Opinion ID: 201627
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the challenges to the convictions

Text: 11 Defendants seek reversal of their convictions because, they allege, their prosecution violates fairness elements of Due Process of Law under the Federal Constitution. They claim this to be so because they offered evidence, disputed by the Government's evidence at trial, that they reasonably relied on representations, which they allege were made by Ortiz, that the conduct upon which their convictions are based was part of a legitimate law enforcement project Ortiz was carrying out in his capacity as an FBI agent. This, they argue, implicitly represented to them that their conduct was legal. 7 Hence, they assert, the convictions should be vacated because the Government is estopped from prosecuting them by reason of their entrapment into the illegal activity. 12 The short answer to this contention is that the Defendants have the burden of proof to establish at trial their defense of estoppel by entrapment and they failed to do so. They had a full opportunity to adduce any evidence they wished in support of that defense, their counsel argued the defense to the jury, and the district court gave instructions to the jury concerning the defense (as to which there were no objections), and the defense was ultimately submitted to the jury on a disputed record. The result at trial was that the jury found for the Government. We conclude after a careful review of the trial record that the evidence is sufficient to support that result. 13 In briefing on this appeal, the Defendants simply reargue the factual aspects of the defense in juxtaposition to the Government's evidence that they, in fact, committed each of the charged offenses. On a general theory, Defendants assert that all of the evidence is insufficient to prove that they possessed specific criminal intent to commit the offense. There is no claim made here that evidence material to the defense was limited or excluded at trial. It is not contended that the issues generated by the defense were not submitted to the jury or that those issues were taken away from jury consideration on the evidentiary record. Moreover, it is not contended that there was any defect in the jury instructions given by the Court in respect to the defense. The thrust of the arguments as they are made can only be viewed as the assertion of a claim that the Defendants established at trial the defense of estoppel by entrapment as a matter of law. Review of such a claim is plenary because the issue is whether or not there was sufficient evidence to support a theory of defense. . . . Caron, 64 F.3d at 715. 14 In order to establish the subject defense at trial, the Defendants were required to establish that (1) a governmental official told them their conduct was legal; (2) they relied on that representation; (3) their reliance was reasonable in the circumstances; and (4) given that reliance, prosecution for the conduct is unfair. Ellis, 168 F.3d at 561; United States v. Smith, 940 F.2d 710, 715 (1st Cir.1991). 15 Our careful review of this record convinces us that there is no basis to conclude that the Defendants' proof warranted the acceptance of the defense as a matter of law. Clearly, the evidence made, at best, issues of fact for a fact-finder to resolve as to the viability of the defense. 16 Whether a reasonable fact-finder should be persuaded of the validity of the defense depends entirely, in the circumstances of this record, upon the resolution of any number of disputed issues of fact and the determination of the credibility, in whole or in part, of nearly every witness who testified at trial. These are typical jury functions for the resolution of disputed questions of fact. 17 The lynchpin for the resolution of the issue of the Defendants' intent is the determination of fact as to what Ortiz told them (and what they understood) about the legal status of the operation: either that it was an exercise in legitimate law enforcement (as the Defendants contend) or that it was to be assistance to a corrupt FBI agent in illegally transporting, escorting, and safeguarding a shipment of contraband drugs for a garden-variety civilian drug trafficker (as the Government contends). A choice among these two alternatives resolves the issue of whether there is sufficient evidence to establish the Defendants' guilty intent. 18 All Defendants asserted in ambiguous language that they were led to believe that the project was a covert or undercover police operation. Ortiz and Pelaez testified that the Defendants were told it was an illegal activity from the beginning. There is abundant evidence in the record to support the Defendants' convictions. It could be concluded that the Defendants were told the operation was an illegal one and that the description and circumstances of the project would have left them, as experienced police officers, no room to reasonably believe that it was a legitimate law enforcement effort. Further, the evidence supports a finding that they knew, because told by Ortiz, that there would be no arrest as a result of the seizure and transport of the contraband, a strange circumstance for a legal police operation. They were told that they were to be paid a sum of money (not less than $4000) for their participation in the project that was far in excess of the usual rate of compensation of line police officers for an a couple of hours of official work. They were told the ultimate amount of their compensation would depend upon the amount of drugs transported by them. They were told that the money for their compensation would come from the supposed owner of the drugs, not from FBI funds. They were ultimately paid and accepted $5000 each for their efforts and the payments were made in cash at Ortiz's apartment. The circumstances of their compensation and the determination of the amount of it were, alone, forceful, persuasive proof from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the Defendants knew they were not participating in a legitimate police operation and were a confirmation of Defendants' culpable knowledge and intent from the very beginning of their involvement in the operation. That confirmation is entirely consistent with all of the other evidence indicating the guilt of the Defendants. 19 We conclude that the defense was properly submitted to the jury on unchallenged instructions, that no error occurred in that respect, that the record amply supports the jury's verdict and that the Rule 29 Motion was properly denied.
