Opinion ID: 371030
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: a single conspiracy or several?

Text: 15 Both appellants complain that their indictment was defective. They claim that it misjoined defendants because it alleged facts showing three discrete conspiracies, yet charged a single conspiracy comprised of several events. They enumerate as separate conspiracies with separate casts the preliminary transaction of September 17, the money-laundering scheme, and the aborted large-scale transaction of December 14. Accordingly, they argue that because misjoinder of defendants is inherently prejudicial, the trial court's refusal to dismiss the indictment is reversible. Fed.R.Crim.P. 8(b); United States v. Lane, 584 F.2d 60, 62 (5th Cir. 1978). 16 To determine whether misjoinder occurred, we consider whether the indictment's allegations, taken as true, establish a single conspiracy or several. United States v. Levine, 546 F.2d 658, 663 (5th Cir. 1977). In so doing, we consider whether the alleged facts reveal a substantial identity of facts or participants sufficient to meet the requirements of rule 8(b). 2 United States v. Marionneaux, 514 F.2d 1244, 1248-49 (5th Cir. 1975). Appellants correctly assert that Oldham's mere appearance in each phase of the conspiracy could not transform several conspiracies into a single scheme. United States v. Levine, 546 F.2d at 663. We find, however, that the indictment adequately shows a singular conspiratorial objective: a large-scale narcotics transaction. Adequately alleged as facets of that same cocaine distribution scheme were the plan to launder its illgotten proceeds, the preliminary sale on September 17, and the preparations for the December 14 transaction. 17 That the indictment did not charge appellants with active participation in each phase of the conspiracy does not effect misjoinder. United States v. Wooldridge, 572 F.2d 1027, 1029 (5th Cir.), Cert. denied, 439 U.S. 849 and 851, 99 S.Ct. 150, 155, 58 L.Ed.2d 151, 154 (1978). Nor need the indictment have charged that appellants knew all the participants or details of the conspiracy, so long as it alleged their knowledge of the conspiracy's essential nature. Id. 18 Appellant's claim of prejudicial variance between the indictment and proof similarly must fail. To prove appellants' complicity, the evidence need not have shown either their knowledge of every phase of the conspiracy or their participation in each event. Blumenthal v. United States, 332 U.S. 539, 556-58, 68 S.Ct. 248, 92 L.Ed. 154 (1947). Foreclosing a finding of variance, the proof adduced at trial adequately denoted not only appellants' knowledge of the single scheme with a single overriding objective, but also their knowledge of participation by others. See id. at 557, 68 S.Ct. 248. Evidence of Schiller's negotiations with agents, his viewing the cash to be paid, and his possession and offer of a pound of cocaine clearly indicated his knowledgeable cooperation. Proof implicating Metz is more sparse, but ample to denote his knowledge of the ultimate goal and his awareness of others' cooperative efforts to attain it. When the agents refused Shirley Ruggiero's offer to sell five pounds of cocaine the night before the scheduled large transaction, she remarked that she would have to return those five pounds to the stash pad. By that remark she revealed that her home was not the stash pad. Therefore, the next day's trips by the sellers, inevitably ending at either Ruggiero's or Metz's, strongly suggested that Metz's townhouse was the stash pad. Moreover, a surveilling agent testified that he saw Metz at the door of the townhouse at 5:00 p. m., thereby establishing Metz's presence during the course of other conspirators' visits. Finally, the search conducted on December 15 not only uncovered cocaine in Metz's house, but also revealed that disposal had occurred in several locations on different floors, suggesting that more than one person endeavored to eradicate any evidence of contraband. Since only two men were in the townhouse when police arrived with Mrs. Metz, the several places of disposal strongly implicate Metz's cooperation in the disposal of the cocaine. 19 This evidence of appellants' knowledgeable cooperation in the single confederation not only conformed the proof to the indictment, but also established an adequate basis for admission against Metz of alleged coconspirators' extrajudicial statements, which are nonhearsay under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E). That rule permits the admission of a defendant's coconspirators' statements, if made in furtherance of a conspiracy and during its course. United States v. Smith, 550 F.2d 277, 281 (5th Cir.), Cert. denied, 434 U.S. 841, 98 S.Ct. 138, 54 L.Ed.2d 105 (1977). Because proof independent of the statements was sufficient in this case to establish a prima facie case of the conspiracy's existence and Metz's participation in it, the trial court properly admitted the alleged coconspirators' statements. See Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 74, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942); United States v. Oliva, 497 F.2d 130, 132 (5th Cir. 1974); United States v. Apollo, 476 F.2d 156, 159 (5th Cir. 1973). 3 Metz does not suggest that no conspiracy existed, but only that he was not a member of it. Viewing the independent evidence already reviewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, we cannot say that a reasonable jury necessarily would find that appellants played no part in a comprehensive agreement to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1941); United States v. Warner, 441 F.2d 821, 825 (5th Cir.), Cert. denied, 404 U.S. 829, 92 S.Ct. 65, 30 L.Ed.2d 58 (1971). Moreover, the district judge provided the cautionary Apollo instruction, charging the jury not to consider any declarations against appellants by other alleged coconspirators until sure of the conspiracy's existence and appellants' complicity. 20 Because this evidence, independent of coconspirators' extrajudicial statements, would allow a reasonable jury to find Metz a conspirator, the aggregated evidence necessarily is sufficient to sustain his conviction. United States v. Carreno, 599 F.2d 680, 683 (5th Cir. 1979).