Court Opinion

ID: 9484298
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:47:47.430603+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:50:09.129717
License: Public Domain

KANNE, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I join in the result reached in Judge Pos-ner’s opinion — affirmance of Lechuga’s conspiracy conviction. I do not believe, however, that the inclusion of dicta that proposes *356an absolute rule that a conspiracy conviction can never be supported solely on the basis of a single “large quantity” sale of drugs is necessary or correct. The single sale conspiracy rule is an aside that has not achieved a consensus on this court. I write separately to express my disagreement with this proposed broad rule, the analytical framework for'which is grounded in the context of the hand-to-hand drug transaction.
In my view, such a rule cannot reasonably be extended to apply to those multi-million dollar drug transactions found in real life, such as a single sale of a sea-going shipload of marijuana, United States v. Kramer, 955 F.2d 479, 482-83 (7th Cir.) (individual deliveries of 15,000, 20,000, 30,000, 14,000, 147,000, 152,000, and 130,000 pounds), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 595-96, 121 L.Ed.2d 533 (1992), or cocaine, United States v. Gonzalez, 933 F.2d 417, 421-22 (7th Cir.1991) (individual deliveries of 1,148 and 2,265 kilograms), or a cargo aircraft load of cocaine, United States v. Markowski, 582 F.Supp. 1276, 1277-78 (N.D.Ind.1984) (importation of 864 kilograms valued at $27,000,-000), or a tractor trailer load of marijuana, United States v. Canino, 949 F.2d 928, 934 (7th Cir.1991) (individual deliveries of 27,000 and 18,000 pounds), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1940, 118 L.Ed.2d 546 (1992). That the foregoing examples involve successive deliveries does not detract from the size and complex nature of each individual transaction.
Even when single sales of drugs are not carried out on such an extraordinary scale, our cases illustrate that major dealers frequently traffick in “large quantities” of drugs. E.g., United States v. Liefer, 778 F.2d 1236, 1240 (7th Cir.1985) (individual deliveries of 2,500 and 7,000 pounds of marijuana for distribution); United States of America v. Wables, 731 F.2d 440, 442 (7th Cir.1984) (storage of 2,500 pounds of- marijuana for distribution). It is unfortunate, but true, that demand exists for such distributable quantities. E.g., United States v. Caban, 962 F.2d 646, 647, 650 (7th Cir.1992) (defendant agreed to purchase twenty kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana from undercover agents).
Today the court suggests a prophylactic rule that the sale of “large quantities” of narcotics, without more, cannot sustain a conspiracy conviction. Presumably this rule would apply to a single sale that requires massive coordination of air, sea, and ground transportation, regardless if the buyer is a known large-scale distributor and regardless if the quantity is so large that it is certainly intended for resale. If the rule is adopted, a jury will be precluded from reasonably inferring that a seller of large quantities of drugs agreed to their distribution by others down the line, notwithstanding his interest (and stake) in the retailer’s successful distribution.
Ironically, a majority, if not every member, of the court appears to recognize a drug dealer’s interest in successful distribution. Judge Posner concedes that “[sjomeone who provides an input into another’s business usually cares only about selling the input, not about furthering the other’s business. It is different when the buyer is the seller’s distributor, without whom the seller cannot reach the market for his product.” Ante at 348. Judge Cudahy acknowledges as much: “Of course, any wholesaler hopes that his customers will be successful. The more the retailers sell, the more they will buy from the wholesaler.” Post at 360. Still, a majority insists on a rule that knowledge and a stake in the venture sufficient to prove participation in a conspiracy can never be inferred from evidence of a single large quantity sale.
When one sells an amount of drugs too large for personal consumption to a distributor-, I am not willing to foreclose a jury’s finding that the seller “joinfed] both mind and hand” with the buyer to make further distribution possible. Direct Sales Co. v. United States, 319 U.S. 703, 713, 63 S.Ct. 1265, 1270, 87 L.Ed. 1674 (1943). After all, the large sale transaction is the sine qua non of subsequent distribution. Conspiracy can be inferred from prolonged cooperation with another’s unlawful purpose, id., (though we affirm Lechuga’s conviction on the evidence of only two transactions) but not, apparently, from a transaction involving an extraordinarily large quantity of drugs. Neither Judge Posner nor Judge Cudahy offers an explanation as to why the first inference is *357more reasonable and should carry more weight than the second. Surely it cannot be said that “prolonged cooperation” makes it more likely that a seller knew of and agreed to a buyer’s distribution of drugs but evidence of an extremely large sale to the distributor does not. Both, it seems to me, could be sufficient to allow “[tjhe step from knowledge to intent and agreement [to] be taken.” Id.
It is true that many drug sales — the hand-to-hand variety — are relatively small and simple transactions, thus preventing a rational factfinder from inferring that the seller joined a drug distribution conspiracy. It is just as true, on the other hand, that there are individual sales of such size and scale that a rational factfinder could properly draw the inference that the seller had joined a conspiracy to distribute the drugs involved.
As I see it, a rule that treats every sale of narcotics in a conspiracy case as if it were a simple spot sale belies the nature and reality of today’s wholesale drug trade. Rather than needlessly adopt an absolute standard that cannot be applied intelligibly as the size and complexity of the drug sale increases, we should, I believe, allow the factfinder to assess the nature of the transaction in the first instance and to draw such reasonable inferences of conspiratorial membership as the evidence may warrant.