Opinion ID: 437587
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: 28 Appellants Scire and Hawkins urge reversal on grounds of insufficiency of the evidence. On review, we must affirm if the evidence and the inferences it supports, viewed in the light most favorable to the government, would permit a reasonable trier of fact to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Such evidence need not exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence or be wholly inconsistent with every conclusion except that of guilt. United States v. Bell, 678 F.2d 547, 549 (5th Cir. Unit B 1982) (en banc), aff'd, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 2398, 76 L.Ed.2d 638 (1983). Applying this standard, we affirm as to Scire and reverse in part as to Hawkins.
29 Scire was convicted under Counts One and Six, respectively, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. At trial he was the sole defendant to take the stand. Scire portrayed himself as a mild-mannered south Florida businessman who lived alone next door to his mother with no companionship except for his attack dog Gina. Although not an Outlaw himself, he and Hawkins were good friends. The two, inveterate gamblers, frequently met and placed bets at racetracks in Florida, Kentucky and elsewhere. Scire admitted his gambling association with Hawkins, but adamantly denied any involvement in Outlaws drug trafficking. 30 Other Outlaws came to know or know of Scire through Hawkins. Their testimony painted a different picture of Scire's dealings. Jerry Luke Owens, for instance, worked for Hawkins as a drug courier to Detroit in 1980. Owens testified that, according to Hawkins, a Tony in Miami or south Florida supplied the bulk cocaine that Owens sold. 31 Government witness Paul Clendening met Scire through Hawkins. Beginning in September 1981, after Clendening moved into Hawkins' house in Tampa, Hawkins began taking the Outlaws recruit to Miami for the stated purpose of visiting Scire and obtaining cocaine. The pair made a total of four trips. Clendening testified that Hawkins carried cocaine only on the return leg. On the first trip, Clendening testified, Hawkins arrived at Scire's house and asked where he could get some cocaine. Scire replied that he didn't know, but that he would check into it. He and Hawkins then disappeared into Scire's bedroom. Hawkins emerged with a quarter ounce of cocaine. After an overnight stay at Scire's home, Hawkins and Clendening returned to Tampa, where they weighed the cocaine, cut it with procaine, and bottled it for sale. 32 On each of the following three visits, according to Clendening, Hawkins asked Scire whether he could procure some cocaine, with varying results. On the second return trip, Hawkins produced cocaine from a folded paper towel and snorted it with Clendening in a gas station men's room. The following time Scire promised to check into getting some cocaine, but none materialized. The fourth visit was entirely unproductive: Scire told Hawkins that the supply was dry, there wasn't any. 33 On appeal Scire argues that the evidence establishes at best that Scire provided Hawkins with cocaine for personal use rather than for large-scale distribution. According to Scire, the quarter ounce of cocaine Hawkins obtained on the first trip was too small a quantity to demonstrate an agreement to join a massive drug distribution ring. Alternatively, he argues that Hawkins' agreement to buy what Scire had to sell, standing alone, does not establish the joint objective necessary to prove a conspiracy. 34 These arguments miss the mark. The evidence shows involvement far beyond one or two isolated sales. The government offered testimony from which a reasonable jury could infer that Scire supplied Hawkins with cocaine for distribution to Detroit and elsewhere as early as 1980. During Clendening's 1981 visits to Scire's house, Scire's consistent agreeability to checking into cocaine confirms that he extended his hospitality to the Outlaw callers to the extent of transacting drug sales. Although Hawkins returned from Miami with what seemed to be a small supply of cocaine, the first trip nevertheless yielded enough to cut and prepare for resale. From these facts, taken together, the jury could have reasonably concluded that Scire had an ongoing agreement to supply Hawkins with cocaine for redistribution. 10 Compare United States v. Mancillas, 580 F.2d 1301, 1307 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 958, 99 S.Ct. 361, 58 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978), with United States v. Caro, 569 F.2d 411, 418-19 (5th Cir.1978). The evidence likewise supports Scire's conviction on the substantive count.
