Opinion ID: 788500
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Denial of a Pretrial Ruling Regarding the Admissibility of Co-Conspirator Statements

Text: 54 Robinson next maintains that the district court erred in failing to make a pretrial determination as to the admissibility of statements the government planned to offer under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E), which excludes co-conspirator statements from the definition of hearsay. 22 As Robinson seemingly concedes, however, we have long recognized the trial court's prerogative to conditionally admit co-conspirator statements subject to later demonstration of their admissibility by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Vinson, 606 F.2d 149, 153 (6th Cir.1979). 55 Assuming, for the moment, that the district court was correct in its ultimate rulings as to the admissibility of co-conspirator statements under Rule 801(d)(2)(E) — a proposition which Robinson challenges, and which we address below — Robinson has not explained how he was prejudiced by the timing of this ruling. In essence, he merely restates his complaint that he was not given sufficient pretrial notice of the government's evidence of conspiracy, and he suggests that a pretrial proceeding on the admissibility of co-conspirator statements would have provided such notice. Be that as it may, we already have explained that Robinson was given sufficient pretrial notice of the nature, scope, and membership of the charged conspiracy. Consequently, no trial by ambush occurred as a result of the district court's reservation of its Rule 801(d)(2)(E) evidentiary rulings until the close of the government's proofs. 56 3. The Denial of Robinson's Pretrial Motion for Notice of Evidence Arguably Subject to Suppression 57 Pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(d)(2), 23 Defendant Robinson brought a pretrial motion requesting notice of the prosecution's intent to use evidence arguably subject to suppression. The district court denied this motion as moot, citing the government's assurance that it was unaware of any evidence arguably subject to suppression that Robinson was not already challenging. On appeal, Robinson contends that this representation turned out to be grossly incorrect as the government offered a plethora of records and mailing labels seized from private companies and cocaine in California. (Appellant Br. at 30.) 58 Notably lacking from Robinson's argument on this point, however, is any suggestion of how the evidence in question might have been subject to suppression. The Rule 12 provision cited by Robinson is intended to ensure a meaningful opportunity to bring a motion to suppress, yet Robinson fails to argue either (i) that he lacked sufficient pretrial notice of the evidence in question or (ii) that this evidence would have been an appropriate subject of a suppression motion. In any event, as discussed below, we reject Robinson's contention that the district court erred in admitting evidence of activities outside of the Eastern District of Tennessee. Accordingly, Robinson suffered no prejudice as a result of the district court's ruling on this pretrial motion. 59 4. The Claimed Lack of Notice of Rule 404(b) Evidence 60 Robinson next complains that the district court erred in denying as moot his motion for pretrial notice of the government's intent to offer other acts evidence under Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). Robinson claims that the trial court mistakenly accepted the government's characterization of this evidence as intrinsic to the conspiracy, and hence not within the scope of Rule 404(b). We believe, however, that this objection is more appropriately addressed in connection with Robinson's substantive challenges to the admission of various evidence at trial. Because the trial court generally held that the evidence in question was admissible as encompassed within the charged conspiracy, rather than under Rule 404(b), the issue of notice necessarily is intertwined with these evidentiary rulings. 61 B. The District Court Did Not Err in Denying Defendant's Various Pretrial Motions to Suppress Evidence. 62 Apart from these pretrial rulings, Defendant Robinson also appeals from the district court's denial of his several motions to suppress the evidence gathered as a result of the searches and seizures that occurred on May 19, 2000, June 15, 2000, and June 27, 2000. The lower court's factual findings on these matters are reviewed for clear error, but its determinations on legal issues, such as the existence of probable cause, are reviewed de novo. United States v. Leake, 998 F.2d 1359, 1362 (6th Cir.1993). A factual finding will only be clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.' United States v. Ayen, 997 F.2d 1150, 1152 (6th Cir.1993) (internal quotations and citations omitted). We address each of the three challenged incidents in turn, and then consider Robinson's more general challenge to the drug-sniffing dogs used on these three occasions. 