th Street in Manhattan for processing and questioning. When asked about the purpose of being at the Holiday Inn, Rosado replied that he was there for a weekend vacation with his wife. When asked about the triple beam scale and the bottle of Clorox, Rosado said that his wife was planning to do some cooking and cleaning over the weekend at the hotel. When confronted with the heroin packets taken from his person, Rosado denied having had them in his possession. 6 The initial detention of appellants at the Holiday Inn occurred on Saturday, June 6, at approximately 1:30 p.m. The initial questioning and processing at DEA headquarters was concluded that day by 3:00 p.m., whereupon Rubio and Rosado were driven to the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), where they were confined to await arraignment on Monday, June 8--which occurred at 2:15 p.m. Thus, Rubio and Rosado were in custody two full days from arrest to arraignment. 2 7 Rosado was interrogated while in custody twice prior to his arraignment: first at the time of arrest and processing on Saturday, June 6, and again on Monday, June 8, at 11:45 a.m., at which time Rosado was questioned for approximately 30 minutes by an Assistant United States Attorney. Rubio was questioned once during that same period, at the time of arrest and processing on Saturday. 8 Initially, defendants were charged in an indictment filed on June 16, 1981. On November 5, 1981, a four count superseding indictment was filed: Count One charged defendants with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute narcotics, and to import narcotics into the United States, namely cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 812, 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A), 952 and 960 (1976); Count Two charged Rosado with possession of heroin with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 812, 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(A); 3 Count Three charged Rubio with possession of a firearm during the commission of the conspiracy charged in Count One, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c)(2) (1976); Count Four charged Rosado with making a false statement in applying for a United States passport in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1542 (1976). 9 On December 1, 1981, approximately two weeks prior to appellants' first trial, 4 the informant Collazo revealed to Agent Castillo that he had been arrested more than once and implied that, due to the arrests, he would never be able to return to Puerto Rico. The agent became suspicious and investigated Collazo's criminal record. Castillo discovered that not only had Collazo been arrested at least four times in Puerto Rico and the United States, but that he was an escaped prisoner from Puerto Rico with a warrant outstanding for his arrest. 5 Collazo was immediately arrested by Agent Castillo. 10 The initial prosecution having ended in a mistrial due to a jury deadlock, the case was retried before Judge Sprizzo and a jury. At the second trial, appellants argued that they were entrapped by Collazo and were thus induced to engage in the acts charged in the indictment. The trial judge instructed the jury that entrapment occurs when the criminal conduct of the defendant is the product of the activity of government agents, that is, when the agents initiate, induce, persuade or lure a person to commit a crime who would not otherwise have committed the crimes alleged. After charging the jury, but prior to the commencement of deliberations, the district judge conferred with counsel to hear any objections to the charge. The government's attorney asked the judge to clarify that portion of his charge in which he had stated that the government may not prosecute for offenses which it has created and in which it has participated. Counsel for the government was concerned that the word participated was ambiguous and could be construed by the jury to mean that the use of an informant was, in and of itself, an improper participation in the crime. Over defense counsel's objection, the court gave the following clarifying instruction on entrapment: 11 Now, with respect to the entrapment charge. I made reference to the fact that the Government may not prosecute for offenses which it has created and in which it has participated. However, in using the word participation in that aspect of the charge, I did not mean to include within that type of unlawful participation the Government's use of an undercover agent who is playing a role or purporting or pretending to be playing a role. 12 That is not the kind of participation which I meant when I talked about the Government not being able to prosecute for crimes which it has created and in which it has participated. 13 As I told you, the use of informants is lawful and it is perfectly proper for the Government to give a defendant who is otherwise predisposed to commit an offense an opportunity to do so. 14 Rosado was thereafter convicted on Counts One, Two and Four (conspiracy, possession and false statement). Rubio was convicted of Counts One and Three (conspiracy and carrying a firearm). 6 15 Numerous claims of error are raised on appeal. Each appellant claims that: (1) the court's clarifying charge on entrapment effectively precluded proper consideration of that defense by the jury; and (2) the court erred in not dismissing the indictment because of alleged misconduct by the government in dealing with the informant Collazo. In addition, Rosado challenges the denial of his motion to suppress certain post-arrest statements made during the two-day pre-arraignment delay, and Rubio claims that the court erred by failing to suppress certain post-arrest statements made by Rosado which she contends prejudiced her defense. Additional claims of error are raised which are meritless. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the district court in its entirety.