35 Hawkins' sufficiency challenges are directed at his convictions on Counts Two and Three. Finding no merit in his claim regarding Count Two, we affirm. We reverse as to Count Three. 36 Count Three charged that [i]n or about February, 1980, Harrell, Hall and Hawkins did travel and cause travel in interstate commerce from the Middle District of Florida to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in violation of the Travel Act. The evidence relating to this charge consists of three courier runs Jerry Luke Owens made on Harrell's behalf to deliver drugs to Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma City route ended with Owens' arrest on February 18, 1980. 37 Hawkins argues that the evidence linking him to Harrell, Hall or the Tampa Outlaws on or before the date of Owens' arrest is too scant to support his conviction on Count Three. Owens testified that he joined the Tampa Outlaws about '78 and left the chapter in the summer of '80. He recalled meeting Hawkins after joining the Tampa chapter, but he could not remember when. Owens was asked who witnessed his conversations with Harrell about the Oklahoma City trips, and the following exchange ensued: 38 Q. Do you remember if anybody else was there when Roadblock talked to you about going to Oklahoma City? 39 A. Well, his partners was usually around. 40 Q. And based on your observation, who are you referring to by his partners? 41 A. J.J. and Hawk [Hawkins]. 42 The first firm evidence implicating Hawkins in Tampa Outlaws drug dealing dates from the summer of 1980, when Hawkins drove Owens to Detroit in his Lincoln for a two-week trip to peddle cocaine and quaaludes. In recounting the story of this trip, Owens admitted that he was having difficulty remembering dates. He could remember when the Detroit trip occurred only by recalling that the cherries were ripe in Detroit at the time. Detective Grady Snyder of the Tampa Police Department, who had monitored Outlaw activities since 1976, stated that he first heard that Hawkins was in the Tampa area in September 1980. Although Hawkins told Paul Clendening in 1981 that he, J.J. Hall and Harrell were partners in cocaine dealing, the record establishes that Hawkins was the last of the three to join the enterprise. 43 We agree that this evidence is too slender a reed to support Hawkins' conviction of the Oklahoma City Travel Act violation. The fact that Harrell's partners were usually around and that Owens regarded Hall and Hawkins as Harrell's partners cannot prove that Hawkins was present at any of the courier meetings in question. At best, the evidence establishes that Owens did not know when Hawkins arrived in Tampa, but that after he did arrive, he was usually present during Harrell's discussions with couriers. Owens' testimony necessarily leaves reasonable doubts whether Hawkins actually listened in on the Oklahoma City conversations. 44 Nor is Hawkins liable as a principal for substantive offenses committed and completed before he joined the drug trafficking conspiracy. [A] latecomer cannot be convicted as a principal for substantive offenses which were committed in furtherance of the conspiracy before he joined it or after he withdrew from it. Gradsky v. United States, 376 F.2d 993, 996 (5th Cir.), vacated in part on other grounds, 389 U.S. 18, 88 S.Ct. 1, 19 L.Ed.2d 18, cert. denied, 389 U.S. 908, 88 S.Ct. 224, 19 L.Ed.2d 224 (1967); see Levine v. United States, 383 U.S. 265, 86 S.Ct. 925, 15 L.Ed.2d 737 (1966); United States v. Knippenberg, 502 F.2d 1056, 1059-60 (7th Cir.1974); United States v. Apollo, 476 F.2d 156, 162 (5th Cir.1973). We therefore reverse as to Count Three. 45 The proof of the Detroit trip requires affirmance of Hawkins' conviction on Count Two. That count charged Hawkins, Harrell and Hall with knowingly possessing with intent to distribute cocaine [i]n or about February 1980 ... at Tampa in the Middle District of Florida. The evidence adduced at trial established possession during summer 1980 at the earliest, rather than in February 1980 as alleged in the indictment. A variance between dates alleged and dates proved will not trigger reversal, however, as long as the date proved falls within the statute of limitations and before the return date of the indictment. United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971, 1036 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1136, 102 S.Ct. 2965, 73 L.Ed.2d 1354 (1982). Because we detect no likelihood that the variance subjected Hawkins to undue surprise or exposed him to the possibility of a second prosecution for the same offense, see id., we affirm.