Opinion ID: 782497
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Verdicts and the Posttrial Motions

Text: 69 The jury acquitted Hamilton of witness tampering and acquitted both defendants of violating RICO. It found Messere guilty of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute crack to Martinez on July 19, 1998; it found Hamilton guilty of aiding and abetting Wharry's maintenance of a crack house on March 8, 2000, and of using a cellular telephone on that date to facilitate her maintenance of the crack house. 70 Hamilton and Messere moved under Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 for judgments of acquittal on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to support their convictions. They moved alternatively under Fed.R.Crim.P. 33 for new trials on the principal grounds (a) that their convictions resulted from prejudicial spillover from the evidence on the RICO count on which they were acquitted, and (b) that their acquittals on the RICO count showed that the two defendants should have been tried separately. Messere also contended that the government had failed to disclose exculpatory evidence. In a Memorandum-Decision and Order dated April 1, 2002 (District Court Opinion), the district court denied both motions. 71 In denying the Rule 29 motion made by Hamilton, the district court stated that 72 [t]here was more than enough evidence in the record to prove that 1213 First Avenue in Schenectady was a place maintained for the distribution or use of crack cocaine — i.e., a crack house. This evidence included the testimony of numerous witnesses, both law enforcement and drug users, that demonstrated unequivocally both that 1213 First Avenue was, during the period in question, a crack house and that Hamilton knew that 1213 First Avenue was a crack house. 73 In addition, there was sufficient evidence — both direct and circumstantial — to prove that Hamilton aided and abetted the maintenance of 1213 First Avenue as a crack house on March 8, 2000, by warning Wharry that her house was under surveillance by law enforcement, and that he used a cell phone in doing so. This evidence included the testimony of law enforcement witnesses ..., the tape recording made by the informant inside 1213 First Avenue, the billing records for Hamilton's cell phone (which indicated that Hamilton called the crack house six times between 1:46 p.m. and 2:02 p.m. on March 8, 2000), and the testimony of Antoinette Zwicker. As such, the evidence at trial was sufficient to sustain Hamilton's convictions on Counts Three and Five. 74 District Court Opinion at 3. 75 In denying the Rule 29 motion of Messere, the court noted his contentions that the testimony of Martinez showed that Messere had not distributed drugs to her on or about July 19, 1998, as alleged in the indictment, and that the government had failed to prove that the substance allegedly distributed by Messere on July 19, 1998, was crack cocaine. The court stated that 76 [t]he jury could reasonably have found Messere guilty on Count Two based on the testimony introduced at trial. Martinez testified to receiving a substance from Messere that she picked up off the ground and determined it to be crack cocaine by smoking it. Siler testified that he was experienced with recognizing crack cocaine, and that he saw the substance Messere threw to Martinez on July 19, 1998, and that it appeared to be crack cocaine. The jury was free to accept or reject so much of the testimony as it saw fit, and it could reasonably have concluded that Siler, not Martinez, testified to the correct date of the distribution, and that the two witnesses were not, as Messere argues, referring to different events. In any event, Siler's testimony alone, if accepted by the jury, was sufficient to sustain the conviction on Count Two. 77 District Court Opinion at 4 (footnote omitted). 78 In denying defendants' motions under Rule 33 for a new trial, the district court concluded that there had been no prejudicial spillover of evidence from the RICO count, on which defendants were acquitted, to the counts on which they were convicted. The court noted that every alleged RICO predicate act was alleged to have been performed by one or both of these defendants, that the evidence on the RICO count involved many of the same or similar facts as that on the other counts, that the RICO evidence was no more inflammatory than the other evidence, and that even to the extent that the evidence on the RICO count differed from that on the counts of conviction, much of the RICO evidence would have been admissible under Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) to prove defendants' motive, intent, or knowledge with respect to the remaining counts. See District Court Opinion at 6-7. 79 The court also rejected the contention of Hamilton and Messere that they were entitled to new trials on the ground that they should have been tried separately. Given the relationship between the RICO count and the other counts, and given the sufficiency of the evidence on the counts of conviction, the court concluded that defendants had not made the requisite showing of prejudice. See id. at 7 n. 2. 80 Finally, the district court rejected Messere's contention that the government had failed to disclose exculpatory evidence. It found that the testimony of the witnesses in question, though conflicting with the testimony of Siler, simply cannot be fairly characterized as `exculpatory' and that the discrepancies were fully explored on cross-examination. Id. at 8. Further, the court found that both of the allegedly undisclosed witnesses had been identified to the defense. 81 Defendants were eventually sentenced as indicated above, and these appeals followed.