Opinion ID: 778180
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Challenges to the School-Zone Violation Convictions

Text: 19 Count one of the superseding indictment charged defendants with drug conspiracy from 1992 to 1998. Count two charged that their conspiracy involved distribution within 1,000 feet of a school from September 1996 to 1998. During its deliberations, the jury sent a note to the court, asking whether a defendant who was guilty of participating in the count-one conspiracy could be convicted on count two even if there was no evidence of that defendant's participation after September 1996. In response, the district court referred the jury to a previous written instruction that had been given on the issue of single versus multiple conspiracies and then stated: 20 I instruct you in order to find the defendant guilty of Count Two, it's not necessary that the government prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant actively participated in that conspiracy after September of 1996 as long as the government has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant you are considering joined that conspiracy, the one alleged in Count Two, even if he did so before September of '96. The long accepted rule is that a conspirator is presumed to continue in the conspiracy until the last overt act of any of his co-conspirators. 21 The court added that that presumption may be overcome when a defendant produces affirmative evidence of his withdrawal from the conspiracy, and it instructed the jury on the ingredients of such a withdrawal. 22 Defendants challenge this supplemental instruction, arguing that it allowed the jury to convict them on count two simply on the basis of their guilt on count one. We see no error in the charge. 23 It is well established that where the government has shown that a conspiracy existed and that a given defendant was a member of it, his membership is presumed to continue until the last overt act by any of the coconspirators, unless the defendant proves that the conspiracy was terminated or that he took affirmative steps to withdraw. See, e.g., Hyde v. United States, 225 U.S. 347, 369-70, 32 S.Ct. 793, 56 L.Ed. 1114 (1912); United States v. Panebianco, 543 F.2d 447, 453 (2d Cir.1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1103, 97 S.Ct. 1129, 51 L.Ed.2d 553 (1977). Withdrawal is an affirmative defense, see, e.g., United States v. Eisen, 974 F.2d 246, 268 (2d Cir.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1029, 113 S.Ct. 1840, 123 L.Ed.2d 467 (1993), and the defendant has the burden of showing that he performed affirmative acts that were inconsistent with the object of the conspiracy and communicated in a manner reasonably calculated to reach co-conspirators, United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 464, 98 S.Ct. 2864, 57 L.Ed.2d 854 (1978); mere cessation of activity is not sufficient, see, e.g., United States v. Eisen, 974 F.2d at 268. Positive evidence of withdrawal is required in order to provide assurance that the defendant genuinely removed himself from the conspiracy and is not simply attempting an after-the-fact escape from liability. See, e.g., United States v. Greenfield, 44 F.3d 1141, 1150 (2d Cir.1995). 24 In the present case, none of the defendants except Carf, see Part II.B.2. below, argued that he had presented any evidence from which it could be inferred that he had withdrawn from the conspiracy. Indeed, the three defendants who testified at trial stated that they had never been participants in the first place. For example, Carf testified that although he had sold drugs on Beach 26th Street between 1992 and 1994, he had done so for himself and not as part of any conspiracy. Johnson denied ever selling drugs or transporting firearms to New York. And Grimes testified, inter alia, that he had known nothing about the Beach 26th Street drug operation, had never participated in any organized drug selling on the block, and never knew that Hamilton controlled drug sales on Beach 26th Street. 25 The jury plainly found that each defendant had participated in the count-one conspiracy. In the absence of any evidence of withdrawal, the court correctly instructed that a defendant's continued participation could be presumed and that the government was not required to present evidence of further affirmative acts by a nonwithdrawing defendant. 26
27 Nor do we find merit in Carf's contention that he is entitled to a new trial because the jury was not properly instructed as to the factors it should consider in determining whether his participation in the conspiracy ended with his 1995 incarceration. [W]hile arrest or incarceration may constitute a withdrawal from a conspiracy, it does not follow that in every instance it must,  United States v. Agueci, 310 F.2d 817, 839 (2d Cir.1962) (emphases in original), cert. denied, 372 U.S. 959, 83 S.Ct. 1013, 10 L.Ed.2d 11 (1963), and whether a coconspirator's imprisonment constitutes a withdrawal must be decided by the jury in light of the length and location of the internment, the nature of the conspiracy, and any other available evidence, United States v. Panebianco, 543 F.2d at 454 n. 5. A conspirator who presents evidence of his imprisonment during the course of the conspiracy is entitled to a