Opinion ID: 415511
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the american view: other circuits.

Text: 106 Finally, I note that other circuits have permitted the jury to infer intent to distribute from the size of the cache. In United States v. Smith, 680 F.2d 255 (1st Cir.1982) (citing Alfrey, supra, United States v. DeWeese, 632 F.2d 1267, 1270, cert. denied, 454 U.S. 878, 102 S.Ct. 358, 70 L.Ed.2d 188 (1981), and Cadena), the First Circuit relied on the factors that we set forth in Alfrey and DeWeese in its affirmance of the defendant's conviction of conspiracy to possess marijuana on the high seas with intent to distribute under 21 U.S.C. Secs. 963 and 955(a). The facts in Smith were strikingly similar to the case before us. The unregistered flagless vessel was seized on the high seas, one hundred miles off the coast of Massachusetts. On board were two Americans (one of whom was defendant Smith), ten Colombian nationals, and 263 bales of marijuana. The boat was bound for the United States from Colombia. 14 The First Circuit was unpersuaded by the defendant's claim that he was merely hitching a ride back home, in light of the length of the voyage, the large quantity of marijuana on board, and the necessarily close relationship between Smith and the crew. 107 Other circuits have followed ours in affirming convictions of persons allegedly involved in land-based conspiracies to import and to possess with intent to distribute. 15 In United States v. Laughman, 618 F.2d 1067 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 447 U.S. 925, 100 S.Ct. 3018, 65 L.Ed.2d 1117 (1980), the Fourth Circuit affirmed the convictions of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute of persons involved in the transfer of over two tons of marijuana from a Colombian-type sailing vessel to vehicles waiting on land. The court stated that the amount of marijuana involved ... sufficiently establishes that there was an intent to distribute. 618 F.2d at 1074 n. 4 (citing United States v. Villareal, 565 F.2d 932 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 824, 99 S.Ct. 92, 58 L.Ed.2d 116 (1978)). In United States v. Allen, 675 F.2d 1373 (9th Cir.1981), the conspirators were apprehended while they were unloading boxes of marijuana from a boat that had been spotted offshore. Allen, the owner of the property where the rendezvous took place, was convicted of both conspiracy to import and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and the other defendants were convicted of the second conspiracy. Affirming the convictions, the Ninth Circuit stated that the defendants' attack on the sufficiency of the evidence concerning intent to distribute was baseless: Personal consumption of 17,000 pounds of anything, much less marijuana, is a staggering proposition sufficient to compel disbelief, leaving commercial distribution the only realistic goal of the enterprise. 675 F.2d at 1384. 16 108