Court Opinion

ID: 9464047
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:24:03.952291+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:26.223315
License: Public Domain

VAN OOSTERHOUT, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I am in complete agreement with the majority opinion with respect to the affirmance on Count I.
In the exercise of judicial discretion, I would determine the validity of the Count III conviction and bypass the application of the concurrent sentence rule in light of the incomplete record on this issue and the lack of adequate briefing.1 The majority opinion fairly sets out the applicable law as to the Count III conviction and fairly sets out the facts. One additional fact should be added. Agent John Boulger, a seasoned Drug Enforcement Agent, testified that the cylindrical foil packages were a unique form of packaging heroin, which he had never seen except for the purchases made from the appellant on March 10 and November 17 and 18. Not only was the heroin packaged in an identical manner, but the Drug Enforcement Administration Chemist testified that all three exhibits of heroin were analyzed to contain the same adulterant, quinine, and the same dilutants, manni-tol and lactose.
While the issue is close, I believe that the evidence when viewed in the light most favorable to the Government is sufficient to establish a conspiracy between Nunn and Holder, thus making Nunn’s statements admissible, and that the evidence is sufficient to support the conviction on Count III.
I would affirm the convictions on Counts I and III and not reach the concurrent sentence rule.

. The concurrent sentence rule is an extremely convenient rule and saves busy courts much judicial time in considering convictions on many count indictments, such as those frequently used in mail fraud cases. The majority opinion indicates a possibility but not a certainty that the Parole Board might, in some situations, defer parole consideration by reason of multiple counts upon which the trial court in the exercise of its discretion has imposed concurrent sentences. Such practice of the Parole Board, if it exists, is of doubtful validity.