1. The Controlled Delivery on May 19, 2000 63 Beginning with the May 19, 2000 controlled delivery at a Pak Mail facility in Morristown, Tennessee, Robinson contends that the evidence seized during this incident was tainted by three separate illegalities. First, he argues that, prior to making the controlled delivery at the mail facility, law enforcement agents illegally seized the subject package from the mail without a warrant or probable cause. We find, however, that this argument rests upon a flawed characterization of Postal Inspector Romano's initial actions upon encountering the subject package. 64 According to Inspector Romano's testimony, which was credited by the district court, he first observed the package during a routine visit to the Knoxville, Tennessee airport to review incoming mail. Several factors aroused his suspicion, including handwritten labels, a return address from a known drug distribution area, and the smell of marijuana. He also learned through investigation that the return address was a private residence. Based on these considerations, Inspector Romano transported the package to his office and placed it in a line-up with four other packages for examination by a drug-sniffing dog. 65 Although Robinson contends that Inspector Romano lacked the requisite warrant or probable cause to effect this seizure of the package, 24 the relevant case law establishes a different analytical framework for the situation presented here. Under analogous circumstances, we have held that the brief investigative detention and relocation of baggage so that it could be examined by a drug-sniffing dog did not constitute a search or seizure, where the luggage was not opened or otherwise exposed to police or public view, and where this procedure caused no meaningful interference with [the] defendant's possessory interest in [his] bag. United States v. Gant, 112 F.3d 239, 241 (6th Cir.1997). The same is true here, where Inspector Romano did not open the package, and only temporarily diverted it from the ordinary delivery process. 66 More specifically, this and many other courts have found that only reasonable suspicion, and not probable cause, is necessary in order to briefly detain a package for further investigation, such as examination by a drug-sniffing dog. See, e.g., United States v. Underwood, 97 F.3d 1453, 1996 WL 536796, at  (6th Cir. Sept.20, 1996); United States v. Reid, 67 F.3d 300, 1995 WL 579436, at - (6th Cir. Sept.28, 1995); United States v. Terriques, 319 F.3d 1051, 1056 (8th Cir.2003); United States v. Dennis, 115 F.3d 524, 531-32 (7th Cir.1997); United States v. Banks, 3 F.3d 399, 401-02 (11th Cir.1993); Daniel, 982 F.2d at 149-50. In Banks, for instance, the Eleventh Circuit expressly held that reasonable, temporary detention of a reasonably suspicious postal package prior to establishing probable cause for issuance of a search warrant for the time necessary to obtain a drug detection canine or otherwise conduct an investigation does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Banks, 3 F.3d at 403. 67 Robinson does not contend that Inspector Romano failed to meet this lesser standard of reasonable suspicion here. To the contrary, he seemingly concedes that Inspector Romano's detection of the odor of marijuana alone, if credited, would provide a sufficient basis for further investigation. 25 ( See Appellant Br. at 35.) Nor does Robinson argue that the package was detained for an excessive period of time or in an otherwise unreasonable manner. Rather, the record indicates that only a few hours elapsed while Inspector Romano removed the package to his office, arranged for examination of the package by a drug-sniffing dog, and obtained a warrant to search the package. Accordingly, we find that this brief investigative detention of the subject package, based upon reasonable suspicion that it contained contraband, did not run afoul of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable seizures. 68 Robinson next contends that the controlled delivery of this package somehow violated the Fourth Amendment or the terms of the search warrant obtained by Inspector Romano. Although his theory on this point is less than clear, Robinson evidently claims that the warrant obtained by Inspector Romano authorized only his initial search of the package — a search which, as noted earlier, revealed approximately 14 pounds of marijuana — and that a second warrant was needed in order to reclaim and reopen the package after it had been given to Robinson at the Pak Mail facility. 