Henderson v. U.S., 86-1958-EA
| Decision Date | 06 April 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-1958-EA,86-1958-EA |
| Citation | 815 F.2d 1189 |
| Parties | 22 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1565 James Riley HENDERSON, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Hayward M. Battle, Little Rock, Ark., for appellant.
Robert J. Govar, Asst. U.S. Atty., Little Rock, Ark., for appellee.
Before BOWMAN and MAGILL, Circuit Judges, and HARPER, * Senior District Judge.
A grand jury indicted appellant Henderson on one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846, one count of perjury in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1623(a), and one count of subornation of perjury in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1622.
Henderson was tried by a jury on June 9 and 10, 1986, and convicted of all charges contained in the indictment. District Judge Henry Woods sentenced Henderson to a term of five years imprisonment on the conspiracy count, a consecutive term of three years imprisonment on the perjury count, and a concurrent term of three years on the subornation count. This appeal is taken from these convictions.
For reversal, Henderson contends that, (1) there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction for conspiracy to distribute cocaine; (2) the district court erred in admitting the testimony of John Achor, former attorney for Charlene Wilks; and (3) the district court erred in admitting Charlene Wilks' prior testimony given before the grand jury.
The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the Government, together with all reasonable inferences that may logically be drawn therefrom, is as follows: During January, 1983, Linda Saunders was working as a Customer Service Agent for Delta Airlines at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Detroit, Michigan. Part of her duties included accepting packages which customers wanted to send through Delta Airlines' ticket counter to ticket counter freight system. During the early morning hours of January 19, 1983, a slender black man approached Saunders while she was tending the ticket counter. The man informed Saunders that he wanted to send a package containing a wallet to an individual in Little Rock, Arkansas. Saunders testified that the man who presented this package for delivery was perspiring a lot and acting very nervous. This unidentified black man paid approximately $45.00 to ship the wallet to an individual identified on the Delta Airlines' special handling freight bill as "Spunky Wilks."
On January 25, 1983, the same unidentified black man again appeared at the Delta Airline ticket counter at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport during the early morning hours. The man again approached Saunders and inquired about sending a package from Detroit to Little Rock, Arkansas. The man informed Saunders that the package contained a sweater. Since Saunders believed that it seemed suspicious for anyone to be spending $45.00 to send a sweater from Detroit to Little Rock at midnight, she decided to turn the package over to her supervisor, Greg Albright. Albright took the package and had it examined by an X-ray machine. Based on this examination, Albright believed that the customer had misrepresented the contents of the package, and based upon this belief, he opened the package pursuant to the company policy of Delta Airlines. When the package was opened, Albright found two plastic packages containing a cream-colored powder substance.
Albright then called the local airport security, who in turn alerted the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). About an hour later, DEA Special Agent Thomas R. Anderson arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, contacting Albright upon his arrival. Albright showed Agent Anderson a package wrapped in gray masking tape which had previously been opened. The package contained a number of plastic bags containing a white powder substance. Agent Anderson field-tested the powder contained in the plastic bags and observed a positive reaction for cocaine. He took a sample of the powder from the bags for further testing purposes and then resealed the bags and re-packaged the parcel. He then contacted the DEA office in Little Rock, Arkansas and arranged to make a delivery of the suspected drugs through the normal freight channels of Delta Airlines.
Special Agent Robert D. Morris of the Little Rock DEA office received the information concerning the parcel's delivery from Detroit to Little Rock. Agent Morris was told that the package was addressed to Shirley Payne at 1249 State Street. Prior to the arrival of the package, Agent Morris attempted to verify the address specified on the freight bill. Agent Morris determined that the address written on the freight bill was non-existent, and was actually a part of the Philander Smith College campus in Little Rock.
The Little Rock DEA office subsequently assembled a surveillance team for the purpose of identifying the person who would come to the Little Rock Airport to pick up the package. Shortly after 11:00 a.m., a black woman, subsequently identified as Charlene Wilks, appeared at the Delta Airlines ticket counter at the Little Rock Airport and asked for a package from Detroit, Michigan. Wilks signed the name "Shirley Payne" to the freight bill of Delta Airlines and took possession of the package. Wilks was subsequently arrested by federal and...
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