U.S. v. Maejia

Decision Date22 March 1991
Docket NumberNo. 90-1919,90-1919
Citation928 F.2d 810
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Appellee v. Joine Hose MAEJIA, a/k/a Luis Fernando Franco Foronda, a/k/a "J.J." a/k/a John Doe and Rhonda Jeanne Meier, Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Joseph R. Lopez, Chicago, Ill., for appellant.

William C. Adair, Little Rock, Ark., for appellee.

Before JOHN R. GIBSON and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges, and SACHS, * District Judge.

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge.

Joine Hose Maejia appeals from a judgment of conviction following a jury trial 1 in which he was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846 (1988), one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841(a)(1) and 841(b) (1988), and one count of possession of a firearm in relation to drug trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c)(1) (1988).

For reversal of his conviction Maejia argues that: (1) there was insufficient evidence to establish his participation in a conspiracy; (2) inadmissable hearsay was admitted under the coconspirator exception to the hearsay rule; (3) failure of the government to disclose certain documents prior to trial violated the rule of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); (4) incriminating evidence produced at trial was discovered as a direct result of a pretextual automobile stop in violation of the Fourth Amendment; and (5) a defective search warrant led to the discovery of 6.6 pounds of cocaine. He also attacks his sentence, arguing that the District Court incorrectly characterized him as an "organizer," resulting in an unwarranted two-point enhancement under the sentencing guidelines. We affirm the convictions and the sentence.

I.

On January 9, 1990, officers of the West Memphis, Arkansas, Police Department were called by Memphis, Tennessee, police officers and told of potential drug trafficking in West Memphis. The Memphis, Tennessee, police had interrogated one Laracuente at the Memphis Airport. Laracuente was found carrying a one-way ticket to Chicago and $2,000 hidden in his boots. He explained that he had assisted Maejia and a woman named Meier in bringing a gold Mazda sports car and red pick-up truck to the West Memphis area. Laracuente said that the money was payment for driving the pick-up truck to the Memphis area from Illinois while Maejia and Meier followed in the gold Mazda. He informed the officers that Maejia and Meier could be found at the Super 8 Motel in West Memphis.

Officers Crabtree, Sudbury, and Miller of the Narcotics Squad of the West Memphis Criminal Investigation Division drove to the Super 8 Motel in an unmarked police car. The manager of the Super 8 Motel informed the officers that she had called the police earlier because she thought she had observed a drug transaction involving the suspects. During the conversation with the manager, the officers observed Maejia and Meier leave the parking lot of the Super 8 Motel in the gold Mazda. Officers Crabtree and Miller followed the Mazda in their unmarked police car.

Officer Miller radioed a request for another officer to assist in the surveillance. Officer Leggett was on patrol in the area in his marked police car. Officer Miller informed Leggett that the gold Mazda had allegedly been used in the transportation of drugs into the area. As Officer Leggett followed the gold Mazda, he observed the car veer from the center line to the edge of the road and back approximately four times in less than one mile. Officer Leggett concluded that this erratic driving was not normal and suspected that the driver was under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. He decided to stop the car and investigate his suspicion. As Officer Leggett turned on his flashers, the gold Mazda pulled into the parking lot of a Motel 6. Officer Leggett pulled up facing the driver's side of the gold Mazda while Officers Crabtree and Miller pulled in on the passenger side.

The driver, Meier, got out of the car and approached Officer Leggett. At the same time, Officer Crabtree directed Maejia to exit the car. Maejia got out of the car with both hands in his jacket pockets. When instructed to remove his hands from his pockets, Maejia did not respond. Officer Crabtree then approached Maejia and pulled Maejia's hands out of his pockets. Some paper items fell to the ground including a "pyramid paper," which is a folded piece of paper that is commonly used to hold drugs. One of the papers contained Valium tablets, a schedule IV controlled substance.

Officer Miller asked Meier for permission to search the car (which in fact was hers) and she consented. The search revealed only a suitcase. When asked, Meier informed the officers that it was not her suitcase. Maejia indicated that it was not his suitcase either. The officers then had a police dog, trained to detect narcotics, brought to the scene. The dog did not react to the interior of the car, but when shown the suitcase the dog immediately alerted. The suitcase was opened and $7,950 in currency, a cocked 9mm pistol with 16 rounds, and a loaded .25 caliber pistol were discovered. Maejia was arrested and later charged with the unlawful possession of a controlled substance. Meier was not charged and was released from custody.

Soon after Meier's release, the police learned from a confidential informant that she had contacted a boyfriend in Milwaukee and had apprised him that Maejia had been apprehended and that the police had not discovered the cocaine in the red pick-up truck, which was parked at the Motel 6. Meier sought to persuade the man to help transport the cocaine to Milwaukee by offering to split the profits from its sale. Armed with this information, the police arrested Meier.

The next day the trained police dog was again brought to the Motel 6. The dog alerted on a tool box connected to the bed of the red pick-up truck. A search warrant was issued and executed, with the police discovering three kilos of cocaine in the tool box. The police then impounded the truck. During the ensuing inventory search, receipts bearing Maejia's signature for repairs to the truck were found in its glove compartment. The keys to the truck later were discovered in a small hole in the wall of the jail cell to which Maejia was taken immediately after his arrest.

