CI's Testimony Not "Inherently Incredible"; Evidence Supported PWID Conviction

United States v. Garcia, ___ F.3d ___ , No. 08-5090 (10th Cir. 2010)

Circumstantial evidence of defendant’s dealing in drugs on date charged, combined with testimony of a cooperator, sufficient to convict him of possession with intent of over 500 grams of meth. Defendant engaged in a drug transaction with a confidential informant a month earlier and admission of this evidence did not violate Fed.R.Evid. 404(b); Defendant frequented the house where the charged drugs were found in the relevant time period; and cooperator who lived in house where charged drugs were found testified drugs belonged to Defendant and cooperator was not inherently incredible. The opinion includes a discussion of what might be inherently incredible.

Use of jury form not plain error, and did not improperly shift burden of proof to Defendant (the form failed to state that the government had the burden of proof and instead stated that “we the jury . . . unanimously find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that...); the jury instructions as a whole made clear that the government had the burden and Defendant had no burden to prove innocence.