69 This argument, however, runs directly afoul of Illinois v. Andreas, 463 U.S. 765, 773, 103 S.Ct. 3319, 3325, 77 L.Ed.2d 1003 (1983), in which the Supreme Court approved an analogous controlled delivery of narcotics, holding that absent a substantial likelihood that the contents have been changed, there is no legitimate expectation of privacy in the contents of a container previously opened under lawful authority. Once officers have lawfully opened a container and found contraband inside, [t]he simple act of resealing the container to enable the police to make a controlled delivery does not operate to revive or restore the lawfully invaded privacy rights. Andreas, 463 U.S. at 771, 103 S.Ct. at 3324. Robinson has not cited any authority for his contrary position. Nor has he identified any evidentiary basis for suspecting that the contents of the package might have been altered, where the officers testified that the package remained within their constructive possession at all times until Robinson claimed it, and where he was arrested immediately thereafter as he exited the Pak Mail facility with the package. 70 Finally, Robinson contends that the officers illegally searched the maroon Ford Explorer in which he had arrived at the mail facility. This challenge rests in part upon the claim, which we have already rejected, that this search was the product of an unlawful search and/or seizure of the package. Robinson further contends that he was at least 30 feet away from the vehicle at the time of his arrest, so that there was no threat that he might retrieve a weapon from the car. 26 We have upheld the search of an automobile incident to an arrest, however, even when the arrestee was out of the car, handcuffed, and placed in the back seat of a police cruiser. See United States v. White, 871 F.2d 41, 43-44 (6th Cir.1989). 27 In any event, the record indicates that an inventory search would have been conducted in accordance with written police policy, so that the contents of the vehicle would be admissible under the doctrine of inevitable discovery. See United States v. Kimes, 246 F.3d 800, 804 (6th Cir.2001). We find no error, therefore, in the district court's denial of Robinson's motion to suppress the evidence obtained during the May 19, 2000 controlled delivery. 71 2. The June 15, 2000 Search and Seizure of a UPS Package 72 Defendant Robinson mounts a single and rather cursory challenge to the June 15, 2000 search and seizure of a package at a UPS facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. Specifically, he contends, without citation to any authority, that this package could not be opened or seized without a warrant, notwithstanding the fact that the package was opened by a UPS employee and not a law enforcement officer. This argument, however, runs counter to the evidentiary record and the controlling precedents. 28 73 [T]he Fourth Amendment proscribes only governmental action and does not apply to a search or seizure, even an unreasonable one, conducted by a private individual not acting as an agent of the government. United States v. Lambert, 771 F.2d 83, 89 (6th Cir.1985). Moreover, [a] person will not be acting as a police agent merely because there was some antecedent contact between that person and the police. Lambert, 771 F.2d at 89. Rather, to trigger Fourth Amendment protection under an agency theory, the police must have instigated, encouraged, or participated in the search, and the individual must have engaged in the search with the intent of assisting the police in their investigative efforts. 771 F.2d at 89. Regarding this requirement of intent, we have held that a private individual does not act as a government agent where the intent of the private party conducting the search is entirely independent of the government's intent to collect evidence for use in a criminal prosecution. United States v. Howard, 752 F.2d 220, 227 (6th Cir.), vacated on other grounds, 770 F.2d 57 (6th Cir.1985); see also United States v. Foley, 23 F.3d 408, 1994 WL 144445, at  (6th Cir. Apr.21, 1994) ([I]f the intent of the private party conducting the search is independent of the official desire to collect evidence in a criminal proceeding, then the private party is not acting as a state agent.). 74 In his cursory presentation of this issue, Robinson has not endeavored to explain why the UPS employee who opened the subject package, Allen Steele, should be viewed as a government agent under the standards set forth in Lambert and our other precedents. Rather, Steele testified that he opened the package pursuant to UPS policy, and that DEA Agent Ribolla neither asked nor otherwise encouraged him to open it. Indeed, the district court explicitly found that there is absolutely no evidence of record in this case that Mr. Steele was working as an agent for Agent Ribolla when he opened the package, and that the sworn testimony of record, and the only testimony elicited during the evidentiary hearing, refutes this assertion. (2/16/2001 Report and Recommendation at 32, J.A. at 70.) Robinson has not suggested a basis for questioning this factual finding, much less concluding that it is clearly erroneous. It follows, as the district court correctly held, that DEA Agent Ribolla was entitled to use the information gleaned in Steele's private search of the package — specifically, Steele's discovery of what he believed to be marijuana — without running afoul of the Fourth Amendment. See United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109, 117, 119-20, 104 S.Ct. 1652, 1658-60, 80 L.Ed.2d 85 (1984); United States v. Morgan, 744 F.2d 1215, 1218 (6th Cir.1985). 