U.S. v. Mangual-Santiago

• Citation: 562 F.3d 411
• Decision Date: 17 April 2009
• Docket Number: No. 07-1912.,07-1912.
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Walter MANGUAL-SANTIAGO, Defendant, Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

562 F.3d 411

UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Walter MANGUAL-SANTIAGO, Defendant, Appellant.

No. 07-1912.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard October 27, 2008.

Decided April 17, 2009.

Rafael Castro Lang, for appellant.

Desireé Laborde-Sanfiorenzo, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney, Nelson Pérez-Sosa, Assistant United States Attorney, and Thomas F. Klumper, Assistant United States Attorney, were on brief for appellee.

Before TORRUELLA and HOWARD, Circuit Judges, and DiCLERICO,^* District Judge.

DICLERICO, District Judge.

Appellant Walter Mangual-Santiago ("Mangual") was convicted after a jury trial of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin (Count One) and to commit money laundering (Count Five). He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 324 months. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Mangual appeals his conviction under Count One, arguing that while he was charged and convicted of a single conspiracy, the evidence at trial showed that there were two separate conspiracies and that prosecution for the first conspiracy was barred by the five-year statute of limitations under 18 U.S.C. § 3282. On that ground, he contends that the court erred by denying his motions for acquittal and by failing to give a multiple conspiracies instruction to the jury. Mangual further challenges his convictions under Counts One and Five, arguing that the court abused its discretion by admitting certain testimony and evidence, by denying his request for a continuance, and by denying his motion to dismiss the indictment based on the government's delay in bringing him before a federal magistrate.

I.

A. Background Facts

The government's evidence consisted of the testimony from the following witnesses: Antonio Robles Ramos ("Antonio"), a coconspirator; Samuel Robles Ramos ("Samuel"), a coconspirator and Antonio's brother; Fidel Hernandez Mattei ("Fidel"), a coconspirator and a cousin of the Robles';¹ Hilario Marrero Rivera ("Marrero"), a sergeant with the Ponce Puerto Rico, Drug Squad; Eddie Vidal-Gil, an officer with the Puerto Rico Police Department and an agent of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency task force in Ponce; Angel Pardo ("Pardo"), an officer with the Orlando, Florida, Police Department and an agent of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Orlando; and Alberto Borelli Irizarry ("Borelli"), an internal investigator for Western Bank. Mangual did not present any evidence or call any witnesses at trial.

The facts are recited in the light most favorable to the verdicts being appealed. United States v. Sanchez-Badillo, 540 F.3d 24, 27 (1st Cir.2008). Antonio met Mangual in October of 1991, through Fernando Perez ("Perez"), a mutual acquaintance, when Antonio provided Mangual with two kilograms ("kilos") of cocaine. Mangual sold the cocaine and made cash payments to Antonio. Following this transaction, Antonio and Perez began working together to import cocaine into Puerto Rico for distribution. They worked with an individual, known only as "Mr. Jockey," who had cocaine connections in Columbia.

Antonio would travel by boat to a specified location off the coast of Puerto Rico, where planes from Columbia would drop bales of cocaine into the ocean. Antonio would retrieve the bales from the water and transport them to the mainland where Perez or Samuel, Antonio's brother, would pick up the cocaine and store it until they received further delivery instructions from Mr. Jockey. On one pick-up in 1993, Antonio met with Mangual to sell him 200 kilos of cocaine, but Mangual refused to purchase the kilos because he had obtained a cheaper price elsewhere. During this time, Antonio was aware that Mangual operated a separate drug point and had other drug suppliers.

On October 7, 1993, Sergeant Marrero and other Puerto Rico police officers executed a search warrant at an apartment in Ponce. The warrant was the result of an investigation conducted by the Puerto Rico Police Department regarding the contents of an apartment at which Mangual and another individual, Melvin Alvarez, had been staying. The officers found Mangual inside the apartment, along with three quarters of a kilo of cocaine, a scale, $1,000 in cash, jewelry, marijuana, and a loaded pistol. Based on the items found during the search, Mangual was convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. He was released in 1996.

While Mangual was in jail, Antonio and Perez continued their drug trafficking operations, importing at least 500 kilos of cocaine per year. In 1994, Antonio's cousins, Fidel and Carlos Hernandez Mattei ("Carlos"), sold forty kilos of cocaine to Antonio, and thereafter became members of his drug trafficking organization.

