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Federal Criminal Law

United States v. Hunte (7th Cir. 1999)

 

 

United States v. Hunte, 196 F.3d 687 (7th Cir. 1999)

Kanne, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Cheryl A. Hunte appeals her conviction and sentence for her role in an attempt to transport narcotics from Arizona to New York in 1997. The trial court sentenced Hunte to concurrent terms of thirty-three months imprisonment, two years supervised release and a $ 500 fine. On appeal, Hunte challenges the sufficiency of the evidence against her ….

I. History
A. The Conspiracy

In March 1997, Hunte decided to accompany her boyfriend, co-defendant, Joseph Richards, on a trip to California with an acquaintance known as Luis Gonzalez. Richards was a known drug dealer, and there was little mystery that the purpose of the trip was to purchase and bring back a load of narcotics. Richards supplied a minivan for the trip, and Gonzalez was to be the driver. Richards agreed to pay Gonzalez seven pounds of marijuana for help driving the van, purportedly to California. Hunte, on the other hand, stood to gain nothing from the deal. She apparently went along for the ride.

Richards directed the trip and made all or most of the decisions. Once on the road, he told Gonzalez that they were headed for Arizona, not California, and that he planned to pick up as much marijuana as he could get and bring it back to New York. Gonzalez would get his share and sell it for $ 8,000 to $ 9,000. Richards warned Gonzalez to drive safely and obey the speed limit and other rules of the road.

The three drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they rented a motel room. They showered but did not stay the night. Instead, leaving Hunte behind, Richards and Gonzalez went to meet Johnathan Warwick. Warwick was a Tulsa resident who rented a room from a man to whom Richards owed $ 3,000 for past drug dealings. Richards asked Warwick to help him drive to Phoenix (apparently not telling him for what purpose). Warwick agreed, believing that if the trip was successful, Richards would pay his friend the $ 3,000 Richards owed, and the friend would stop taking Warwick's disability checks for room and board. The three men picked up Hunte at the motel and left for Arizona.

Once back on the highway, Richards changed the plan again and said they were headed for Tucson, not Phoenix, and that their ultimate destination was Virginia, not New York. Warwick eventually figured out they were going to pick up drugs, but by this time they were in Texas. In Tucson, Richards made some calls from a pay phone at a convenience store, and eventually a man in a Chevy Blazer arrived who then escorted them to a house. Several hours later, a man came and took the minivan, returning it later loaded with marijuana. Richards asked Gonzalez and Warwick to help him carry the marijuana into the kitchen. During this time, Hunte remained in the living room watching television. With Hunte in the other room, the three men weighed the bundles of marijuana. Richards cut one bundle open to make sure it was all marijuana and extracted some buds for sampling. Gonzalez testified at trial that Richards took precautions to keep Hunte out of the business aspects of the deal.

Hunte helped roll the buds into a joint and closed the window blinds while the group smoked some of the marijuana. Warwick, Richards and Gonzalez re-wrapped the marijuana and loaded it into the van. Richards' brother then arrived in a burgundy Nissan Maxima. After dropping off Richards' brother in Phoenix, Richards and Hunte drove to Tulsa in the Maxima, followed by Gonzalez and Warwick in the van. Hunte registered for a motel room for herself and Richards, while Gonzalez and Warwick registered for another room. Richards paid all expenses, including the motels, throughout the trip.

The next morning, March 25, 1997, the group awoke and continued to New York. In Illinois, state police pulled the minivan over and a search revealed the bundles of marijuana. Warwick and Gonzalez admitted they were following another car, and based on the information they supplied, the police radioed ahead and were able to pull over Hunte and Richards. Before they were stopped by police but after the minivan had been pulled over, Hunte and Richards had switched positions so that Hunte was driving. Hunte and Richards initially denied that they were traveling with the minivan and told police they had been traveling around the Midwest looking for farm equipment for Richards' Jamaican chicken farm. As their grasp of basic geography deteriorated, so did their cover story. Police matched fingerprints on the marijuana to Richards, but not to Hunte.

B. The Trial and Sentence

Richards, Warwick and Gonzalez pleaded guilty to conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute almost 45 kilograms of marijuana. Hunte, like the others, was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846; and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Gonzalez and Warwick agreed to testify against Hunte at trial in exchange for one-third off their sentences. At trial, Hunte's primary defense was that she never possessed the marijuana because Richards was in charge and only he, Gonzalez and Warwick ever handled the bundles. Further, she contended that she was not a part of the conspiracy because she did not stand to gain from it….

