Court Opinion

ID: 9480689
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:55:26.115356+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:50.498389
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent.
Even in a drug case, the Government bears the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Yes, defendant Tim Moore possessed the drug, but the sticky question relates to his possession with intent to distribute. On this issue, the Government’s proof fails.
Riley, not Moore, owned, carried and shipped the drug in the instant case. When DEA agents began to tail him, he abandoned the shipment and called a friend, defendant Tim Moore, for help with picking it up. Does that show Moore’s possession with intent to distribute? Not the way I read the facts.
In the first place, intent to distribute cannot logically be inferred from the *146amount of narcotics in the suitcase because the Government made no showing that Moore possessed any knowledge of the amount, whether one gram or a thousand. Moreover, even assuming that a reasonable jury could have concluded that Moore knew or suspected Riley's suitcase of containing drugs, the Government still had to prove that Moore picked up the bag with the intent to distribute its contents. Here, however, the evidence suggested that Moore picked up the suitcase as a favor to Riley, who the Government admits was a close friend. Consequently, the Government could not establish Moore’s intent to distribute without at least some proof that either:
(1) Moore had entered into an agreement with Riley (i.e., a conspiracy) to distribute the drugs in the suitcase and intended his possession to further the distribution scheme; or
(2) Moore intended to keep Riley’s suitcase and appropriate the drugs himself.
The Government produced absolutely no evidence in support of the latter theory, i.e., that Moore intended to keep the suitcase. Moreover, as to the former theory, the Government’s evidence of an agreement between Riley and Moore to jointly distribute the drugs in Riley’s suitcase was thin to nonexistent. Indeed, the Government effectively conceded this point during the trial by dismissing, on its own motion, a conspiracy charge that had alleged conduct to this effect.
This case presents a criminal appeal requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt in support of a jury verdict. Therefore, in this writer’s view, the Government cannot sustain a drug conviction merely by putting forth evidence that a defendant possessed “minimum contacts” with an illegal drug or a known dealer. Nevertheless, that is all the Government did with respect to Tim Moore, and, as a result, I would reverse the conviction.