Court Opinion

ID: 9488067
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:35:16.771114+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:40.270896
License: Public Domain

JON O. NEWMAN, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
At the time this appeal was originally decided, I thought it was a “close question” whether the evidence “could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2788-89, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (footnote omitted). The opinion initially issued as the majority opinion and now vacated explicitly acknowledged as much. See United States v. Martinez, 44 F.3d 148, 149-50 (2d Cir.1995). I thought then and continue to think that the evidence was not sufficient to meet the constitutional standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. My reasons are fully set forth in the original majority opinion, id. at 149-56, and need not be repeated.
Though there is a difference of opinion within the panel as to whether the evidence is sufficient, we are in agreement on one important aspect of the analysis appropriate to cases such as this. We are obliged to view the evidence with all reasonable inferences drawn in the Government’s favor, but we may not permit that rule to displace the even more important rule that all elements of an offense must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The inference-drawing rule relates to facts sought to be established by the Government in order to provide a basis for jury findings that each element of each offense charged is proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
In this ease, one of the facts the Government seeks to prove — that Martinez had the intent to distribute narcotics — is an element of one of the offenses charged in the indictment. If we simply said that viewing the evidence of intent to distribute in the light most favorable to the Government meant that the Government was entitled to an inference that Martinez had the intent to distribute, we would have undermined the constitutionally required standard that each element be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Fortunately, Judge Walker’s opinion for the majority is careful to recognize that the “favorable light” in which we view evidence from which inferences may be reasonably drawn does not displace our obligation as a reviewing court to be satisfied that the evidence permits a jury reasonably to find each element established beyond a reasonable doubt, even though the element of intent is necessarily a matter of inference. United States v. D’Amato, 39 F.3d 1249, 1256 (2d Cir.1994), which Judge Walker cites, is an instructive example of the distinction to be observed. We there first considered the subsidiary facts that the jury was entitled to find, with reasonable inferences drawn in the Government’s favor, and we then undertook the distinct task of determining whether those facts permitted a jury reasonably to find all the elements of the offenses charged beyond a reasonable doubt. The same approach is evident in United States v. Soto, 47 F.3d 546, 549 (2d Cir.1995).
Though we are in agreement on the analysis, we differ on the outcome — not a surprising conclusion in a “close case.”
I respectfully dissent.