II.

Maejia's first argument is that the evidence laid before the jury was insufficient to establish a conspiracy. His conviction must be upheld if, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government and giving the government the benefit of all reasonable inferences, we conclude that a reasonable fact-finder could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Marin-Cifuentes, 866 F.2d 988, 992 (8th Cir.1989).

To convict Maejia of conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846 (1988), the government had to prove that he entered into an agreement with at least one other person and that the agreement had as its objective a violation of the law. Henderson v. United States, 815 F.2d 1189, 1191 (8th Cir.1987). Section 846 does not require proof of an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. United States v. Covos, 872 F.2d 805, 810 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 124, 107 L.Ed.2d 85 (1989). "The independent evidence showing a conspiracy may be direct or totally circumstantial." United States v. Jankowski, 713 F.2d 394, 396 (8th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1051, 104 S.Ct. 732, 79 L.Ed.2d 192 (1984). "The nature of the offense of conspiracy with its necessary aspect of secrecy often requires that the agreement be implied from the surrounding circumstances." United States v. Gooden, 892 F.2d 725, 729 (8th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2594, 110 L.Ed.2d 274 (1990).

Meier testified that she had known Maejia for two and a half years and had taken drugs with him. She testified that Maejia called her at home in Milwaukee and asked her to go out of town with him. She met Maejia and Laracuente at the "Oasis" truck stop near the Illinois-Wisconsin border. There, she agreed to drive Maejia to Memphis, Tennessee (a journey of over five hundred miles), while Laracuente followed in Maejia's truck.

Initially, Meier denied any knowledge of the cocaine in the truck. In her testimony, however, Meier admitted calling a boyfriend in Milwaukee and telling him that the police had arrested Maejia but that they had failed to discover the cocaine in the red pick-up truck. She asked her friend to come to Memphis to help her transport the cocaine to Milwaukee and offered to split the profits from its sale. Based on her own statements, it is clear that Meier knew of the cocaine in the truck.

Meier also testified that prior to Maejia's arrest, she and Maejia went to a parking lot in Memphis where a man gave Maejia $7950 in cash. She testified that after Maejia's arrest, she tried to contact another man who owed Maejia eleven thousand dollars so that she could collect the money, hire an attorney for Maejia, and return to her home in Milwaukee. Meier's testimony clearly indicates that Meier knew of Maejia's extensive involvement with drug trafficking. She not only knew of the cocaine in the truck, but also agreed to provide Maejia the means to transport the cocaine without his being directly connected to it. It readily can be inferred that Maejia and Meier were well aware that if trouble ensued between Laracuente and law enforcement, they could simply drive on in the safety of Meier's car and thus avoid arrest.

The Super 8 Motel receipts and clerk's testimony indicated that when the trio arrived late in the evening Maejia, using the pseudonym Ramiro Gastron, rented two motel rooms, one for Maejia and Meier and the other for Laracuente. That evening, Maejia had Meier go to Laracuente's room to get the keys to the truck. The next day, Maejia had Laracuente move the truck to another motel and he paid...

To continue reading

Request your trial
33 cases
  • State v. Lopez
    • United States
    • Utah Supreme Court
    • April 25, 1994
    ...determining the legitimacy of police conduct under the Fourth Amendment, rather than an officer's state of mind"); United States v. Maejia, 928 F.2d 810, 814-15 (8th Cir.1991) (otherwise valid traffic stop based on "discrete and objectively reasonable grounds" does not "become unreasonable ......
  • Emory v. State
    • United States
    • Court of Special Appeals of Maryland
    • September 1, 1993
    ...indicia of the dog's reliability. 677 F.2d at 838 n. 8. See also United States v. Daniel, 982 F.2d 146 (5th Cir.1993); United States v. Maejia, 928 F.2d 810 (8th Cir.1991); United States v. Massac, 867 F.2d 174 (3d Cir.1989); and Commonwealth v. Johnston, 515 Pa. 454, 530 A.2d 74 Page 637 T......
  • State v. Nguyen
    • United States
    • Ohio Court of Appeals
    • June 4, 2004
    ...States v. Sundby (C.A.8, 1999), 186 F.3d 873, 876; United States v. Delaney (C.A.8, 1995), 52 F.3d 182, 188-189; United States v. Maejia (C.A.8, 1991), 928 F.2d 810, 815. 52 United States v. Lingenfelter (C.A.9, 1993), 997 F.2d 632, 639; United States v. Spetz (C.A.9, 1983), 721 F.2d 1457, ......
  • US v. Thomas
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Texas
    • March 12, 1992
    ...35, 83 S.Ct. at 1631 (plurality opinion). Accord United States v. Wynn, 544 F.2d 786, 788 (5th Cir.1978). 6 E.g., United States v. Maejia, 928 F.2d 810, 815 (8th Cir.1991); United States v. Soule, 908 F.2d 1032, 1039 n. 13 (1st Cir.1990); United States v. Rowell, 903 F.2d 899, 901-02 (2nd C......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT