Opinion ID: 664049
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Proper Treatment of Inconsistent Verdicts

Text: 46 Even assuming that the verdict against Acosta was inconsistent with the verdicts as to his codefendants, we find no basis for relief, for it has long been established that inconsistency in jury verdicts of guilty on some counts and not guilty on others is not a ground for reversal of the verdicts of guilty. See, e.g., Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390, 393, 52 S.Ct. 189, 190, 76 L.Ed. 356 (1932); United States v. Dotterweich, 320 U.S. at 279, 64 S.Ct. at 135; Harris v. Rivera, 454 U.S. 339, 345, 102 S.Ct. 460, 464, 70 L.Ed.2d 530 (1981); United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 62-65, 105 S.Ct. 471, 475-477, 83 L.Ed.2d 461 (1984) (Powell ); United States v. Coplon, 185 F.2d 629, 633 (2d Cir.1950), cert. denied, 342 U.S. 920, 72 S.Ct. 362, 96 L.Ed. 688 (1952). 47 In Powell, the Supreme Court noted that the jury, though presumed to follow the instructions of the trial court, may make its ultimate decisions  'for impermissible reasons,'  469 U.S. at 63, 105 S.Ct. at 476 (quoting Harris v. Rivera, 454 U.S. at 346, 102 S.Ct. at 464), such as mistake, compromise, or lenity, Powell, 469 U.S. at 65, 105 S.Ct. at 476, but its power to do so is  'unreviewable,'  id. at 63, 105 S.Ct. at 476 (quoting Harris v. Rivera, 454 U.S. at 346, 102 S.Ct. at 464). When verdicts are inconsistent,  '[t]he most that can be said ... is that the verdict shows that either in the acquittal or the conviction the jury did not speak their real conclusions, but that does not show that they were not convinced of the defendant's guilt,'  id., 469 U.S. at 64-65, 105 S.Ct. at 476 (quoting Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. at 393, 52 S.Ct. at 190). The Powell Court rejected as 48 imprudent and unworkable[ ] a rule that would allow criminal defendants to challenge inconsistent verdicts on the ground that in their case the verdict was not the product of lenity, but of some error that worked against them. Such an individualized assessment of the reason for the inconsistency would be based either on pure speculation, or would require inquiries into the jury's deliberations that courts generally will not undertake. 49 469 U.S. at 66, 105 S.Ct. at 477. Thus, the court is not to try to guess which of the inconsistent verdicts is the one the jury 'really meant.'  Id. at 68, 105 S.Ct. at 478. 50 In light of Powell, one defendant's conspiracy conviction does not become infirm by reason of jury verdicts of not guilty against all of his alleged coconspirators. United States v. Garcia, 882 F.2d 699, 704-05 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 943, 110 S.Ct. 348, 107 L.Ed.2d 336 (1989); United States v. Bucuvalas, 909 F.2d 593, 597 (1st Cir.1990); United States v. Thomas, 900 F.2d 37, 40 (4th Cir.1990); United States v. Andrews, 850 F.2d 1557, 1561 (11th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1032, 109 S.Ct. 842, 102 L.Ed.2d 974 (1989). Rather, the convicted defendant's protection against an irrational verdict is his ability to have the courts review the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. 51 This review should not be confused with the problems caused by inconsistent verdicts. Sufficiency-of-the-evidence review involves assessment by the courts of whether the evidence adduced at trial could support any rational determination of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 52 Powell, 469 U.S. at 67, 105 S.Ct. at 478. The review of the legal sufficiency of the evidence with respect to one count should be independent of the jury's determination that the evidence on another count was insufficient to meet the government's burden of persuasion. 53 Under these principles, assuming that the verdicts as to Santos and Chavarro were inconsistent with the verdict as to Acosta, that inconsistency provided no basis for disturbing the verdict as to Acosta. We reject the district court's view that the jury, which simply checked off boxes on the verdict form that the court gave it, did not render a verdict of not guilty with respect to any defendant. April Opinion at 7. Plainly the jury found Santos and Chavarro not guilty of the offense that the court had described to it as the more serious of two offenses. The court's drafting of the verdict form in such a way that the phrase not guilty does not appear in haec verba did not change the substance of those acquittals. We also reject the district court's view that the verdicts returned as to Santos and Chavarro were specific finding[s] that those two defendants did not have the intent to defraud or mislead. Id. at 4. Under our jurisprudence, a verdict of not guilty is not the equivalent of a finding of innocent; a verdict indicating that the jury did not find intent proven beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean that it found that there was no intent. Indeed, under the teaching of Powell, we are not entitled to interpret an inconsistent verdict of acquittal as even showing that the jury was not convinced of the defendant's guilt. 469 U.S. at 65, 105 S.Ct. at 476. A court knows only what the jury's verdicts were, not what the jury found, and it is not within the province of the court to attempt to determine the reason or reasons for verdicts that are inconsistent. 54 As to the sufficiency of the evidence to support Acosta's conviction for adulteration with intent to defraud, the proof was overwhelming. The evidence was clear that defendants knew they were dealing in adulterated drugs, and the items seized from Acosta's store included not only large quantities of diverted drugs but also hundreds of counterfeit labels, hundreds of counterfeit informational outserts, and the machinery for manufacturing counterfeit packaging. Plainly, the evidence was sufficient, as the trial court recognized, to permit a reasonable factfinder to infer that defendants intended to mislead or defraud.