75 Moreover, this information supplied by Steele, combined with Agent Ribolla's confirming inspection of the contents of the already-opened package and the alert by the drug-sniffing dog before the package was shipped out of Los Angeles, provided ample grounds for a reasonable suspicion of illegal activity — and, undoubtedly, probable cause as well. For the reasons discussed earlier, this reasonable suspicion, in turn, allowed Agent Ribolla to detain the package temporarily without a warrant while he arranged for a controlled delivery. Alternatively, law enforcement officers were operating under exigent circumstances which, when combined with probable cause, would excuse the lack of a warrant, where the package was scheduled for overnight delivery and the officers had only a short time in which to prepare for a controlled delivery before the recipient might arrive to claim the package. 29 See Morgan, 744 F.2d at 1221-22. Accordingly, we find that the district court properly upheld the June 15, 2000 search and seizure of the UPS package addressed to J.B. Evans. 3. The June 27, 2000 Seizure of a Federal Express Package 76 Defendant Robinson next argues — once again, in perfunctory fashion and without citation to any authority — that federal agents acted unlawfully on June 27, 2000 by seizing a Federal Express package from a Mailboxes, Etc. store in Knoxville without first securing a warrant. We find this challenge lacking in merit, on two independent grounds. 77 The agents arrived at this Mailboxes, Etc. facility as a result of their investigation into mailboxes rented under the aliases of Derrick Palmer, James Evans, and Samuel Thompson. This inquiry revealed that a mailbox at the Knoxville store had been rented under the name of Samuel Thompson, and that a Federal Express package addressed to this mailbox had been delivered a month or two earlier but had not yet been claimed. 30 A store employee produced the package to the agents, and Agent Ribolla testified that it smelled strongly of marijuana. Accordingly, the agents placed the Fed Ex package in a five-package line-up, and a drug-sniffing dog positively alerted to the package. Armed with this information, the agents sought and obtained a search warrant, and discovered ten to fifteen pounds of marijuana in the Fed Ex package. 78 The agents' actions prior to obtaining a warrant fit comfortably within the reasonable suspicion rubric discussed earlier. Through their investigation, the agents had learned that the alias Samuel Thompson had been used to rent mailboxes used in illegal drug trafficking. This information, in turn, led to the discovery of the subject Fed Ex package addressed to a mailbox held by Samuel Thompson at a Mailboxes, Etc. location in Knoxville. When this package was shown to the agents, a strong odor of marijuana was detected. All of this surely gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that justified the temporary detention of the package for examination by a drug-sniffing dog. When the dog positively alerted to the package, the agents sought and obtained a search warrant before opening the package. We conclude, therefore, that the agents' brief seizure of the Fed Ex package before obtaining a warrant was properly based upon a reasonable suspicion that the package might contain contraband. 79 Alternatively, the Fed Ex package could properly be characterized as abandoned, so that Robinson cannot challenge its seizure by federal agents. The Mailboxes, Etc. store manager testified that the rental agreement on Samuel Thompson's mailbox had lapsed at the time the subject package was delivered. The record also includes a standard Mailboxes, Etc. service agreement providing that packages sent to an expired mailbox may be discarded or destroyed after 30 days if the customer fails to make arrangements for forwarding, ( see Mailboxes, Etc. Service Agreement at ¶ 6(c), J.A. at 1349), and there is no dispute that the subject package had been delivered to the Knoxville store more than 30 days before the agents seized it. 80 For Fourth Amendment purposes, the notion of abandonment turns upon whether a person can claim a continuing, legitimate expectation of privacy in the item at issue. See United States v. Tolbert, 692 F.2d 1041, 1044 (6th Cir.1982). If property has been abandoned in this sense, the Fourth Amendment is not violated through the search or seizure of this property. Tolbert, 692 F.2d at 1044-45. We readily conclude that Robinson can claim no legitimate expectation of privacy in the Fed Ex package seized on June 27, 2000, but that this package instead was abandoned, because it was delivered to a expired mailbox and was subject to disposal or destruction by the time the agents seized it. If the package could have been thrown out at any time beyond the 30-day limit, we fail to see how Robinson could reasonably have expected its contents to remain private beyond this point. Accordingly, we find that the district court properly denied Robinson's motion to suppress the evidence obtained during the June 27, 2000 search and seizure. 