Opinion ID: 195508
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Use of Communication Facility to Effect Drug Crime

Text: 24 Tuesta challenges the guilty verdicts on counts three and four, on the grounds that the district court misinterpreted 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2 and that there was insufficient evidence that he aided and abetted Martinez in the use of a communication facility to effect the cocaine transaction, see 21 U.S.C. Sec. 843(b). We disagree. 25 Section 843(b) prohibits use of a communication facility to cause or facilitate a felonious drug offense. See United States v. Cordero, 668 F.2d 32, 43 (1st Cir.1981). Tuesta's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence requires that [w]e view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, in order to determine whether a rational trier of fact could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. All reasonable inferences are drawn in favor of the verdict and any credibility determination must be compatible with the judgment of conviction. Tejeda, 974 F.2d at 212 (citations omitted). 26 The jury was entitled to credit Martinez's testimony that he telephoned Tuesta, on September 2 and 3, 1992, to arrange the time and place at which the cocaine transaction would occur, as well as the price and quantity of cocaine. No more was required. Thus, even if Tuesta had played no part in the two telephone conversations between Martinez and the CI, the jury rationally could have inferred, from the two telephone conversations between Martinez and Tuesta, that Tuesta knowingly used a communication facility to effect the cocaine deal. 2