Opinion ID: 582735
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Was There Sufficient Evidence To Support a Conviction

Text: 19 for Conspiracy? 20 Appellant maintains that the prosecution must show, by a preponderance of the evidence, independent of the co-conspirator's statement, that a conspiracy existed, and that the co-conspirator and the defendant were members of the conspiracy. Appellant's Reply Brief at 1 (emphasis in original). According to appellant, the government relied entirely on the statements of Alvarez--the alleged co-conspirator--without offering any independent proof of the conspiracy. Thus, appellant concludes that Alvarez' statements should have been excluded and the conviction overturned. 21 We reject appellant's argument. The cases cited by appellant--for example, United States v. Silverman, 861 F.2d 571, 576-80 (9th Cir.1988), and United States v. Paris, 812 F.2d 471, 475-76 (9th Cir.1987)--involved the admission of a co-conspirator's out-of-court statements. In both Silverman and Paris, the Ninth Circuit merely stated that a co-conspirator's out-of-court statements, standing alone, are insufficient to establish that defendant had knowledge of and participated in a conspiracy. In this case, however, Alvarez testified directly and extensively at appellant's trial as a government witness. Thus, he was at all times available for cross-examination by appellant. 22 Moreover, to the extent that the government did make use of some hearsay evidence--Captain Stuart Smith testified about several telephone conversations he and a government informant had with Alvarez--appellant at no time objected to the evidence on hearsay grounds. This being so, we may not reverse the district court unless the admission of such evidence was plain error. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b). Since the co-conspirator whose declarations are in question was a government witness at trial, subject to full cross-examination by appellant on all relevant issues--including the comments referred to in Captain Stuart's testimony--we cannot say that the admission of such hearsay testimony seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of appellant's judicial proceedings. 23 Finally, after reviewing the record, we find that there was indeed independent evidence to support appellant's conspiracy conviction. For example, we refer to evidence of an intercepted mailing between Harold Jackson, a known drug purchaser, and appellant containing $14,000 in cash. R.Vol. VI at 8-12. Although appellant offered an explanation for this evidence, we cannot say that it was unreasonable for the jury to conclude that appellant was a conspirator in the effort to traffic drugs between Florida and Salt Lake City. 24