81 4. The Government's Use of Drug Detection Dogs 82 In each of the above instances, law enforcement officers used drug-sniffing dogs as part of their investigative efforts. In the case of the May 19 and June 27, 2000 searches and seizures, positive dog alerts were cited as a basis for procuring a warrant. 31 As his next challenge on appeal, Robinson argues that these drug-sniffing canines were not sufficiently trained and reliable to establish probable cause to believe that controlled substances were present in the subject packages. 83 A positive indication by a properly-trained dog is sufficient to establish probable cause for the presence of a controlled substance. United States v. Diaz, 25 F.3d 392, 393-94 (6th Cir.1994). To support such a probable cause determination, the training and reliability of the dog must be established. Diaz, 25 F.3d at 394. Here, the district court expressly held that the three drug dogs challenged by Robinson were properly trained and reliable, and that their handlers likewise have been properly trained and certified. (6/5/2001 Memorandum and Order at 4, J.A. at 270.) We must uphold these factual determinations unless the district court's findings as to [the dogs'] training and reliability are clearly erroneous. Diaz, 25 F.3d at 394. 84 Notwithstanding Robinson's various critiques of the methods used to train the drug dogs in this case, we find no error in the district court's findings. The record reflects that each of the three dogs was certified as a drug detection canine. ( See 5/31/2001 Hearing Tr. at 481, 486, 505, 559.) As we recently emphasized, after it is shown that the dog is certified, all other evidence relating to his accuracy goes only to the credibility of the testimony, not to the dog's qualifications. United States v. Boxley, 373 F.3d 759, 762 (6th Cir.2004); see also Diaz, 25 F.3d at 394. The district court heard the testimony of the dogs' handlers and expressly found them to be credible. ( See 6/5/2001 Memorandum and Order at 3, J.A. at 269.) The court also reviewed the performance statistics and other documentation regarding the dogs, and found that these materials established the dogs' proper training and reliability. ( See id. at 2-4, J.A. at 268-70.) 85 We will not disturb these factual findings on the basis of mere suggestions that the training of drug detection dogs could be refined in various ways to improve the reliability of positive alerts. Indeed, it would be particularly inappropriate to insist that a mini-trial be held on a drug dog's training and performance before a law enforcement officer could cite a positive alert as a basis for obtaining a warrant. Even if such a hearing might raise some doubt about the reliability of a particular alert, an officer surely is entitled to rely in good faith upon the existence of probable cause as determined by a neutral magistrate, see United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 926, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 3422, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984), so long as the dog in question has been generally certified as a drug detection dog. Because the dogs involved in this case were certified, we find no error in the reliance on their positive alerts as a basis for obtaining the May 19 and June 27, 2000 search warrants. 86 C. The Evidence Was Sufficient to Sustain Defendant's Convictions on Counts One, Two, Four, and Five. 87 As his next series of issues on appeal, Defendant Robinson contends that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support his convictions on Counts One, Two, Four, and Five of the indictment. In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we must not weigh the evidence presented, consider the credibility of witnesses, or substitute our judgment for that of the jury. United States v. Davis, 177 F.3d 552, 558 (6th Cir.1999). Instead, we determine merely whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, and after giving the government the benefit of all inferences that could reasonably be drawn from the testimony, a rational trier of fact could find the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Davis, 177 F.3d at 558. Upon reviewing the evidence presented at trial, we find that the four challenged convictions survive scrutiny under this standard. 