Opinion ID: 672854
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jury charge on co-conspirators

Text: 30 Vegas's final claim concerns the district court's response to a note sent by the jury during its deliberations. The question asked by the jury was, [I]n order for a conspiracy to exist, does it have to be with Vegas and specifically Guzman and/or Virella, or could it be with another individual known, such as the informer, Aponte, or unknown? After first clarifying that the reference to Aponte was intended to be Almonte, and giving counsel an opportunity to advise on the proper response, the court instructed the jury: 31 First let me get the indictment, which I think I sent into you. It says together with William Guzman and Michael Virella and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury. So that a conspiracy can be with an unknown party. You cannot find a conspiracy with a government agent. A government agent is Almonte. If you find that Almonte was a conspirator, then [you have] to find that there is no conspiracy. 32 So that the first thing that you have to find is you don't specifically have to find Guzman and Virella. You could find that an unknown party was a member of the conspiracy. But you certainly can't find that Almonte was a member of the conspiracy. Otherwise that means that you find that no conspiracy existed. All right? You can proceed. 33 Vegas contends he was prejudiced by the judge's failure to mention John Carrero as a government agent, and thus one with whom the defendant could not conspire. 34 The argument is frivolous. The court clearly instructed the jury that a criminal conspiracy could not be formed with a government agent, and John Carrero had been repeatedly identified to the jury as a government agent of the same type as Almonte. Vegas's summation, heard shortly before the jury began deliberations, was centered on Carrero's role as an informant, trying to work off drug charges against him. The trial judge focussed on Almonte, rather than Carrero, for the simple reason that the jury's question asked explicitly about Almonte. Vegas offers no reason, and we find none, to believe that the jury was misled by the court's instruction into believing that it could find Vegas guilty of a conspiracy with Carrero.