Drug Conspiracy Convictions Affirmed
US v. Smith, 2008 WL 2814809, 7/23/08 - Drug convictions and lengthy sentence affirmed. Defendant ran a drug ring and was indicted for conspiracy and multiple distribution and related counts. One of her confederates had been convicted of murdering two women (a third woman somehow survived despite getting shot 7 times). There was some reason to believe that the defendant ordered the hits in retaliation for the victims' stealing defendant's drugs and money from the confederate, but defendant was never charged in connection with this. At trial, the district court admitted evidence of the murders because there was evidence that they were related to the drug conspiracy; murders were therefore not "other crimes" evidence prohibited ay Rule 404(b). 10th agreed with this analysis, and also with the district court's refusal to give defendant's requested instruction that the government had to prove defendant's connection to the murders beyond a reasonable doubt because the government does not have to prove any overt act in a drug conspiracy case under 21 USC s. 846.
More troubling was the admission of photographs of the "bloodied, bullet-ridden bodies and blood-stained clothes." Although the 10th agreed with the defendant that the photos would likely have substantially more prejudicial than probative value because they added nothing but shock value to the testimony describing the murders, the presence of overwhelming evidence of the drug conspiracy, coupled with evidence linking the murders to the conspiracy and to the defendant, rendered any error harmless.
The defendant's remaining claims fared no better. First, the 10th rejected the defendant's Brady claims. Any error in the government's failure to disclose a police report of a conversation the defendant's former attorney, who was the government's last witness, had with a cop in which he admitted having smoked pot with the defendant at her house, was harmless. The other claimed errors, that the government failed to disclose deals with some of its witnesses in exchange for their testimony until the witnesses testified were not Brady violations at all. The 10th also rejected the defendant's claim that she was entitled to a new trial because the government had destroyed potentially exculpatory evidence by not recording the serial numbers of the monies it seized from her, but rather deposited all of it in a general asset forfeiture fund; the serial numbers were not exculpatory, the government offered an innocent explanation for its actions, and the defendant presented no compelling evidence that the government acted in bad faith. Next, the 10th rejected defendant's alleged errors relating to the chain of custody of drugs purchased by an undercover cop, because evidence establishing chain of custody need not be perfect, and any defects here went to the weight rather than the admissibility of the evidence, and her Batsonchallenge to the government's peremptory excusal of one black woman because the government offered race-neutral reasons for striking her and the defendant did not meet her burden of shoving discriminatory intent. Finally, the district court did not commit clear procedural error by applying the obstruction enhancement under USSG s. 3C1.1, based on testimony that the defendant had indirectly threatened or intimidated a witness after he appeared before the grand jury.
More troubling was the admission of photographs of the "bloodied, bullet-ridden bodies and blood-stained clothes." Although the 10th agreed with the defendant that the photos would likely have substantially more prejudicial than probative value because they added nothing but shock value to the testimony describing the murders, the presence of overwhelming evidence of the drug conspiracy, coupled with evidence linking the murders to the conspiracy and to the defendant, rendered any error harmless.
The defendant's remaining claims fared no better. First, the 10th rejected the defendant's Brady claims. Any error in the government's failure to disclose a police report of a conversation the defendant's former attorney, who was the government's last witness, had with a cop in which he admitted having smoked pot with the defendant at her house, was harmless. The other claimed errors, that the government failed to disclose deals with some of its witnesses in exchange for their testimony until the witnesses testified were not Brady violations at all. The 10th also rejected the defendant's claim that she was entitled to a new trial because the government had destroyed potentially exculpatory evidence by not recording the serial numbers of the monies it seized from her, but rather deposited all of it in a general asset forfeiture fund; the serial numbers were not exculpatory, the government offered an innocent explanation for its actions, and the defendant presented no compelling evidence that the government acted in bad faith. Next, the 10th rejected defendant's alleged errors relating to the chain of custody of drugs purchased by an undercover cop, because evidence establishing chain of custody need not be perfect, and any defects here went to the weight rather than the admissibility of the evidence, and her Batsonchallenge to the government's peremptory excusal of one black woman because the government offered race-neutral reasons for striking her and the defendant did not meet her burden of shoving discriminatory intent. Finally, the district court did not commit clear procedural error by applying the obstruction enhancement under USSG s. 3C1.1, based on testimony that the defendant had indirectly threatened or intimidated a witness after he appeared before the grand jury.
posted by Anonymous at 3:29 PM
<< Home