U.S. v. Castillo, s. 97-2889

Decision Date25 June 1998
Docket NumberNos. 97-2889,97-3144,s. 97-2889
Citation148 F.3d 770
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Guadalupe A. CASTILLO a/k/a Alfonso Castillo-Salas and Martin Manzanares-Sanchez, Defendants-Appellants. Seventh Circuit
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Deirdre A. Durborow (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Criminal Division, Fairview Heights, IL, Michael C. Carr, Office of the United States Attorney, Benton, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Patrick W. Fitzgerald (argued), Alton, IL, for Defendant-Appellant Castillo.

John Dale Stobbs, II (argued), East Alton, IL, for Defendant-Appellant Manzanares-Sanchez.

Before POSNER, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Guadalupe A. Castillo and Martin Manzanares-Sanchez of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute, and the district court sentenced each of them to fifty-one months incarceration, a fine, and three years of supervised release. Castillo and Manzanares question whether the government presented sufficient evidence for the jury to convict them and whether the court erred in refusing to reduce their sentences for their minor roles. Castillo also challenges the district court's denial of his mistrial motion for prosecutorial misconduct. For the reasons given below, we affirm their convictions and sentences.

I. HISTORY

This drug conspiracy involves the repacking and transporting of marijuana from Matamoros, Mexico to various points throughout the United States for later distribution and sale. The ring leader was David Zacarias, and the other participants in this conspiracy were Castillo, Jose Guadalupe Gonzales, Manzanares, and Jose Resendez.

In August 1996, Zacarias recruited Resendez to help in his drug enterprise. Zacarias brought marijuana from Mexico to Brownsville, Texas. In Brownsville, at an unoccupied house owned by a relative of Zacarias, Zacarias and Resendez divided the marijuana into smaller packages, rewrapping the smaller packages with plastic wrap. Together they made repeated trips from Brownsville, Texas to Florida to deliver various amounts of marijuana.

In September 1996, Zacarias acquired 230 pounds of marijuana. On October 1, Zacarias and Resendez divided and rewrapped it with the assistance of Castillo and Gonzales. The project took approximately eight hours and was conducted in the same house in Brownsville. Castillo and Resendez rewrapped half of the marijuana together in the bedroom while Zacarias and Gonzales worked on the other half in the living room. The work was plainly visible to Manzanares, a step-father of Zacarias, who passed through the house several times during the eight hours.

After the rewrapping was complete, Zacarias told Resendez that Zacarias and Castillo were going to Michigan to sell half of the marijuana. The other half of the marijuana was loaded in the cab and bed of Manzanares' pickup truck. The marijuana in the bed was in a suitcase; the marijuana in the cab was in multiple garbage bags in the backseat of the extended cab. Resendez, Manzanares, and Manzanares' wife then left Brownsville for Houston in his truck. In Houston, they stayed at Manzanares' sister's home.

On October 2, 1996, Zacarias, Gonzales, and Castillo arrived at Manzanares' sister's home with the other half of the marijuana in a gray Cougar automobile which Zacarias owned but Castillo drove. Zacarias informed Resendez, Castillo, Gonzales, and Manzanares that the plan had changed and that they were all traveling to Michigan to sell all 230 pounds of marijuana. They then departed for Dallas in the two vehicles. On their arrival in Dallas, Zacarias obtained hotel accommodations and meals for everyone. While in Dallas, Zacarias worried that the police might pull the Cougar over because it had a broken taillight. Zacarias left with the Cougar and returned with a van. Someone drove the Cougar back to the hotel where Castillo, Resendez, and Zacarias transported approximately 115 pounds of marijuana from the Cougar to the van.

From Dallas, the crew departed for Michigan. Manzanares and Castillo traveled in Manzanares' pickup while the other members of the conspiracy traveled in the van. On October 4, 1996, police stopped both vehicles on Interstate 57 near Mt. Vernon, Illinois. A police dog sniffed the two vehicles, alerting the authorities that marijuana may be inside. The police questioned passengers of both vehicles. Manzanares twice denied and then admitted that marijuana was in the pickup. He also admitted that his pickup was traveling with the van. The police seized a total of 119 pounds of marijuana from the pickup and 117 pounds from the van. One package had a palm print which was later identified as Castillo's, and another had his fingerprint on it. Zacarias admitted that he was the leader of the conspiracy.

