Opinion ID: 584537
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Duplicitous3 Charge and Ambiguous Verdict Under Count 1

Text: 10 Count 1 alleged a conspiracy to distribute over 50 grams of crack cocaine (in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)) and to maintain a crack house (in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 856(a)(2)). Cooper contends that count 1 charges two separate conspiracies and must be dismissed for duplicity or, alternatively, he must be resentenced. The district court instructed the jury as follows: 11 I want you to understand if you find the defendant guilty of the conspiracy charge in Count One, you need find that he conspired to agree to accomplish one of the purposes or objects of the conspiracy set out in Count One, but you must agree unanimously as to which object or objects he agreed to accomplish. 12 It's sufficient that the Government prove an agreement or understanding to commit only one of the unlawful objects in order to convict of the conspiracy count. 13 As the government correctly asserts, the instruction properly stated settled law. The allegation in a single count of a conspiracy to commit several crimes is not duplicitous, for '[t]he conspiracy is the crime, and that is one, however diverse its objects.'  Braverman v. United States, 317 U.S. 49, 54, 63 S.Ct. 99, 102, 87 L.Ed. 23 (1942). See also United States v. Lyons, 703 F.2d 815, 821 (5th Cir.1983); United States v. Elam, 678 F.2d 1234, 1250 (5th Cir.1982); United States v. Avila-Dominguez, 610 F.2d 1266, 1270 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 887, 101 S.Ct. 242, 66 L.Ed.2d 113 (1980). We find that the challenged instruction correctly submitted the count to the jury and was not duplicitous.2. Ambiguity in Jury Verdict 14 Cooper asserts that the jury's general verdict of guilty left open the possibility that the jury convicted him only of a conspiracy to violate § 856, as opposed to § 841 or both, and thus the penalty should be assessed accordingly. According to the government, Cooper objected at trial only to the conspiracy count on the ground of duplicity and clearly erroneous instructions. Cooper failed to object on the basis of the charge and of the verdict's ambiguity--in essence that there is no way to know which statutory offense was the basis of the conviction. 15 Having failed to object to the form of indictment, Cooper neither requested a special verdict as to the object of the conspiracy, nor did he object to the absence of a special verdict. When the jury returned its verdict without any indication of which offenses it had found he had conspired to commit, Cooper had had further opportunity to ask the court for a clarification. Again, he failed to do so. Cooper, in seeming disregard to Fed.R.Crim.P. 30, 4 called this matter to the district court's attention after the jury's verdict had been recorded and the jury had been discharged. In essence, Cooper remained silent until sentencing as to the danger of being found guilty without any ascertainment of which offense he was found to have violated. 16 Analogous to the appellant's actions in Williams v. United States, 238 F.2d 215, 218 (5th Cir.1956), cert. denied, 352 U.S. 1024, 77 S.Ct. 589, 1 L.Ed.2d 596 (1957), Cooper did not request a clarification of the indictment or request a new trial on the ground of an incorrect charge. Consequently, unless a manifest miscarriage of injustice has occurred, this Court will not consider an appeal from error not timely called to the district court's attention. Without deciding whether there was error, we find that in any event the circumstances here do not merit a finding of a manifest miscarriage of justice. See Williams, 238 F.2d at 221 (concluding that absent manifest injustice, failure to seek relief by way of motion to correct the indictment, or by any action at time of the court's charge or after verdict, worked an effective waiver of such error [ambiguous verdict]). 3. Sentencing 17 While Cooper's failure to make a timely objection to the ambiguity of the verdict constitutes a waiver of that objection, he may challenge the imposition of his sentence. United States v. Mastrangelo, 733 F.2d 793, 800 (11th Cir.1984) (concluding that although the appellant's failure to object to the multiplicity of the indictment before trial constituted a waiver of the multiplicity objection with regard to any alleged error in the indictment, the appellant could challenge the imposition of multiple sentences for the alleged commission of one crime). Court decisions have established the rule that a sentencing judge faced with a conviction on a count that charged the violation of more than one statute, but where the jury failed to specify the violation found, is limited to imposing a sentence that does not exceed the maximum penalty under the statute providing the least severe punishment. In United States v. Orozco-Prada, 732 F.2d 1076, 1083-84 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 845, 105 S.Ct. 154, 83 L.Ed.2d 92, and cert. denied, 469 U.S. 845, 105 S.Ct. 155, 83 L.Ed.2d 92 (1984), the Court withheld judgment on appellant's conviction for 30 days, allowing the government to consent to resentencing under the statute within the limitation of the less severe penalty, or in the alternative, absent the government's consent, to vacate as to the count at issue and remand for a new trial. See also United States v. Quicksey, 525 F.2d 337, 341 (4th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1087, 96 S.Ct. 878, 47 L.Ed.2d 97 (1976); Brown v. United States, 299 F.2d 438, 440 (D.C.Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, 370 U.S. 946, 82 S.Ct. 1593, 8 L.Ed.2d 812 (1962); 8 James WM. Moore Et Al., Moore's Federal Practice § 8.03 (2d ed. 1992). 18 In the instant case, the less severe statute is § 856, providing a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment, as opposed to § 841, providing a penalty of up to life imprisonment. Cooper was sentenced to 188 months, below the maximum penalty provided in § 856. Thus, according to the government, any error in failing to solicit a special verdict from the jury on count 1 was harmless. 19 Cooper acknowledges the less severe sentencing alternative but advocates that this less severe principle be applied in guideline calculations. In essence, if his sentence may not exceed the maximum penalty provided in § 856, it may also not exceed the penalty provided in the sentencing guidelines for § 856 offenses. Under Cooper's calculations, the sentence assessed for § 856 would be between 27-33 months once the necessary increments for prior criminal history are included. 5 20 The government asserts that this argument ignores § 1B1.2(d) of the sentencing guidelines which provides that a conviction on a conspiracy count charging conspiracy to commit more than one offense is treated as if the defendant had been convicted of a separate conspiracy count for each offense that he conspired to commit. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2(d) (Nov.1991). Further, appellant's argument ignores the commentary 6 to § 1B1.2(d) stating that where the jury's verdict fails to specify which of the charged offenses were the objects of the conspiracy, the defendant may be sentenced for the object offenses for which the court, were it sitting as trier of fact, would convict the defendant. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2(d) comment. (n.5). See United States v. Tham, 960 F.2d 1391, 1399-400 (9th Cir.1992) (finding that where the jury verdict failed to specify whether it had found the appellant guilty on one or both charges of conspiracy, U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2(d) was applicable). 21 More than sufficient evidence exists from which the district court, sitting as a trier of fact, could have found that Cooper conspired to violate § 841. Government witnesses testified to innumerable crack cocaine sales at the Lounge between March and October 1990. Further, during this seven-month period, eleven firearms and over 234 grams of crack were seized from the Lounge. 22 Cooper's involvement in the conspiracy under section 841 is equally clear. On several occasions, undercover officers found Cooper in his office in possession of crack--the same office where narcotics inventory and accounting records were kept, where over 150 grams of crack cocaine and eight of the eleven firearms seized were found, and where two pictures of Cooper and a nameplate, J.C. Cooper, were discovered. Of course, Cooper actually admitted that he made the Lounge available to drug dealers for the purpose of distributing crack cocaine. There is ample evidence in the record to support a conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine. 23 Our review of a sentence under the guidelines is confined to determining whether a sentence was 'imposed in violation of law' or 'as a result of an incorrect application of the sentencing guidelines.'  United States v. Nevarez-Arreola, 885 F.2d 243, 245 (5th Cir.1989) (per curiam) (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e)). Further, we affirm applications of the guidelines when they are based on factual findings that are not clearly erroneous. United States v. Medina-Saldana, 911 F.2d 1023, 1024 (5th Cir.1990). A factual finding is not clearly erroneous as long as it is plausible in light of the record read as a whole. United States v. Sanders, 942 F.2d 894, 897 (5th Cir.1991). 24 We find that the district court did not err in using § 2D1.1 (unlawful manufacturing, importing, exporting, or trafficking--including possession with intent to commit these offenses) as opposed to § 2D1.8 (renting or managing a drug establishment) for purposes of calculating Cooper's base offense level. Not only was the district court's assessment a correct application of the guidelines, but also the district judge ultimately departed downward from the guidelines, opting not to impose the recommended 188 month minimum sentence under a 36 offense level (range of 188-235 months) for a § 841 violation. We find no clear error in the district court's sentence under count 1, and we uphold it. 25