Court Opinion

ID: 9480704
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:55:49.349598+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:51.060492
License: Public Domain

RONEY, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring in part, dissenting in part:
I concur in all of Judge Aldisert’s opinion, except the reversal of the conviction of Jairo Rendon. To prove a circumstantial evidence case in this Circuit, it is not necessary to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. United States v. Bell, 678 F.2d 547, 549 (5th Cir. Unit B 1982) (en banc), aff'd on other grounds, 462 U.S. 356, 103 S.Ct. 2398, 76 L.Ed.2d 638 (1983). We have had enough of these cases to know that drug dealers use look-outs. The jury knew this. Assuming Jairo to be a look-out, it is not clear what he would have done that he did not do, or what more evidence one might expect. This Circuit has long ago rejected the mere presence defense when the evidence would indicate that drug dealers would not have tolerated the defendant being present were he not involved. United States v. Quintero, 848 F.2d 154, 156 (11th Cir.1988); United States v. Cruz-Valdez, 773 F.2d 1541, 1547 (11th Cir.1985), cert. denied sub nom. Ariza-Fuentas v. United States, 475 U.S. 1049, 106 S.Ct. 1272, 89 L.Ed.2d 580 (1986); United States v. Munoz, 692 F.2d 116, 118-19 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1221, 103 S.Ct. 1229, 75 L.Ed.2d 463 (1983); United States v. Freeman, 660 F.2d 1030, 1036 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 823, 103 S.Ct. 54, 74 L.Ed.2d 59 (1982). I think there was enough evidence to support the jury decision that Jairo was guilty of the offense for which he was convicted.