Opinion ID: 160816
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Other Evidence of the Charged Conspiracies

Text: Jurlene Lucas a/k/a Jurlene Jackson, the mother of one of Defendant’s girlfriends, heard Defendant discuss his sale of drugs numerous times during the nine years that she has known him. Id. at 78. In 1997, Defendant told Lucas that he was buying his crack cocaine in Topeka and also bragged that he had fifteen people working for him in his drug operation. Id. at 78-79. Lucas identified Keisha Green, Tamika Moore, a woman named “Lum,” and Archibald as some of the people that worked in Defendant’s drug ring. Id. at 80. She often saw Defendant with Seabury, and heard both Seabury and Archibald brag about selling drugs. Id. at 81. Sometime during the summer of 1997, Defendant asked Lucas to keep $4000 for him. Id. at 77-78. In September of 1997, after he had retrieved the original $4000, Defendant asked Lucas to hold an additional $8,500 for him. Id. 2 Defendant states in his brief that Jones had purchased crack in the past from Beedy-bump. Appellant’s Br. at 28. Defendant misreads the trial testimony. Beedy-bump gave Jones money to buy crack from Defendant for him. When Jones states, “[a]t that time I was getting it from a guy named Beedy-bump,” the “it” refers to the purchase money, not crack. R. Vol. III at 135. -5- at 86. Later, he asked her to hold another $3000. Id. at 89-90. Police eventually seized $10,960 of that money and found that most of it was in $20 bills. R. Vol. IV at 184. At the time of the alleged conspiracies, crack was commonly sold in one-hit $20 pieces. Id. at 186, R. Vol. III at 18-19. Those one-hit pieces of crack are commonly packaged by dropping them in the corner of a sandwich baggie, tying a knot, and cutting the corner off above the knot. Id. at 12. Brandon Grubs, a police officer, found small empty plastic bags and $230 in cash in Defendant’s shoes when he searched Defendant following his arrest in December of 1996. R. Vol. IV at 209. When Grubs asked him what the baggies were for, Defendant replied that sometimes his stuff is not packaged and he has to do it himself. Id. In June 1998, police executed a search warrant at the home of Natasha Moore, Seabury’s sister and another girlfriend of Defendant. Over $3000 worth of rental car agreements in Seabury’s mother’s name, from the first six months of 1997, were found. Id. at 198-99. One of the agreements listed Defendant as a driver and Defendant had been stopped by police in the rental car covered by that particular agreement. Id. at 199-200. Several letters from Defendant to Moore were also recovered. One of the letters contained a photograph of Defendant taken while he was incarcerated. The photograph shows Defendant in the center surrounded by approximately six other men. The handwritten caption on the -6- photo reads: “I keep a Firm no matter where I’m at, baby.” Id. 200-04. Ron Espy, a police officer, stated that the handwritten caption appeared to match the handwriting of the other letters from Defendant to Moore which were recovered during the search. Id. at 200-01. Seabury, Lucas, and Espy all testified that Defendant referred to his drug distribution organization as “The Firm.” Id. at 202-03, R. Vol. III at 22, 83. In March or April of 1997, Defendant and Jones were both confined at the federal pretrial detention facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. Jones and Defendant had a conversation there in which Defendant told Jones that Archibald was running his drug business while he was incarcerated. Id. at 141-42. After Jones had stopped purchasing crack from Defendant, Jones saw Defendant packaging crack in August 1997 at his Ogden, Kansas, home. Id. at 136-37. Jones and Seabury both claimed to be very familiar with the appearance of crack, Seabury claiming to have seen it over 500 times and Jones, over 100 times. Id. at 18, 138. Both Seabury and Jones testified that the substance purchased from and with Defendant was crack. Finally, in June 1997, during the period of the alleged Seabury Conspiracy, Defendant was arrested for possession of crack. -7- R. Vol. IV at 225-26. Defendant pled to possession of crack and a journal entry of his conviction was entered into evidence. 3 Id. at 226-28. Seabury, Lucas and Jones all entered into agreements to testify with the federal prosecutor hoping to avoid indictment or to obtain lenient sentences.