U.S. v. Westbrook
| Decision Date | 05 August 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-50890,95-50890 |
| Citation | 119 F.3d 1176 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Larry Darnell WESTBROOK, Wayne Allen Bledsoe, Jr., Michael Lynn Peoples, and A.J. Green, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Asst. U.S. Attorney, San Antonio, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Tyler Alexander Baker, III, Amy Katherine Hunt, Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, Dallas, TX, for Larry Darnell Westbrook, Defendant-Appellant.
Steven Gregory White, McGregor & White, L.L.P., Waco, TX, for Wayne Allen Bledsoe, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.
Robert Thomas Swanton, Jr., Waco, TX, for Michael Lynn Peoples, Defendant-Appellant.
Gell R. Kingery, Waco, TX, for A.J. Green, Defendant-Appellant.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before EMILIO M. GARZA, PARKER and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
Defendants Larry Darnell Westbrook, Wayne Allen Bledsoe, Jr., Michael Lynn Peoples, and A.J. Green appeal their convictions for conspiracy to possess crack cocaine with intent to distribute and to distribute crack cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1) (count 1) and Westbrook and Bledsoe appeal their convictions for money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) (count 2). Westbrook also appeals the district court's calculation of his offense level under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which resulted in a guideline range of life imprisonment on count 1. We affirm.
After a federal grand jury returned a two-count superseding indictment against the defendants, the district court selected a jury to try them on these charges. On September 16, 1994, after a few days of trial, the court learned that one of the jurors had reported to various people--including another juror--that she had been threatened that morning with injury if the jury rendered a guilty verdict. The court immediately granted the defendants' motions for a mistrial. On May 1, 1995, the court selected another jury to try the defendants.
The government's case against the defendants, who lived in Temple, Texas, was based on (1) testimony of accomplices to the defendants, (2) surveillance and seizures by Temple police, and (3) information from third parties.
Because the defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, we summarize it here.
Jerry Reed, an accomplice of the defendants, testified that he sold two ounces of crack to Westbrook in October 1988; that he asked Westbrook, Bledsoe, and Green to buy two ounces of crack in 1991; that Green delivered crack to him; and that Peoples asked Reed in 1991 to take Peoples and another to Dallas, Texas to buy nine ounces of crack. Chuck Jones, another accomplice, testified that between 1989 and 1990, he sold one to three ounces of crack to Westbrook five or six times and sold quarter to half-ounce quantities of crack to Green and Peoples several times; that after August 1991, he sold five to nine ounces of crack to Westbrook four times, and smaller quantities to Green and Peoples two or three times; that Green was present once when Jones sold Westbrook nine ounces of crack; that he operated a crack house in Temple, and was told by Green and three others to get out of town because he was making all the money.
A third accomplice, Edward Montgomery, Jr., testified that Westbrook and Green had been partners in the drug business, and that Bledsoe replaced Green after an arrest; that he drove Westbrook to Houston four or five times to buy cocaine; that Westbrook met with a source in Houston, Texas and usually bought about nine ounces of crack from that source; that Peoples went on a trip to Houston when Westbrook bought four or five ounces of crack; that Bledsoe carried the money during a crack-buying excursion to Houston with Montgomery and another; and that others, including Green, gave Westbrook money to buy crack for them.
During 1991, the police began to investigate what appeared to be the defendants' crack operation. On August 11, 1991, police raided a motel room after motel staff received complaints about what seemed to be drug traffic. The police found Bledsoe, Peoples, Green, and two others in the room. The police took a baggie from Green containing thirty-seven rocks of crack. A couple of months later, police stopped Westbrook driving a car belonging to Peoples after a high-speed chase. Green was in the front passenger seat. Police seized crack from floor between door and front passenger seat, and from the floor behind the front passenger seat.
