Court Opinion

ID: 9598633
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:10:17.712987+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:48:11.483070
License: Public Domain

BEAM, Circuit Judge,
concurring and
dissenting.
I concur in the court’s opinion except for Part II.B. which concerns Antwoyn Spencer’s alleged attempt to possess the cocaine seized from John Nguyen in Wichita, Kansas. From this holding, I dissent. There was simply insufficient evidence to support the conviction.
Proof of an attempt to possess drugs requires that (1) the defendant intended to possess the drugs, and (2) he took a substantial step towards possession of the drags. United States v. Joyce, 693 F.2d 838, 841 (8th Cir.1982). This step must “strongly corroborate[ ]” his criminal intent. Id. The court attempts to distinguish Joyce, but the case remains good law in this circuit and is applicable to this purported offense. In Joyce, the conviction was overturned for lack of a substantial step even though the government’s informant described numerous phone conversations with Joyce to set up the deal, Joyce flew from Oklahoma City to St. Louis to purchase the drugs, and Joyce went to a hotel room where the deal was to take place. Id. at 839-40. Joyce carried $22,000 in cash and physically handled the package containing the cocaine but negotiations broke down in the hotel room when the undercover police officer refused to open the package. Id. at 840. Joyce left without making a purchase and was arrested. Id.
There really is no evidence regarding specific steps Antwoyn took toward the possession of this particular eight kilograms of cocaine seized from Nguyen on August 15, 2006. The only evidence, minimal at best, of a substantial step towards completion of the offense is the unanswered phone call Nguyen received from Antwoyn’s phone following Nguyen’s arrest. The government, and apparently the court, relies heavily on inferences raised from evidence of the “normal” course of business between Nguyen and Antwoyn to support Antwoyn’s attempt charge. That evidence might support a conspiracy con*883viction but falls well short of proof of attempt.
The key lies in the difference between the law of attempt and the law of conspiracy. Under the law of attempt, a substantial step is required in order for the defendant to be convicted. In contrast, conspiracy ... does not require an overt act.
United States v. Robinson, 217 F.3d 560, 564-65 n. 3 (8th Cir.2000).
Each case the court cites in support of its affirmance is distinguishable. United States v. Burks, 135 F.3d 582 (8th Cir.1998), for example, supports the proposition that but for the intervention of law enforcement, Nguyen would have completed his delivery of the cocaine to Antwoyn and that such behavior was sufficient to support a “substantial step.” Id. at 584. But the Joyce problem is still there. No substantial step was taken by Antwoyn. In Burks, the case revolved around Burks’ attempted possession and it was Burks that law enforcement cut short midstream. Id. Likewise, United States v. Garrett is inapposite. 948 F.2d 474, 477 (8th Cir.1991). In Garrett the defendant completed telephone calls to a drug courier in an attempt to obtain cocaine from the courier, not knowing that police had already arrested the courier and seized the drugs. Id. at 476-77. Again, the instant case is totally different, as there was no confirmed contact from Antwoyn in this case regarding this shipment.
The inferences to be gleaned from the facts in this case fall well short of establishing a substantial step toward possession of the particular eight kilograms possessed by Nguyen at the time of his arrest. The inferences from the surrounding facts that Antwoyn often dealt with an Asian male from Texas, dealt in multi-kilo levels of cocaine, that the packaging of the cocaine Nguyen possessed matched other batches co-conspirators claimed they received from Antwoyn do little if anything to prove that on August 15, Antwoyn attempted to possess that particular eight kilograms.
Accordingly, I would reverse the attempt conviction and remand the case to the district court for resentencing of Antwoyn Spencer without consideration of that crime.