jury instruction on withdrawal. United States v. Salameh, 152 F.3d 88, 150 (2d Cir.1998) (per curiam), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1112, 119 S.Ct. 885, 142 L.Ed.2d 785 (1999). However, the failure to give such an instruction is not a basis for reversal unless the defendant can show that a properly instructed jury would likely have found that he withdrew from the conspiracy. See id. 28 Carf has made no such showing. The conspiracy endured for some six or seven years. Carf was incarcerated nearby and for only a few months, from May to September of 1995. Prior to his incarceration, he played an integral role in the conspiracy, serving as a lieutenant for both Hamilton and Bruce. Although Carf testified that he thereafter worked as a truck driver and did not sell drugs, the government presented evidence that after his release from jail he in fact resumed, and perhaps even elevated, his participation in the conspiracy. For example, Joel Lipsky, a customer, testified that Carf participated in a sale of crack cocaine to Lipsky in November 1996. Butler, a street-seller beginning in 1996, testified that Carf was a lieutenant in 1996, replenishing Butler's drug supplies and paying him; Hamilton testified that Carf remained one of his lieutenants until at least mid-1997. And Hamilton testified that Carf took charge of several of Hamilton's allotted weeks in 1996-1997. Given the ample evidence of Carf's participation in the conspiracy after his September 1995 release from jail, together with the relative brevity of his incarceration, Carf cannot demonstrate that the jury, if properly instructed, would likely have found that he withdrew from the conspiracy. 29
30 Defendants also challenge the enhanced penalties imposed on them pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 860 for conviction of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute narcotics within 1,000 feet of a school zone. They argue, citing United States v. Ekinci, 101 F.3d 838 (2d Cir.1996), that the penalties set out in § 860(a) are not applicable unless there is a substantive violation of § 841(a), whereas defendants were convicted only of conspiracy to violate § 841(a). We are unpersuaded. 31 Section 860 describes an offense whose pertinent elements are (a) the performance of certain acts that are prohibited by 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and (b) the proximity of those acts to a school, and it penalizes such an offense severely: 32 Any person who violates section 841(a)(1) ... of this title by distributing, possessing with intent to distribute, or manufacturing a controlled substance in or on, or within one thousand feet of, the real property comprising a public or private elementary, vocational, or secondary school ... is (except as provided in subsection (b) of this section) subject to (1) twice the maximum punishment authorized by section 841(b) of this title; and (2) at least twice any term of supervised release authorized by section 841(b) of this title for a first offense. 33 21 U.S.C. § 860(a). Subsection (b) of § 860 provides penalties of even greater severity for second and successive § 860(a) offenders. In United States v. Ekinci, the § 860 count of the indictment charged that the defendant physician, within 1,000 feet of a school, had distributed, possessed with intent to distribute, and dispensed a controlled substance in violation of § 841(a)(1). The jury found him guilty, but its verdict was ambiguous as to which of those acts-distributing, possessing, or dispensing-it found he had performed. We noted that the § 841(a) actions referred to in § 860 include distributing and possessing with intent to distribute, but do not include dispensing; and we concluded that the enhanced penalty provided by § 860 could not be applied because the jury might have found the defendant guilty only of dispensing. See United States v. Ekinci, 101 F.3d at 839-41. 34 Ekinci is not applicable here, for count two of the superseding indictment in the present case did not mention dispensing. Count two here mentioned only conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute, both of which acts are listed in both §§ 841(a) and 860. Hence the verdict in the present case was not ambiguous, for the jury could not have found that a defendant performed an act that was prohibited in § 841(a) but not in § 860. In sum, unlike in Ekinci, the guilty verdict did not leave open the possibility that a defendant had engaged in conduct for which a § 860 sentence enhancement is not authorized. 35 Nor was the sentence unauthorized simply because the defendants were not convicted of substantive offenses. The conspiracy section of Title 21 provides that 36 [a]ny person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this subchapter shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy. 37 21 U.S.C. § 846. Since count two of the superseding indictment alleged that the object of defendants' conspiracy was distribution of, and possession with intent to distribute, narcotics within 1,000 feet of an elementary school in violation of § 860, the penalty for the conspiracy alleged in count two was the same as the penalty prescribed for a substantive violation of § 860. We see no error in the imposition of the § 860 penalties. 38