Court Opinion

ID: 9483514
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:22:48.677436+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:40.098883
License: Public Domain

BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Circuit Judge,
with whom MERRITT, Chief Judge, and KEITH, NATHANIEL R. JONES, and BOGGS, Circuit Judges concur, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I must dissent from the majority opinion in this case insofar as it affirms the conviction of Timothy Wayne Morrow for aiding and abetting George Mooneyham in the carrying of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense. The prosecution failed to prove the essential elements of the crime of aiding and abetting the carrying of a firearm and thus failed to prove a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1).
In order to be convicted for aiding and abetting another to commit a crime, “it is necessary that [the] defendant ‘in some sort associate himself with the venture, that he participate in it as in something that he wishes to bring about, that he seek by his action to make it succeed.’ ” Nye & Nissen v. United States, 336 U.S. 613, 619, *23369 S.Ct. 766, 770, 93 L.Ed. 919 (1949) (quoting United States v. Peoni, 100 F.2d 401, 402 (2d Cir.1938)). Thus, there is a three-step process for proving aiding and abetting: (1) the defendant must be associated with the criminal venture, (2) the defendant must have participated in the criminal venture, and (3) the defendant must have shared in the intent of the principal actor to perpetrate the criminal venture. United States v. Medina, 887 F.2d 528, 532 (5th Cir.1989). See also United States v. Pope, 739 F.2d 289, 291 (7th Cir.1984); United States v. Thomas, 676 F.2d 531, 535 (11th Cir.1982).
In the original indictment, Morrow was charged with three distinct crimes: manufacturing marijuana, conspiring to manufacture marijuana, and aiding and abetting George Mooneyham in the carrying of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense. In support of Morrow’s aiding and abetting conviction, the majority has relied upon United States v. Acosta-Cazares, 878 F.2d 945 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 899, 110 S.Ct. 255, 107 L.Ed.2d 204 (1989), and United States v. Stewart, 779 F.2d 538 (9th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 867, 108 S.Ct. 192, 98 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987), for the proposition that a conviction under section 924(c) is proper if the presence of a weapon empowers a co-defendant or helps to insure that a crime will succeed. Apparently, by virtue of Acosta-Cazares and Stewart, the majority believes that if Mooneyham carries the gun and is more emboldened by its presence, that feeling can be legally transferred to Morrow, thus fulfilling the “association” and “participation” requirements of Nye. In other words, under the majority’s view, if Mooneyham is emboldened by the presence of the gun, then Morrow, by his mere proximity to Mooneyham, has associated with carrying the weapon, and thus, Morrow has participated in the carrying of the weapon.
As the majority points out, proof — however dubious — of association and participation is not enough for conviction. See United States v. Morrow; Mooneyham, p. 231 (citing United States v. Winston, 687 F.2d 832, 835 (6th Cir.1982)). The United States must also prove that Morrow committed an affirmative act in furtherance of Mooneyham’s carrying of the gun. According to the majority, Morrow’s guilty affirmative act was the donning of a ski mask. In the majority’s view, Morrow wore the ski mask because he was afraid of other drug dealers or the owners of an adjoining marijuana patch. Somehow, Morrow’s fear, combined with his clothing, apparently demonstrates, for purposes of the aiding-and-abetting statute, Morrow’s criminal intent that Mooneyham carry a weapon to facilitate the violation of drug laws. In addition, under the majority’s interpretation, Morrow’s fear, combined with the wearing of the ski mask, satisfies the requirement of an affirmative act that assisted, aided, or abetted Mooneyham in carrying the weapon. The majority reaches this conclusion by relying on possible inferences that could be made by a reasonable jury. The majority states that a reasonable jury could infer from the facts that Morrow knew that Mooneyham was carrying a gun and that because Morrow was wearing a ski mask, he intended that Mooneyham carry a weapon. The majority’s inferences, quite simply, are not logical; The majority fails to show with certainty an affirmative act on the part of Morrow. As the Supreme Court stated in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2788, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), we must “determine whether the record evidence could support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” The majority’s conjectures about possible inferences do not satisfy the certainty required by the Jackson v. Virginia standard. This record is devoid of any proof whatsoever of an affirmative act by Morrow in furtherance of Mooneyham’s carrying of a weapon.