From the summer of 1994 until October of 1995, Antonio testified that he and Perez were not involved in any drug transactions. In late 1995, Perez introduced Antonio to Aureliano and Elliot Giraud Pinero (the "Girauds"), brothers who had cocaine connections in Columbia. Antonio and his organization, including his brothers, Samuel and David Robles Ramos ("David"), his cousins, Fidel and Carlos, and other individuals, worked with the Girauds to import cocaine into Puerto Rico. While working with the Girauds, Antonio continued to coordinate the cocaine pick-ups. In 1998, Antonio began working with the Girauds to transport cocaine from Puerto Rico to the United States mainland.

In 1996, Mangual was released from prison, and he approached Antonio for work. Due to his recent incarceration, he was having problems with his other suppliers and his drug point. Antonio agreed to sell Mangual two kilos of cocaine. Mangual sold the cocaine and made payments to Antonio in cash. Later that year, Antonio began selling heroin to Mangual. From December of 1996 until March of 1997, Mangual purchased a minimum of four kilos of heroin from Antonio on approximately ten separate occasions, paying Antonio in cash each time. On at least three occasions, Samuel delivered the heroin directly to Mangual.

In 1997, Antonio received an order from the Girauds to organize the pick-up and distribution of a shipment of 800 kilos of cocaine from Columbia, which would be dropped at sea. Samuel, Mangual, and several other individuals were involved in this pick-up. Through Antonio, the Girauds gave Mangual cash, which he used to purchase a boat and engines. The cocaine pick-up was never completed, however, because the captain and crew were unable to find the pick-up site at sea.

In June of 1998, the Girauds and Antonio transported a shipment of cocaine through Jacksonville, Florida, to New York. They left twenty-three kilos of cocaine in Jacksonville, and Antonio offered to sell them to Mangual. Samuel, Elliot Giraud, and another individual met Mangual in Florida, agreed to the deal, and sold him the cocaine. Mangual paid for the cocaine in cash.

Antonio testified at trial that he funneled the money he was receiving from drug trafficking through a business he and David ran, for purposes of laundering the money. He also testified that as far as he was aware, Mangual's only other source of income, other than drug trafficking, was through his tire business, operated out of his home in La Cuarta, Puerto Rico, and through cockfighting. Through 1999, Antonio and Mangual also spent large amounts of cash earned from drug trafficking at cockfights, on cars, Jetskis, and in bars and clubs.

B. Procedural History

In 1999, a member of Antonio's organization provided information to the government regarding the drug trafficking activities of Antonio, Samuel, Fidel, and forty-seven other individuals, which ultimately led to their indictment and arrest on charges of drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, and money laundering. Mangual was not named in the indictment. Antonio, Samuel, and Fidel pled guilty and were sentenced to terms of imprisonment. In 2000, Antonio and Samuel each entered into a cooperation agreement with the government, and their sentences were reduced upon motions from the government. The information provided by them led to indictments against Mangual, the Girauds, David, and fifteen other individuals.

A sealed indictment was returned against Mangual on December 16, 2003, and an arrest warrant was issued. The indictment was unsealed on March 3, 2004. Efforts to arrest Mangual were unsuccessful, and he was declared a fugitive from justice until he was apprehended on February 28, 2006, in Orlando, Florida, at a house which he was renting. Agent Pardo, in his capacity as an agent of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, participated in Mangual's arrest. On Mangual's person, officers found $2,500 in cash, several false identifications, and credit cards with false names. A search of Mangual's house produced marijuana, cocaine, scales, and $10,000 in cash.

Mangual was transferred to the state authorities for prosecution under Florida law as a result of the drugs found during his arrest. He ultimately pled guilty to the state charges and was sentenced on June 21, 2006, to time served. On June 23, 2006, 110 days after his arrest, he was taken before a federal magistrate in Orlando for his initial appearance on the federal conspiracy charges and a public defender was appointed to represent him for the proceedings in Orlando.

Mangual was removed to Puerto Rico and made his initial appearance in the Puerto Rico district court on August 3, 2006, at which he pled not guilty to the charges against him. The court appointed counsel on August 7, 2006, and scheduled trial for November of 2006. On November 9, 2006, Mangual filed a pro se motion asking that his court-appointed counsel be removed and requesting a continuance so that he could hire new counsel. Following a hearing, the court granted his motion, gave Mangual until December 15 to hire new counsel, and rescheduled the trial to January 8, 2007. Mangual's new counsel filed his appearance on...