U.S. v. Richards, Docket No. 01-1144(L).
| Citation | 302 F.3d 58 |
| Decision Date | 27 August 2002 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 01-1315(Con).,Docket No. 01-1314(Con).,Docket No. 01-1144(L). |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Horace RICHARDS, aka "Desmond Wolfe" and "Jimbo"; Fabian Anderson, aka "Wayne"; Judith Balfour, aka "Donna"; Rudolph Booth, aka "Shortman"; Gregory Brissett, aka "Starkey"; Desmond Brown, aka "D"; Ronald Clarke, aka "Dread"; Melvin Douglas; Tony Palmer, aka "Reginald Dumas" and "Spoonhead"; Everton Hamilton, aka "Father"; Desmond Heywood, aka "Mike" and "Springfield"; Delroy Howell, aka "Devon"; Damian Lazarus; Kevin Lazarus; Lenworth Lewis, aka "Dave"; Arminda Lopez, aka "Mindy"; Donovan Lue, aka "Rudeboy"; Richard Perrone; Murphy Rhoden, aka "Bashey"; Michael Robinson; Dennis Rowe, aka "Dicky"; Dawn Schwalb; Courtney Simms, aka "Royal" and "Royo"; Derek Stewart, aka "Scrooge"; Wayne Williams, aka "Penn," Defendants, Courtney Greenwood and Rudolph Anderson, aka "Pinky" and "Bo Pee," Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) |
Jeremiah Donovan, Old Saybrook, CT, for Defendant-Appellant Greenwood.
Michael G. Moore, Hartford, CT, for Defendant-Appellant Anderson.
David A. Ring, Assistant United States Attorney, Hartford, CT (John A. Danaher III, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut; Jeffrey A. Meyer, of counsel, on the brief), for Appellee.
Before: FEINBERG, KEARSE and CARDAMONE, Circuit Judges.
Defendants Courtney Greenwood and Rudolph Anderson appeal from judgments of conviction following separate jury trials on drug charges in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Chatigny, J.). Prior to his trial, Anderson also pleaded guilty to being unlawfully present in the United States after deportation. On appeal, Greenwood and Anderson challenge their respective convictions and sentences. For the reasons stated below, we affirm.
This case arises out of a 1998-1999 federal investigation of the drug trafficking activities of Horace Richards (aka "Desmond Wolfe"), a major Jamaican drug dealer who transported truckloads of marijuana from Texas to Connecticut. In connection with that investigation, a federal grand jury in the District of Connecticut returned an indictment in November 1999 charging 27 persons with multiple counts of drug trafficking and firearms offenses. Greenwood was charged in two counts with: (1) conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846; and (2) aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute, and the distribution of, marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Anderson was charged in one count with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 1000 kilograms or more of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 846.
In May 2000, the district court granted Greenwood's motion for a separate trial, and he proceeded to jury trial in his severed case in July 2000.
In April 2000, Anderson was additionally charged in a separate indictment with being unlawfully present in the United States after deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. The Government subsequently filed a notice that the enhanced penalty provisions of § 1326(b)(1) were applicable to the case because Anderson had a prior felony drug conviction. In January 2001, Anderson pleaded guilty to the § 1326 charge. In February 2001, Anderson proceeded to jury trial on the drug conspiracy charge.
At Greenwood's trial, Government witnesses established the following. In 1999, a federal task force led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated the drug trafficking activities of Richards. From July 1999 to October 1999, the FBI conducted court-authorized wiretaps on telephones used by Richards and Ronald Clarke (one of Richards's associates), as well as on a business telephone at Perrone Trucking, the company that Richards was using as a cover to transport the marijuana. During the course of the wiretaps, the FBI learned that Fabian Anderson ("Fabian"),1 who was not associated with Richards, planned to use a truck that he bought from Perrone to transport marijuana from Texas to Connecticut. This information came to light in part because agents heard Richards and Clarke discuss that Fabian was using one of Richards's drivers, Michael Robinson, to transport the load.
