Opinion ID: 658352
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Aiding and Abetting a CCE

Text: 133 The CCE defendants allege that the government improperly argued and the district court erroneously instructed that they could be convicted for aiding and abetting the leader of a CCE without independently meeting all the statutory requirements. The record reveals that this argument is meritless. 134 Whether a defendant who aids and abets a CCE kingpin may be convicted under Sec. 848 based on the federal aider and abettor statute, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2(a), is the subject of an intercircuit split. Compare United States v. Amen, 831 F.2d 373, 381-82 (2d Cir.1987) (aiding and abetting liability conflicts with plain terms and clear intent of Sec. 848), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 1021, 108 S.Ct. 1573, 99 L.Ed.2d 889 (1988), with United States v. Pino-Perez, 870 F.2d 1230, 1233-34 (7th Cir.) (en banc) (Sec. 2(a) attaches automatically to any federal criminal statute, including Sec. 848), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 901, 110 S.Ct. 260, 107 L.Ed.2d 209 (1989). In United States v. Miskinis, 966 F.2d 1263, 1267-68 (9th Cir.1992), we declined to address the issue because the defendant had been charged and convicted as a principal, not as an aider and abettor. 16 Similarly, we find it unnecessary to resolve the question here. 135 The government's theory, supported by the evidence at trial, was that each CCE defendant violated Sec. 848 in his own right. In his closing argument, the prosecutor told the jury that they would have to make individual decisions as to whether each and every one of [the CCE defendants] satisfied the essential [CCE] elements beyond a reasonable doubt. In order to convict a defendant under Sec. 848, the government must show that (1) the defendant committed a felony violation of federal narcotics law which was (2) part of a continuing series of three or more violations (3) undertaken in concert with five or more persons (4) with respect to whom the defendant acted as an organizer, supervisor, or manager, 17 and (5) from which the defendant derived substantial income or resources. 21 U.S.C. Sec. 848(c); see United States v. Sterling, 742 F.2d 521, 525 (9th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1099, 105 S.Ct. 2322, 85 L.Ed.2d 840 (1985). Although Rupley, Sr., clearly held the highest position in the Company, a defendant need not fit the label of a kingpin, United States v. Medina, 940 F.2d 1247, 1251 (9th Cir.1991), or ringleader, United States v. Zavala, 839 F.2d 523, 527 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 831, 109 S.Ct. 86, 102 L.Ed.2d 62 (1988), to be convicted under Sec. 848. Nor does anything in the statute suggest that there may only be one head of a CCE. Pino-Perez, 870 F.2d at 1236. Rather, anyone who meets the statutory requirements may properly be convicted under Sec. 848. 136 In support of their argument, the CCE defendants cite the district court's general aiding and abetting instruction, given because counts 10, 12, and 15 of the indictment alleged aiding and abetting violations. 18 The district court's separate instructions on the CCE charge made no mention of aiding and abetting and stated that [t]he government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the essential elements of this offense in order to establish the guilt of each defendant. Although the CCE defendants allege that the district court's aiding and abetting instruction on the CCE predicate offenses gave the jury the impression that the defendants could be convicted on the CCE charge as aiders and abettors, they failed to object on this ground at trial. We are therefore limited to a plain error review. United States v. Armstrong, 909 F.2d 1238, 1243-44 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 870, 111 S.Ct. 191, 112 L.Ed.2d 153 (1990). Even if giving the aiding and abetting instruction without specific limitation could have been misleading, it is not highly probable that the error materially affected the verdict. United States v. Kessi, 868 F.2d 1097, 1102-03 (9th Cir.1989). 137