Roderick Reeders, an accomplice and convicted crack dealer, testified that Westbrook and Bledsoe operated several crack houses in Temple during 1991 and 1992. He stated that Westbrook and Bledsoe approached him in late 1990 or early 1991 and asked him to introduce them to his cocaine source in Houston. Reeders then took them to Houston and bought two ounces of crack for them from his source. Westbrook and Bledsoe paid Reeders in crack. According to Reeders, the three returned to Houston the next day and bought another four or five ounces of crack. Reeders saw Westbrook and Bledsoe break the crack into rocks. Shortly thereafter, Reeders and Bledsoe returned to Houston and bought nine to twelve ounces of crack. Reeders testified that during the next six or seven months, Reeders and Bledsoe went to Houston about twice a week, and Bledsoe bought nine ounces of crack each time. Reeders noted that, once in Temple, Bledsoe and Westbrook cut the crack into rocks and sold them. After a time, Reeders and Bledsoe went to Houston less often but bought half and whole kilograms of crack. In 1992, they began buying powder cocaine and converting it to crack. Eventually, Westbrook and Bledsoe went to Houston to buy cocaine without Reeders. Westbrook and Bledsoe initially sold the crack at a city park in Temple but then opened a crack house at 305 South 18th Street. Reeders showed Westbrook and Bledsoe how to operate the crack house and where to put lookouts. According to Reeders, Westbrook and Bledsoe paid workers $50 a day and small quantities of crack, and crack house workers sold several thousand dollars of crack daily and gave the money to Westbrook or Bledsoe.
David Wright, an accomplice, testified that he worked as a lookout in exchange for crack but began peddling that drug when Westbrook and Bledsoe told him he could make more money as a seller. Wright stated that he gave his drug proceeds to someone else, who hid the money and then gave it to Westbrook and Bledsoe. Westbrook and Bledsoe supplied the house with two or three ounces of crack daily. Several times, Peoples and Green brought crack to the house, which Wright sold for them with the approval of Westbrook and Bledsoe
Montgomery worked around the house as a lookout in exchange for crack. According to him, Westbrook and Bledsoe supplied the workers at the house with crack and handled money from its sale. He admitted that he stole crack that Westbrook had hidden in garage next to Westbrook's residence. In addition, Roderick Walker testified that he saw Westbrook and Bledsoe possess 4 X 12 inch packet of powder cocaine in Westbrook's residence. Allen Robinson said that Westbrook hassled him after Robinson found some crack in the alley, sold some of it and smoked the rest. Reeders testified that crack sold at the house was hidden outside first next to a garage and then in an alley across the street.
On February 5, 1992, Temple police raided the South 18th Street crack house, finding drug paraphernalia. Reeders testified that just as the police arrived, Westbrook flushed about $500 worth of crack down the toilet. Eleven months later, relying on a tip from an informant, officers found $22,500 of crack buried in the alley across from the crack house. The next month, after another tip by an informant, police discovered two packages of crack worth $900 buried in the alley.
The South 18th Street crack house closed after a year and few months of operation.
After the South 18th Street crack house shut down, the defendants purportedly opened a second crack house at 903 South Henderson. Wright testified that he rented this house at Bledsoe's request and paid the rent with money from Westbrook and Bledsoe. According to Reeders, as much as $10,000 worth of crack was sold daily and crack supplies were hidden either outside the house or at a residence at 902 South 18th Street which was connected to the Henderson Street house by a trail. Moreover, Westbrook and Bledsoe allowed Peoples and Green to sell crack at the South Henderson house, and Reeders sold for both Peoples and Green there. Wright testified that he sold crack at the South Henderson house, and that Bledsoe and Westbrook used many of the same workers there. He also averred that drugs were hidden near the alley at back of property, and that he sold crack for Peoples and Green.
On June 22, 1993, police raided the South Henderson house. Just before they searched the residence, they observed behavior consistent with drug dealing. According to Walker, who was at the house during the raid, Westbrook told a certain juvenile to get something and that juvenile returned with a small bag of what Walker thought was crack. As the police entered, Walker heard Westbrook tell the juvenile to get rid of the bag. The police then found Westbrook with marijuana hidden in his mouth and $700 in small bills and the juvenile with crack in his mouth and $610 in small bills. In addition, officers discovered crack scattered on the floor of the house as well as a car with some of Peoples' belongings on the premises.
After the raid, the defendants allegedly ended operations at the South Henderson crack house
Undaunted by the raid on the South Henderson house, Westbrook and Bledsoe then supposedly rented a third crack house, at 705...
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