In the early morning of September 26, 1999, Connecticut State Police Troopers, along with federal agents, conducted a stop of Fabian's truck on a highway soon after it arrived in Connecticut. Robinson, who was driving the truck, consented to a search, and the officers found 85.62 kilograms of marijuana among a shipment of limes. Robinson began cooperating immediately and eventually arranged to meet Fabian at a location in Hartford, Connecticut to deliver the load. Soon after arriving at the location, Robinson recognized a silver Honda driving past them and told the officers that Fabian's partner, Greenwood, was in the car. A marked police car attempted to stop the car, but Greenwood, who was driving, tried to flee. He eventually lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a utility pole. He was arrested along with Fabian, a passenger in the car, who was apprehended after a 200-yard foot-chase.
Additionally, both Robinson and Fabian testified at the trial pursuant to plea and cooperation agreements. Robinson testified that he drove truckloads of marijuana for Richards and Fabian, and that when he met Fabian for the first time, Fabian introduced Greenwood to him as Fabian's "partner, Courtney." At that first meeting, Robinson explained that he had "pulled a load" for Richards, and Fabian told him that was "the same thing we do." About three weeks later, after making several legitimate trips, Robinson was asked by Fabian to make a drug-run to Texas, and Fabian gave Robinson $27,000 in cash to take with him. Fabian promised Robinson that he would meet him in Texas, and that if Fabian were unavailable, Robinson "must get in touch with Courtney [Greenwood], his partner," who would "take care of it." Meanwhile, without telling Fabian, Robinson also accepted around $5,000 to buy some marijuana for Ronald Clarke.
Robinson further testified that Fabian then obtained approximately 200 pounds of marijuana in Texas, about 18 pounds of which was for Clarke, even though Fabian was told it was for Robinson. After the truck was loaded in Texas, Fabian again told Robinson that he "must" make the delivery to "his partner, Courtney," if Fabian (who planned to meet the truck in Connecticut) did not return to Connecticut in time. While Robinson was on his way back to Connecticut, Greenwood called him on his cell phone. Greenwood told Robinson that Fabian had been stopped at the airport and asked if everything was alright with the truck. Robinson then spoke to Clarke and explained that he was instructed to deliver the marijuana to Greenwood in Connecticut. That conversation was intercepted by wiretap and played for the jury during Robinson's testimony.
Fabian testified that he first met Greenwood in Jamaica and met him again in Hartford in 1998, three years after Fabian started dealing in marijuana. At that time, Fabian gave Greenwood, free of charge, a half-pound of marijuana to sell. The two eventually became involved in marijuana trafficking together. Around April 1999, Fabian told Greenwood that he was thinking about buying his own truck so that he could operate independently from other dealers. At about the same time, Greenwood gave Fabian approximately $2,800 to reinvest in the next marijuana shipment. In August 1999, Fabian bought a truck from Rick Perrone for approximately $65,000.
Fabian also testified that (a) he told Robinson that he should contact Greenwood, Fabian's partner, if Fabian himself was not reachable; (b) Greenwood drove Fabian to the airport for his trip to Texas to obtain the marijuana; (c) he used the $2,800 that Greenwood had given him as part of the cash needed to buy the marijuana in Texas; and (d) he called Greenwood to let him know that everything was alright after he was released from custody at the airport and that Greenwood told him the truck was on its way.
Fabian further testified that, when the truck approached Hartford on September 26, Fabian and Greenwood drove in a red sports utility vehicle, which Fabian had rented to transport the marijuana, to meet Robinson. The vehicle contained a gun, which Greenwood had placed there earlier in the night. After spotting police cars at the Hartford meeting location, they left to switch cars, and returned to the scene in Greenwood's girlfriend's Honda. A police car tried to stop them as soon as they drove by, and Greenwood, who was driving, fled from the scene and crashed.
Greenwood did not testify at the trial, but defense counsel argued that Greenwood was an innocent dupe who was not associated with the marijuana operation. According to the defense, Greenwood was sought out by Fabian after the federal agents had arrested Robinson, because Fabian believed that Robinson had been robbed and Greenwood and his 1992 Honda would not attract the attention of the robbers. The defense further argued that Greenwood fled from the police because his visa had expired and he did not have a driver's license, and that Fabian was falsely accusing Greenwood in order to obtain a reduced sentence for cooperating.
As in Greenwood's trial, Government witnesses testified at Anderson's trial regarding background information about Richards's drug trafficking activities and the wiretaps in place as part of the federal investigation.
The Government's evidence also established that Anderson, who allegedly sold marijuana for Richards, was arrested in August 1999 on an outstanding...
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