Opinion ID: 517661
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Grier and Harper's Use of a Communication Facility

Text: 113 Both Grier and Harper argue that their convictions for using a communication facility (telephone) in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 843(b) to facilitate the conspiracy must be reversed due to the alleged insufficiency of evidence. Grier and Harper both argue that their convictions for use of a communication facility in committing, causing or facilitating a drug-related offense must be reversed as the evidence to support their conspiracy convictions is insufficient. We effectively disposed of this contention in the previous section of our opinion, as we held that the evidence was sufficient to establish Grier and Harper's guilt on conspiracy charges. Thus, Grier and Harper's convictions for use of a communication facility could be based upon their conspiracy convictions. 114 Harper goes on to argue that his conviction also must be reversed because the jury's finding of guilt on the charge of use of a communication facility in committing, causing or facilitating a drug-related offense was logically inconsistent with its finding that he was guilty of simple possession of cocaine. 115 Under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 843(b) the government must prove a (1) knowing or intentional (2) use of a telephone (3) to facilitate the commission of an offense. United States v. Jefferson, 714 F.2d 689, 699 (7th Cir.1983) (citations omitted). As we observed in United States v. Alvarez, 860 F.2d at 813: 116 [T]he actual distribution of narcotics need not be perpetrated by the defendant charged with the crime of telephone facilitation. As the Fifth Circuit aptly summarized the crime of telephone facilitation under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 843(b): 117 'In order to prove a violation of 21 U.S.C.A. Sec. 843(b), the Government must establish that the defendant knowingly and intentionally used a communications facility, e.g., a telephone, to facilitate the commission of a narcotics offense. In order to establish the facilitation element, the Government must show that the telephone call comes within the common meaning of facilitate--to make easier or less difficult, or to assist or aid. It is sufficient if a defendant's use of a telephone to facilitate the possession or distribution of controlled substances facilitates either his own or another person's possession or distribution.' 118 United States v. Phillips, 664 F.2d 971, 1032 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981) (emphasis supplied), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1136 [102 S.Ct. 2965, 73 L.Ed.2d 1354] (1982); see United States v. Watson, 594 F.2d 1330, 1342 n. 14 (10th Cir.) (defendant could be charged with telephone facilitation if underlying distribution was by either himself or third party), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 840 [100 S.Ct. 78, 62 L.Ed.2d 51] (1979). 119 As noted previously, the jury found Harper guilty of conspiracy and simple possession of cocaine in addition to the use of a communication facility. The simple possession crime was a lesser-included offense of the crime of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, on which the jury acquitted Harper. Harper alleges that the findings of guilt on the use of a communication facility charges are inconsistent with the finding of guilt for simple possession of cocaine. Harper somehow argues that his guilty verdict on the possession offense means that the jury impliedly found that Harper did not use the telephone to obtain cocaine with intent to distribute, a finding which Harper contends is inconsistent with his conviction of a use of a communication facility offense. Thus, he argues that the use of a communication facility convictions must be reversed. We disagree. 120 It is well settled that an alleged inconsistency between a jury's verdicts, if in fact one does exist, does not support reversal of a conviction in a criminal case. In the leading case on this issue, United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 69, 105 S.Ct. 471, 479, 83 L.Ed.2d461 (1984), the Supreme Court held that inconsistent verdicts, even verdicts that acquit on an underlying offense while convicting on a compound offense, do not preclude a valid conviction. In such cases it is possible that the jury, convinced of guilt, properly reached its conclusion on the compound offense, and then through mistake, compromise, or lenity, arrived at an inconsistent conclusion on a lesser offense. Powell, 469 U.S. at 65, 105 S.Ct. at 476. As the Supreme Court emphasized in Powell, A criminal defendant already is afforded protection against jury irrationality or error by the independent review of the sufficiency of evidence undertaken by the trial and appellate courts.... This review should be independent of the jury's determination that evidence on another count was insufficient. Id. at 67, 105 S.Ct. at 478. This resolution carries out the Supreme Court's earlier observation in Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390, 393, 52 S.Ct. 189, 190, 76 L.Ed. 356 (1932), that [c]onsistency in the verdict is not necessary. Each count in an indictment is regarded as if it were a separate indictment. The deference accorded to the jury's verdict in Powell and Dunn stems not only from the jury's role as a check against arbitrary or oppressive exercises of power by the Executive Branch, Powell, 469 U.S. at 65, 105 S.Ct. at 477, but also from the fact that [c]ourts have always resisted inquiring into a jury's thought processes [and] through this deference the jury brings to the criminal process, in addition to the collective judgment of the community, an element of needed finality. Id. at 67, 105 S.Ct. at 478. 121 Harper attempts to circumvent the law in Powell by arguing that the inconsistency in the verdicts in his case was not created by an acquittal, but by a conviction of another crime. Although we have grave doubts as to whether Harper's proffered distinction possesses any legal significance in light of the policy of deference to the jury's function enunciated in Powell, 27 this alleged distinction is not applicable to this case. The inconsistency herein is not created by the fact that the jury convicted Harper of simple possession of the cocaine obtained in the November 30, 1984, search. This conviction, in and of itself, is not inconsistent with a finding that Harper, on November 6 and 8, 1984, utilized a communication facility in furtherance of the conspiracy and of the distribution of cocaine. As the government points out, Harper could very well have possessed cocaine other than that found in the November 30, 1984, search, which was obtained in the November 6 and 8, 1984, telephone calls and which he intended to distribute. Further, as previously discussed, there was a great deal of circumstantial evidence that Harper distributed, rather than simply used, cocaine. Rather, Harper's real contention is that the jury's verdict of acquittal of the crime of possession with intent to distribute cocaine was inconsistent with the use of a communication facility conviction. However, Powell clearly disposes of that claim by its holding that a verdict of acquittal of an underlying offense will not prevent a verdict of conviction on a compound offense. Thus, because Harper's allegations of inconsistent verdicts provide absolutely no legal basis for reversal of his communication facility convictions, these convictions are affirmed.