1. The Count One Drug Conspiracy Conviction 88 The jury found Robinson guilty of conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute both marijuana and cocaine, with this conspiracy involving less than 50 kilograms of marijuana and five or more kilograms of cocaine. On appeal, Robinson argues that the evidence was insufficient (i) to establish an agreement to traffic in cocaine; (ii) to demonstrate a single conspiracy involving both marijuana and cocaine, as opposed to two separate agreements involving discrete groups of people; and (iii) to show that he was responsible for five or more kilograms of cocaine. 32 We find that the evidence at trial was sufficient to sustain the jury's verdict against each of these challenges. 89 Robinson's arguments all turn to some degree on the government's evidence concerning cocaine trafficking. The prosecution introduced a series of shipping labels indicating that, between April and July of 1999, several packages were shipped from similar addresses in California to co-defendant Kawyn Logan in Knoxville, Tennessee. One of these packages was intercepted at Los Angeles International Airport in July of 1999 and found to contain approximately one kilogram of cocaine. In all, eight such packages were shipped to Logan, and each package weighed roughly the same amount, leading the government to contend that approximately eight kilograms of cocaine were shipped to Logan in these transactions. 90 The government also introduced evidence linking Robinson to Logan. The two men were long-time friends, had similar tattoos on their arms, and had been members of the same club in high school. Dena Carmichael testified that she observed the two men counting large sums of money in a back room of Robinson's home on one or two occasions, and that she overheard Robinson speaking to Logan on the telephone regarding green and trees (meaning marijuana) and white (meaning cocaine). 91 Finally, the prosecution sought to link Robinson and Logan through shipping labels and Federal Express records. These records revealed, for example, that both Logan and Derrick Palmer, an alias used by Robinson, had shipped packages to various individuals and entities from the LeFeme Boutique account established by Dena Carmichael. Under this same account, a package had been sent by Terry Bilson to a mailbox opened by Nicole Benlizar at the Mailboxes, Etc. store on Kingston Pike in Knoxville that was the site of the June 27, 2000 search and seizure. Terry Bilson was identified as the sender on two of the alleged cocaine shipments made to Logan in the spring of 1999, and trial testimony indicated that Benlizar was Logan's girlfriend. 33 92 This evidence, albeit circumstantial and less than overwhelming, is sufficient to sustain the jury's determination that Robinson was guilty of a single conspiracy to traffic in both marijuana and cocaine. Carmichael's testimony, in particular, linked Robinson and Logan in an enterprise that had generated substantial sums of money, and she claimed to have overheard Robinson and Logan discussing both cocaine and marijuana. Next, there was ample evidence that Logan had received a number of similar shipments from similar locations between April and July of 1999, and the government established that one of these packages had been found to contain cocaine. Finally, given the intermingling of shipping accounts, names, and addresses, a reasonable juror could have concluded that the shipments of cocaine and marijuana were part of a single enterprise carried out through the same or similar means. 34 93 Viewing this record in its totality, and in a light most favorable to the government, we find that the evidence was sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt each element of the charged cocaine and marijuana conspiracy. This record also would permit a reasonable juror to conclude that this conspiracy involved five or more kilograms of cocaine, where the testimony at trial revealed that one of the packages shipped to Logan in July of 1999 was found to contain one kilogram of cocaine, and where there was evidence of seven other, apparently similar shipments to Logan between April and July of 1999. 35 Accordingly, we affirm the jury's guilty verdict on Count One. 94 2. The Count Two and Count Five Firearm Convictions 95 Defendant Robinson next challenges the sufficiency of the evidence offered to convict him on Counts Two and Five of the indictment. 36 Robinson was charged in these counts with carrying firearms during and in relation to two drug trafficking crimes — namely, the drug offenses charged in Counts One and Three of the indictment. Both of these charges arose from Robinson's arrest following the May 19, 2000 controlled delivery, and the contemporaneous discovery of two weapons in the Ford Explorer in which Robinson had arrived at the Morristown Pak Mail facility. On appeal, Robinson argues that these two convictions must be overturned because (i) he was outside his vehicle at the time he was apprehended, so that the firearms in his vehicle were not within his reach; (ii) one of the weapons, a shotgun, was found unassembled in a box, and the second weapon was found unloaded in a backpack along with items allegedly belonging to Dena Carmichael; and (iii) there purportedly was no evidence linking the firearms to the drug trafficking offenses. Each of these contentions, however, is squarely defeated by the relevant case law concerning the proper scope and meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1), the statutory provision that Robinson was found to have violated in this case. 96 In Muscarello v. United States, 524 U.S. 125, 118 S.Ct. 1911, 141 L.Ed.2d 111 (1998), the Supreme Court squarely addressed the meaning of the carry prong of § 924(c)(1). Specifically, the Court held that this provision is not limited to the carrying of firearms on the person, but also applies to a person who knowingly possesses and conveys firearms in a vehicle, including in the locked glove compartment or trunk of a car, which the person accompanies. Muscarello, 524 U.S. at 126-27, 118 S.Ct. at 1913-14. In light of this ruling, we have overturned our prior decisions requiring that a weapon be immediately available for use, at least in those cases where a defendant is found with a firearm in his vehicle. Hilliard v. United States, 157 F.3d 444, 449 (6th Cir.1998). 97 In this case, therefore, it does not matter that the two firearms found in Robinson's vehicle were beyond his reach at the time of his arrest. Rather, the evidence fully satisfies Muscarello 's requirements for a carry offense under § 924(c), because the two weapons plainly had been conveyed in a vehicle along with Robinson as he traveled to the Morristown Pak Mail facility to pick up a package containing marijuana. Nor does it matter that one firearm was disassembled and the other unloaded, as we have held that a weapon need not be operable or loaded in order to sustain a conviction under § 924(c). See United States v. Mack, 258 F.3d 548, 552 (6th Cir.2001); United States v. Bandy, 239 F.3d 802, 805 (6th Cir.2001). 98 This leaves only Robinson's contention that the evidence failed to forge the necessary link between the weapons and the charged drug offenses — i.e., that there was no showing that he carried these weapons during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, as required under § 924(c)(1). Dena Carmichael testified that, at Robinson's request, she purchased the pistol found in the Ford Explorer, that she handed this weapon to Robinson as they exited the gun shop, and that she never again had possession of this firearm. As for the shotgun, Robinson reportedly told Carmichael that another girlfriend had obtained this weapon for him, and Carmichael testified that she had seen this weapon both in Robinson's house and his car and that it was assembled. In addition, Daniel McGill, who accompanied Robinson to the Pak Mail facility on May 19, 2000, testified that he had first seen the two weapons about two weeks earlier, when Robinson brought them to a hotel where McGill was staying. The government also produced evidence that the Ford Explorer had been rented under Robinson's alias, Derrick Palmer, that shotgun ammunition was found in the vehicle along with the firearms, and that the handgun and an ammunition clip were found in a bag behind the driver's seat, at a location that was accessible to the vehicle's occupants. 99 This evidence, viewed in its totality and in a light most favorable to the prosecution, would permit a reasonable juror to conclude that Robinson carried the two weapons during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense. Robinson depended on one of his cohorts in his drug enterprise, Dena Carmichael, to purchase one of the firearms found in his vehicle on May 19, 2000, and he specifically showed these weapons to another cohort, Daniel McGill, before McGill accompanied him to pick up a drug shipment that day. In addition, while neither weapon was immediately ready for firing, ammunition for both firearms was found along with the weapons themselves in the vehicle. Under this view of the evidence, a reasonable juror could conclude that it was not mere happenstance that the firearms were in Robinson's vehicle on May 19, but rather that the weapons were brought along in order to embolden Robinson and to prepare him for any contingencies that might arise as he claimed the marijuana shipment. See United States v. Warwick, 167 F.3d 965, 971 (6th Cir.1999); cf. United States v. Nance, 40 Fed.Appx. 59, 2002 WL 1359325, at  (6th Cir. June 20, 2002) (noting the evidence in that case that the defendant was in the process of moving, so that he had many of his possessions, including his guns, in the back seat and trunk of his car). Consequently, we affirm Robinson's convictions on Counts Two and Five of the indictment. 100