Orantes v. State
| Decision Date | 22 May 1984 |
| Docket Number | Nos. AS-5,AS-298,s. AS-5 |
| Citation | 452 So.2d 68 |
| Parties | Pierre Cesar ORANTES and Salvatore Francis Vastola, Appellants, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Stephen N. Bernstein, Gainesville, for appellant Orantes.
Robert A. Harper, Jr., Tallahassee, for appellant Vastola.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and David P. Gauldin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Orantes and Vastola appeal their convictions of conspiracy to traffic in cannabis in violation of Sections 777.04 and 893.135, Florida Statutes (1981). They were charged with conspiring to possess in excess of 100 pounds of cannabis. We affirm.
In April, 1982, the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit (N.O.C.U.) of the Gainesville Police Department caused a civilian undercover operative, Ronald Hoover, to be placed in a residence near that of Arthur Gower, a suspected pilot for drug smugglers. Hoover began associating with Gower for the purpose of gaining his trust, the object being to determine whether Gower and his drug-dealing associates would purchase illicit drugs if offered. This type of operation is commonly known as a "reverse sting." Detective Crase of N.O.C.U. was to assume the role of a drug seller who had available to him a large quantity of cannabis.
On May 21, 1982, Hoover informed Gower that he knew a person (Crase) who had a large quantity of cannabis for sale. Subsequently, Gower returned a telephone call which Crase had placed to Gower. During that conversation and a succeeding telephone conversation that same day, Crase told Gower that he had a large quantity of cannabis which he needed to "unload." Gower expressed interest in purchasing the cannabis and they agreed to a meeting the following day, May 22, in Orlando, to be attended by Hoover, Crase and Gower. The meeting was held as planned at a Holiday Inn in Orlando. The room, which was rented by the investigating officers, was wired for electronic surveillance. At the meeting, they discussed the quantity which would be purchased, which quantity, at that time, varied between 1200 to 1600 pounds. During the meeting, Gower made several telephone calls in an effort to reach "his people" in Washington, D.C. Eventually, one of Gower's telephone calls was returned after which Gower advised Crase and Hoover that "his man" was flying to Orlando to meet with them. That man turned out to be the defendant Orantes.
By prearrangement, Orantes was met at the Orlando airport on May 23 by Gower and Hoover after which they proceeded to Gainesville. There, Hoover introduced Orantes to Crase over the telephone, and they arranged for Crase to show Orantes the cannabis that night at Hoover's residence. Crase checked out two bales of cannabis from the Gainesville Police Department property room. Hoover picked up Crase and they proceeded to Hoover's residence where they met with Orantes and Gower. During the ensuing conversation, Orantes acknowledged that he was experienced in this kind of thing. Crase showed Orantes a sample of the cannabis. Although Orantes expressed concern that it appeared dry, he indicated that "they" were interested in purchasing the cannabis. He did not yet know the exact quantity they would purchase and said that he would have to contact "his man." Orantes did say that they would agree to a price of $230 per pound. Orantes said that he was interested in dealing with Crase because some of his sources had been arrested. Orantes said that they liked to use automobiles in order to use back roads and avoid weigh stations.
The meeting ended with the understanding that Crase would call Orantes at midnight in order to give Orantes time to make contact with his man. Crase did call Orantes as planned and they discussed consummating the transaction. Later that evening, May 25, 1982, Orantes was observed picking up Vastola at the Gainesville airport. Orantes telephoned Crase and they arranged to meet at Hoover's residence. There, Crase, Orantes and Vastola went into a bedroom where Vastola examined a sample of the cannabis. He told Orantes, Crase pulled Orantes aside to determine whether Orantes was charging Vastola an additional fee over and above the previously negotiated $230 per pound. Orantes told Crase that there was no such fee arrangement between Vastola and him (Orantes).
The subject of conversation then turned to the mechanics of consummating the purchase. Vastola said that he had arranged for a man to drive from D.C. in an LTD with the $90,000 cash purchase price and that he would be arriving in a couple of hours. This was in the early morning hours of May 26. The meeting broke up and Crase left. He briefed other officers on the status of the investigation and went home. After resting a few hours, Crase telephoned Gower and was advised that everything was "go" and to be at Hoover's residence at 9:30 a.m. When Crase arrived at Hoover's residence, already present were Orantes, Vastola, Hoover and Gower. Vastola walked to a Ford LTD with a Washington, D.C. license tag, removed a briefcase from the trunk and brought it back inside the house. Vastola opened the briefcase and showed Crase $90,000 in cash contained in two brown paper bags.
They then decided to go to the "stash house" where the exchange would take place. Vastola and Orantes went in the LTD together with the money and followed Crase's vehicle. After traveling a short distance, Vastola and Orantes were stopped by surveillance officers and placed under arrest.
Appellants have raised numerous points on appeal, some of which points merit discussion. Appellants claim that the trial court erred in denying their motion for mistrial after Detective Crase, in violation of a pretrial ruling, characterized Orantes and Vastola as "partners." This occurred during Crase's testimony describing his conversation with Orantes when Crase was trying to determine whether Orantes was charging Vastola any fee over and above the negotiated $230 per pound purchase price. As previously mentioned in our summary of the testimony, Crase testified that Orantes told him there was no such fee or charge. Crase then volunteered his conclusion, "They were partners." In the absence of the jury, the court heard arguments on the defendants' motion for mistrial. Although Crase admitted that Orantes did not characterize his relationship with Vastola as that of a partnership, Crase testified that Orantes did say that he and Vastola "were in it together." Although the trial court denied the defendants' motion for mistrial, he did instruct the jury to disregard Crase's characterization of the relationship...
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...authorizing seizure of obscene materials was assailed both as facially invalid and unconstitutional as applied]. Orantes v. State, 452 So2d 68 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), pet. for rev. den, 461 So2d 115 (Fla.1984) (F.S. 893.135, the mandatory drug trafficking sentencing statute attacked on motion ......
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...II, the evidence established an agreement to commit the criminal offense and an intention to commit it. See, e.g., Orantes v. State, 452 So.2d 68, 70-71 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, 461 So.2d 115 (Fla.), review denied sub nom. Vastola v. State, 461 So.2d 116 (Fla.1984). The evidence on th......
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Wiggins v. State, AV-476
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