In reaching its conclusion, the majority twists traditional and well-established jurisprudence. Under the majority’s view, the aiding and abetting statute takes on a whole new life. In essence, the majority adopts a version of strict liability for the crime of aiding and abetting. The majority rewrites the law with respect to aiding and abetting by no longer requiring the proof *234of (1) an act in furtherance of the criminal venture, and (2) the intent to aid and abet the underlying substantive offense. In a legal sleight-of-hand, the majority expeditiously resolves this case but, in doing so, completely ignores long-established principles underlying the legal standards that define the offense of aiding and abetting a criminal venture.
The facts of this case have little to do with traditional aiding-and-abetting circumstances. Certainly Mooneyham aided and abetted the cultivation of marijuana. Under these facts, a conviction on the conspiracy charge was appropriate. Contrary to the creative efforts of the majority, however, the evidence is insufficient to support Morrow’s conviction for aiding and abetting the possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking offense. The majority upholds Morrow’s conviction based on little more than Morrow wearing a ski mask. In my opinion, this is legally unsound. Under the majority’s rationale, where one defendant is guilty of carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense, a co-defendant becomes strictly liable under a charge of aiding and abetting the firearm offense. Under the majority scheme, proof of an affirmative act or the defendant’s intent to carry out the charged crime is unnecessary and superfluous. The majority’s view flies in the face of logic and long-standing criminal jurisprudence.
By enhancing the sentence for the underlying drug conviction with an additional five-year sentence, Congress intends to punish those who use firearms during drug offenses. Mooneyham has been correctly charged and found guilty of such an offense. Morrow, on the other hand, has taken no action nor shown any criminal intent to indicate that he was aiding and abetting Mooneyham in the carrying of the firearm.
The majority’s opinion has pointed out the inherent weakness in an earlier decision that I wrote for a panel of this court, United States v. Christian, 942 F.2d 363 (6th Cir.1991), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 905, 116 L.Ed.2d 806 (1992). In Christian, I wrote that, under the decision in Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946), a criminal defendant could be convicted for aiding and abetting a co-conspirator in carrying a weapon if it was foreseeable that the co-conspirator might possess a gun. Christian, 942 F.2d at 367. Under Pinkerton, a defendant may be held criminally liable for acts of his co-conspirator even though the defendant does not participate in the substantive offense or even know of its existence. Id. at 647, 66 S.Ct. at 1184. The defendant is liable if he could reasonably foresee that the co-conspirator's criminal acts would occur. Id. My opinion in Christian notwithstanding, it is far too attenuated to impose constructively the act and intent requirements of a charge of aiding and abetting simply through the existence of a co-conspirator’s acts. There must be a finding of an act and intent on the part of the secondary actor in order to uphold an aiding and abetting conviction. United States v. Fischel, 686 F.2d 1082, 1087 (5th Cir.1982). Because no such finding could be made based on the evidence before the jury, we should reverse Morrow’s conviction for aiding and abetting under Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. at 318, 99 S.Ct. at 2788.
Regarding the remaining issues on appeal, I join the majority. Morrow and Moo-neyham’s convictions for unlawfully manufacturing marijuana plants as well as their conspiracy convictions should be affirmed. Additionally, in light of the indictment and the evidence at trial, Mooneyham’s sentence was appropriate under the Sentencing Guidelines. The majority is also correct on the issue of the district judge’s impartiality. Finally, even though the prosecutor’s comments during the closing argument were improper, in this case the statements constitute harmless error.
While this case is a fairly standard criminal prosecution, it has required a prodigious amount of effort and time. The result of this lengthy process, the majority opinion, fails to adequately provide Morrow with a logical reason why his conviction for aiding and abetting Mooneyham’s carrying a weapon is being upheld. Needless to say, *235the en banc process is a cumbersome one, but this court must reach a conclusion that is fair and supported both by logic and fact. On the issue of Morrow’s aiding-and-abetting charge, the majority opinion is unfair, illogical, and not supported by the facts.