On October 9, 1996, the grand jury for the Southern District of Illinois returned a two count indictment. Count one charged Castillo, Manzanares, Zacarias, and Gonzales with conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute. Count two charged Manzanares, Zacarias, and Gonzales with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and Castillo with aiding and abetting them in that offense. A jury trial began on March 31, 1997. After a seven day trial, the jury found all of the defendants guilty of the first count; it also convicted Zacarias of the second count, but acquitted Manzanares, Castillo, and Gonzales of that count. On July 22, 1997, the district court sentenced Castillo to fifty-one months incarceration, a fine of one thousand dollars, and three years of supervised release. On August 15, 1997 the court sentenced Manzanares to fifty-one months incarceration, a fine of five hundred dollars, and three years of supervised release.

II. ANALYSIS

Castillo and Manzanares raise three issues on appeal. First, they challenge whether the government presented sufficient evidence for the jury to convict them of conspiracy. Second, Castillo claims the district court abused its discretion in refusing to grant his motion for mistrial because of prosecutorial misconduct. Third, they assert that the district court erred in refusing to award them a reduction in their sentence levels for their minor roles in the drug conspiracy.

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Manzanares and Castillo present two arguments on this issue. First, they contend that the government did not produce sufficient evidence to show that Castillo or Manzanares joined the conspiracy. Second, they highlight that the jury found Manzanares not guilty of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute and Castillo not guilty of aiding and abetting Manzanares, Gonzales, and Zacarias as proof of the paucity of evidence against them. As they interpret the verdict, the only way for the jury to acquit them of these charges was by accepting their claims at trial that they did not know about the marijuana. Thus, according to Manzanares and Castillo, if the government did not establish that they knew about the marijuana and did not present evidence of an agreement between them and the other conspiracy members, then there was insufficient evidence for the jury to find them guilty of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute.

A conspiracy is a combination of two or more people formed for the purpose of committing a criminal act through their joint efforts. See United States v. Larkins, 83 F.3d 162, 165 (7th Cir.1996); United States v. Rodriguez, 53 F.3d 1439, 1444 (7th Cir.1995). To prove that Castillo and Manzanares were members of the charged conspiracy, the government had to produce evidence that the conspiracy existed and that they knowingly agreed to join it. See United States v. Richardson, 130 F.3d 765, 772 (7th Cir.1997), cert. denied sub nom. Westmoreland v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 1324, 140 L.Ed.2d 486 (1998); United States v. Santos, 20 F.3d 280, 283 (7th Cir.1994). It may establish these elements through circumstantial evidence and any reasonable inferences drawn therefrom involving the defendants' relationship, overt acts, and overall conduct. See United States v. Navarrete, 125 F.3d 559, 562 (7th Cir.1997). One means by which the government can prove that a defendant joined the conspiracy is by combining the acts or presence of the defendants with " 'other evidence indicating that the presence or act was intended to advance the ends of the conspiracy.' " Id. (quoting United States v. Johnson-Dix, 54 F.3d 1295, 1302 (7th Cir.1995)). Because a jury convicted Castillo and Manzanares, we view the evidence and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the prosecution and reverse only if no rational trier of fact could have found them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Laurenzana, 113 F.3d 689, 692 (7th Cir.1997), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 118 S.Ct. 240, 139 L.Ed.2d 170 (1997).

The jury had ample evidence to conclude that Manzanares joined the conspiracy. The other members of the conspiracy repackaged the marijuana in front of Manzanares. Almost 115 pounds of marijuana were placed in his pickup, which he drove to Houston. While in Houston, the conspiracy members stayed at the home of Manzanares' sister. From Houston, Manzanares traveled to Dallas and Illinois with the marijuana in his pickup. Finally, under police questioning, Manzanares admitted that he was carrying marijuana in his pickup, that he was traveling with the other vehicle, that he knew the marijuana weighed over 100 pounds, and that they were traveling to Grand Rapids, Michigan with the drugs. By showing that Manzanares provided transportation and lodging services for the group while knowing he was transporting over 100 pounds of drugs, the government provided the jury with sufficient evidence to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Manzanares joined the conspiracy.

Similarly, the government presented more than sufficient...

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