II. Analysis

On appeal, Hunte … contends that her involvement in the crimes was too insubstantial to support either the conspiracy or the possession charges.…

  1. Conspiracy

Conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846 requires that the Government establish the existence of an agreement between two or more persons "for the purpose of committing, by their joint efforts, a criminal act." United States v. Campbell, 985 F.2d 341, 344 (7th Cir. 1993). The Government must show a "participatory link" between the conspiracy and the defendant. That link must be established by sufficient evidence demonstrating that the defendant knew of the conspiracy and intended to join its criminal purpose. However, unlike liability for attempt, conspiracy liability does not require evidence of an overt act by the defendant, ... and the phrase "participatory link" should not be confused in that way. Rather, the link simply provides a way to show that the defendant joined the conspiratorial agreement.

The evidence of Hunte's involvement in the conspiracy is slight. She appeared to have no role in planning the trip or securing any of the things necessary for its completion, such as the vehicles, cash or cohorts. She seemed to have no express understanding with Richards as to her involvement in the plan or share of the proceeds. She had no express responsibilities, did not negotiate the drug transaction and apparently was not needed to handle, weigh or transport the drugs.

However, the jury may consider "overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy as circumstantial evidence establishing knowing participation in a conspiracy." United States v. Burrell, 963 F.2d 976, 988 (7th Cir. 1992). The evidence shows that Hunte knew of the conspiracy's existence, as she spent several days traveling from New York to Arizona where the group picked up a large load of marijuana, sampled it, hid it in the minivan and returned toward New York. The question is whether she intended to join its criminal purpose, and the bare overt acts committed in furtherance of the conspiracy establish that intent. For instance, a jury could find a participatory link between Hunte and the conspiracy from Hunte's closing the window blinds to hide their activities from view, helping to roll a joint for sampling, registering for the hotel room where the group rested, driving one of the vehicles used for transportation of the co-conspirators and lying to police about their destination and about their association with Warwick and Gonzalez. The fact that she did not expect to share directly in the proceeds of the crime does not defeat a finding of knowing participation. A criminal without a profit motive is still a criminal as long as all elements of the crime are established.

  1. Possession

Possession with intent to distribute marijuana requires the Government prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hunte 1) knowingly or intentionally possessed the marijuana, 2) possessed the marijuana with the intent to distribute it and 3) knew the marijuana was a controlled substance. The first element, possession, can be satisfied by direct or circumstantial evidence of constructive or joint possession. See United States v. Kitchen, 57 F.3d 516, 520-21 (7th Cir. 1995). Constructive possession applies when "a person does not have actual possession but instead knowingly has the power and the intention at a given time to exercise dominion and control over an object, either directly or through others." United States v. Garrett, 903 F.2d 1105, 1110 (7th Cir. 1990) (emphasis omitted); see also United States v. DiNovo, 523 F.2d 197, 201 (7th Cir. 1975).

Hunte challenges her conviction on the theory that she did not exercise "dominion and control" over the marijuana because at all times Richards, as the group's leader, had exclusive control over the contraband. DiNovo stands for the proposition that "mere proximity to the drug, mere presence on the property where it is located, or mere association, without more, with the person who does control the drug or the property on which it is found, is insufficient to support a finding of possession." DiNovo, 523 F.2d at 199. This line of cases protects the "ordinary bystander" who happens to be unlucky enough to be near someone who possesses contraband. United States v. Windom, 19 F.3d 1190, 1200 (7th Cir. 1994). To this end, we have required that in non-exclusive possession cases, the evidence must show some nexus between the defendant and the drugs….

[T]he evidence against Hunte more than substantiates the nexus between her and the contraband. There can be no doubt of her knowledge of the marijuana because she was present when it was delivered, unloaded, sampled and loaded. Although the evidence of her direct access to the drugs and participation in the transportation is minimal, it can hardly be said that she was in any sense an ordinary bystander. She registered for the hotel room, drove at least one of the vehicles, helped hide their activities from view and aided in the sampling of the drugs. She can no more claim to be a mere bystander than could Thomas Galiffa.

… Hunte argues that no evidence shows "she ever touched the bundles of marijuana," but that argument only refutes actual possession and is not dispositive of constructive possession. Hunte further argues that only Richards had constructive possession of the marijuana, as shown by his offer to pay Gonzalez from the stash and to let Hunte sample some of it. While those facts provide strong evidence that Richards exercised control over the drugs, it does not necessarily mean Hunte and the others did not jointly possess them as well. As discussed above, control need not be exclusive.

The evidence showed that all four defendants were engaged in a plan to transport narcotics and that Richards was the leader of the group. The fact that one person leads and the others follow does not mean that only the leader has possession of the contraband. All four had access to the drugs at various times and assisted in their concealment and transportation. As a group, the four each exercised joint possession of the narcotics by virtue of their individual acts consistent with non-exclusive dominion and control over the contraband.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a rational trier of fact could find Hunte guilty on both the conspiracy and possession counts. Therefore, we will affirm her convictions.…