20 We assume the Defendants press the estoppel by entrapment argument to attack the existence of specific intent on Count III, but we find that position is without merit in the record. First, the argument that Rodriguez never drew his sidearm overlooks entirely that evidence in the record (that was undisputed) that he was asked to carry a police-owned automatic rifle during the transport and escort activities to discourage intervention by others, and that he did, in fact, do so. This evidence, by itself, is enough to permit a jury to conclude that Rodriguez had the general knowledge and intent to carry a firearm during and in relation to his activity in the transport/escort as charged in Count III. 21 The Government did not need to prove that Defendants specifically intended to use or did use a firearm in the course of the transport activity in order for a jury to convict them of the Count III offense. The Government needed only to prove individually their general intent, e.g., that they each knew that they carried a firearm during the course of the drug offense conduct, in order to lay a predicate in the evidence that was adequate for their convictions on Count III. See United States v. Brown, 915 F.2d 219, 225 (6th Cir.1990). We find that the evidence clearly supports the existence of that level of knowledge by all three Defendants, beyond a reasonable doubt. 22 Defendants also advanced below the argument on the Rule 29 Motion, and reiterate it here, that the evidence was insufficient to satisfy the nexus requirement of the violation charged in Count III. This element of the possession offense is treated at length in United States v. Grace, 367 F.3d 29 (1st Cir.2004). There we said that the current version of the statute does not require the Government to show that the Defendant actively employed the firearm in furtherance of the drug crime. Id. at 35. We held, however, that it must be shown in order to secure a conviction that the Defendant has possessed the gun to further the drug crime.  Id. (emphasis added). In Grace, the underlying offenses were possession and distribution of drugs. The Court there found that the possession of the gun was in furtherance of the possession and distribution of the drugs. We said that the government must illustrate through specific facts, which tie the defendant to the firearm, that the firearm was possessed to advance or promote the criminal activity. Id. (quoting United States v. Lawrence, 308 F.3d 623, 630 (6th Cir. 2002)). 23 The evidence material to Count III of this Indictment can properly be evaluated on the basis that the jury approached its consideration of this Count having concluded that the Defendants were guilty on Counts I and II. Once it is established that the Defendants had the specific intent to engage in a conspiracy to distribute drugs illegally and to participate actively in the attempt to distribute them, the question becomes whether the evidence established a nexus between that criminal conduct on Counts I and II and possession by the Defendants of the firearms. 8 24 As noted previously, in the case of Rodriguez, the existence of such a nexus is transparently clear because he patrolled the drug transfer site at Ortiz's instructions with an automatic rifle from the Defendants' police cruiser. It was easily to be deduced by the jury in the circumstances that the obvious intent of that conduct was to discourage intervenors from interfering in the transfer and escort of the drugs. That conduct was clearly in furtherance of the transport and escort of the drugs. 25 The situation is little different in the cases of Villafane and Pena even though they assert (and the record does not contradict) that they never drew or used their sidearms in the course of the transport/escort activity. As noted above, the brandishing or use of firearms is not a necessary element of the Count III offense. Grace, 367 F.3d at 35. The evidence supports the conclusion that the sole and mutually understood purpose of Defendants' participation in the activity as law officers was to prevent, by their presence, other drug dealers or other legitimately motivated police officers from interfering in and disrupting the transport of the drugs. It is obvious that the presence of the guns, displayed in the open, by the Defendants as active participants in the illegal activity, would have a tendency to discourage interruption of the transport by other persons and was intended by the Defendants to do so. Further, it could be fairly inferred by the jury that potential intervenors would likely also bear arms and that the presence of the Defendants' firearms in open view would disabuse any potential intervenor of any thought that he would enjoy a superiority of force in intervening in the situation. The possession of the firearms did, as intended by the Defendants, further the illegal drug trafficking activities. 26 We are satisfied, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, that this record clearly justifies a rational jury in concluding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that all of the Defendants possessed their firearms at the time of the transport/escort activity in order to further the successful execution of the illegal drug trafficking activity in question. The possession was in relation to that activity. Id. The verdict on Count III is supported in the record as to all three Defendants, and the Rule 29 Motion was properly denied. 27