Opinion ID: 551541
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Oscar Smith

Text: 19 Defendant-appellant Oscar Smith contends that the district court should have granted his motion for change of venue from the Middle District of Georgia to the Southern District of New York. A transfer of venue is completely within the discretion of the trial court and the decision to deny a change of venue request will be reversed only for abuse of discretion. United States v. Kopituk, 690 F.2d 1289, 1322 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 928, 103 S.Ct. 2089, 77 L.Ed.2d 300; 461 U.S. 928, 103 S.Ct. 2090, 77 L.Ed.2d 300; 463 U.S. 1209, 103 S.Ct. 3542, 77 L.Ed.2d 1391 (1983); United States v. Pry, 625 F.2d 689, 691 (5th Cir.1980) (per curiam), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 925, 101 S.Ct. 1379, 67 L.Ed.2d 355 (1981). Under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3237(a), any offense committed in more than one district may be prosecuted in any district in which such offense was begun, continued, or completed, and [a]ny offense involving use of the mails, transportation in interstate or foreign commerce, or the importation of an object ... into the United States is a continuing offense and ... may be ... prosecuted in any district from, through, or into which such commerce, mail matter, or imported object ... moves. 20 In a conspiracy case, venue is proper in any district where an overt act was committed in furtherance of the conspiracy. Hyde v. United States, 225 U.S. 347, 363, 32 S.Ct. 793, 800, 56 L.Ed. 1114 (1912); United States v. Long, 866 F.2d 402, 407 (11th Cir.1989). The government must support its choice of venue only by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Shearer, 794 F.2d 1545, 1551 (11th Cir.1986); United States v. London, 714 F.2d 1558, 1564 & n. 9 (11th Cir.1983); see United States v. Barnes, 681 F.2d 717, 722 (11th Cir.1982) (The prosecution must prove territorial jurisdiction and venue, essential elements of any offense, by a preponderance of the evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1046, 103 S.Ct. 1447, 75 L.Ed.2d 802 (1983). This court reviews a challenge to venue in the light most favorable to the government, and makes all reasonable inferences and credibility choices in favor of the jury verdict when deciding whether the government has proved by a preponderance of the evidence that an offense occurred in the trial district. United States v. Burroughs, 830 F.2d 1574, 1580 (11th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 969, 108 S.Ct. 1243, 99 L.Ed.2d 442 (1988); United States v. Brantley, 733 F.2d 1429, 1433 (11th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1006, 105 S.Ct. 1362, 84 L.Ed.2d 383 (1985). Upon the motion of a defendant, it is incumbent upon the district court to transfer the trial, if the court is satisfied that so great a prejudice against the defendant exists in the district where the case is pending that the defendant cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial there. Fed.R.Crim.P. 21(a). 21 In this case, the crimes of conspiracy to import, possess and distribute cocaine clearly occurred in the Middle District of Georgia. When apprehended in the Middle District of Georgia, Jackie Bigelow possessed cocaine that was mailed from Panama. His possession is imputed to all members of the conspiracy. See United States v. Marable, 574 F.2d 224, 230 (5th Cir.1978) (Once involved with a conspiracy and without withdrawal, a conspirator is responsible for any later act of a coconspirator that is a necessary or natural consequence of the conspiracy.); see also United States v. Obregon, 893 F.2d 1307, 1311 (11th Cir.) (The government need not prove that each alleged conspirator knew all the details of the conspiracy. The government provides sufficient proof of knowledge by demonstrating the conspirator knew of the essential purpose of the conspiracy.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1833, 108 L.Ed.2d 961 (1990). Oscar Smith failed to establish adequately that he would be so prejudiced by the trial of his case in the Middle District of Georgia that he would not receive a fair trial there. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Oscar Smith's motion to transfer venue to the Southern District of New York. 22 Oscar Smith also claims that he was entrapped or linked to the cocaine importation conspiracy by admission into evidence of his recorded telephone conversations with Bigelow, and that he could not conspire with Bigelow, who had become a government informant. Where a defendant is predisposed to commit a crime, he cannot be entrapped, regardless of how outrageous or overreaching the government's conduct may be. United States v. Rey, 811 F.2d 1453, 1455 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 830, 108 S.Ct. 103, 98 L.Ed.2d 63 (1987); see Hampton v. United States, 425 U.S. 484, 488-91, 96 S.Ct. 1646, 1649-50, 48 L.Ed.2d 113 (1976); United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 428-36, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 1641-45, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). There is no dispute that Oscar Smith and Bigelow made telephone calls regarding cocaine importations from Panama, and deliveries to Oscar Smith in New York, before Bigelow became a government informant. As his past conduct demonstrated, Oscar Smith had one goal in his recorded conversations with Bigelow: to obtain the Panamanian cocaine in Bigelow's possession. Oscar Smith plainly was predisposed to commit the crime and cannot find shelter in a claim of entrapment. 23 The admission into evidence of recorded conversations between a defendant and a consenting government informant does not violate the Fourth Amendment right of the accused. United States v. White, 401 U.S. 745, 91 S.Ct. 1122, 28 L.Ed.2d 453 (1971); see United States v. Davanzo, 699 F.2d 1097, 1100 (11th Cir.1983) (When an informant consents to the recording of a conversation, no warrant is required.). This court has analyzed the admissibility of a videotaped conversation between a codefendant and a government informant in a cocaine importation conspiracy and found the statements of the coconspirator to be admissible as made in furtherance of the conspiracy under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E), and reviewable as a factual finding under the clearly erroneous standard. 4 United States v. Byrom, 910 F.2d 725, 734 (11th Cir.1990); see Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987). Decisions, which have held that a coconspirator involved in an existing conspiracy has been implicated by statements made to a government informant, have been influenced by the coconspirator's subsequent independent actions confirming the statements made in the subject conversation. 5 The record in this case contains sufficient evidence of Oscar Smith and Bigelow's participation in the cocaine importation conspiracy prior to Oscar Smith's recorded telephone conversations with Bigelow after Bigelow became an informant. Oscar Smith's concern with obtaining the cocaine in Bigelow's possession, the subject of his recorded telephone conversations, subsequently resulted in his sending his wife, wearing his identifying gold chain, and Julia Thom to Georgia to acquire the cocaine. 24 This court alternatively has recognized that an informant's statements are admissible not for the truth of the matter asserted, but for the purpose of placing a conspirator's comments in context for the jury. Byrom, 910 F.2d at 737; United States v. Price, 792 F.2d 994, 997 (11th Cir.1986). Other circuits have permitted the admission of such statements for the purpose of making responses intelligible for the jury as well as making them recognizable as adoptive admissions. See, e.g., United States v. Gutierrez-Chavez, 842 F.2d 77, 81 (5th Cir.1988); United States v. Lemonakis, 485 F.2d 941, 948-49 (D.C.Cir.1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 989, 94 S.Ct. 1587, 39 L.Ed.2d 885 (1974). Therefore, Oscar Smith's allegation of entrapment is defeated and the admission of his recorded conversations upheld under the clearly erroneous standard by his predisposition to obtain the cocaine possessed by Bigelow, statements made in furtherance of the conspiracy pursuant to Rule 801(d)(2)(E), and the contextual rationale. His remarks are admissible against him and his coconspirators as evidence of the ongoing conspiracy despite Bigelow's informant status.