U.S. v. Allen, 78-1715

• Decision Date: 10 April 1979
• Docket Number: No. 78-1715,78-1715
• Citation: 596 F.2d 227
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joseph ALLEN, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 227

596 F.2d 227

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joseph ALLEN, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 78-1715.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Jan. 22, 1979.

Decided April 10, 1979.

Michael P. Seng, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellant.

Scott Turow, Asst. U. S. Atty., Chicago, Ill, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before PELL, Circuit Judge, MARKEY, Chief Judge, ^* and WOOD, Circuit Judge.

HARLINGTON WOOD, Jr., Circuit Judge.

On March 29, 1977, the grand jury returned a two count indictment against the defendant Joseph Allen. ¹ The first count charged him with conspiring in September 1976 to steal approximately 44,000 pounds of beef from an interstate shipment in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. The second count alleged that Allen embezzled goods and chattels of a value exceeding $100.00 from an interstate shipment in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 659. After a three day trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty on both counts. ² The defendant questions the sufficiency of the evidence, the jury instructions, the indictment, and the propriety of the sentence. We affirm.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

The evidence, briefly, was as follows. Joseph Allen was a truck driver for Coldway Express Co., a common carrier of interstate products. Codefendant, Joseph Taylor, was a dock hand for Gridley-Maxon, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler located on the south side of Chicago. In September 1976 Allen and Taylor had a discussion in which Allen asked Taylor if he knew anyone who would be interested in a truckload of meat. Taylor said that he would check on the matter. The following week Taylor saw Anthony Marino, a restauranteur from Wisconsin who shopped at Gridley-Maxon for fresh vegetables, and asked him if he would be interested in buying a shipment of meat. Marino answered, "Yes." The following Saturday Taylor relayed the information to Allen, who said, "Good. When I get one, I'll let you know." Later that month, Allen informed Taylor that he "had a load of meat" and that Taylor should "get in touch" with Marino. The following day Allen and Taylor met and proceeded together to Irene Perkins' residence. With Perkins, Allen's girlfriend, present, a call was placed to Marino, who rejected the shipment explaining he needed only "boxed beef" and not the lamb offered along with beef. Coldway Express Co. records show that in September a shipment of beef and lamb was destined for Washington, D.C. driven by Allen. It was not long, however, before Allen could fill Marino's order. Coldway Express Co. records show that later on September 24, 1976, the carrier assigned Allen to drive a load of beef to the Washington, D.C. area. The wholesale value of the shipment was $61,404.37.

After the truck was loaded, Allen contacted Taylor. "He told me to come over," Taylor testified, "he had a straight load of beef." From Perkins' apartment, Allen and Taylor phoned Marino. After some negotiations between Allen and Marino, Marino agreed to pay Allen $20,000 in cash. They planned a delivery that night. After the call Allen instructed Taylor to drive his own car to Wisconsin to pick up the cash. Allen told Taylor to expect two black men to be driving the truck of beef followed by another car. Later Allen called Taylor and notified him that he would not be talking with him again but that "his wife would." Near midnight the truck arrived at Marino's restaurant. Taylor did not recognize the persons driving the truck or the following car. The truck was unloaded and the payoff of $20,000 was made. Taylor returned to Chicago with the cash. Taylor then received a phone call from a woman identifying herself as "Joe's wife," who instructed him to bring the money to a laundromat, located half a block from Perkins' apartment. Meeting Perkins there, Taylor retained $3,000 for himself and handed Perkins $17,000. Taylor subsequently had a phone conversation with Marino about the beef during which he handed the phone to the defendant who attempted to satisfy Marino that the meat was not stolen. Allen and Marino never met each other personally during this transaction. Telephone company records confirm the series of calls.

Taylor and Marino both testified for the government. Their credibility is attacked by the defendant on the basis that they both participated in the conspiracy. The jury resolved the credibility issue against the defendant and we see no reason to disturb it. United States v. Holleman, 575 F.2d 139 (7th Cir. 1978); United States v. Isaacs, 493 F.2d 1124 (7th Cir.), Cert. denied, 417 U.S. 976, 94 S.Ct. 3183, 41 L.Ed.2d 1146 (1974). Substantial evidence supports the jury's verdict; it fully deserves to be sustained. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942).

II. The Instructions

First the defendant complains about the instruction defining reasonable doubt for the jury as being confusing and misleading. The court instructed the jury:

A reasonable doubt is what the term implies: a doubt founded on reason. It does not mean a doubt that may be purely speculative. It means simply an honest doubt that is based on reason and appeals to reason.

The defendant instead tendered an instruction which explained:

A reasonable doubt is a doubt based on reason and common sense the kind of doubt that would make a reasonable person hesitate to act. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt must, therefore, be proof of such a convincing character that a reasonable person would not hesitate to rely and act upon it in the most important of his affairs.

If the given instruction was confusing and misleading we likewise see little illumination in defendant's tendered instruction. The identical instruction as given has been previously found not to be error although its use was not encouraged. United States v. Loman, 551 F.2d 164 (7th Cir.), Cert. denied, 433 U.S. 912, 97 S.Ct. 2982, 53 L.Ed.2d 1097 (1977). We have found no definitions of reasonable doubt which may reasonably help explain its meaning to the jury. Reasonable doubt may be better left to speak for itself. United States v. Larson, 581 F.2d 664 (7th Cir. 1978); United States v. Lawson, 507 F.2d 433 (7th Cir. 1974), Cert. denied, 420 U.S. 1004, 95 S.Ct. 1446, 43 L.Ed.2d 762 (1975).

Next defendant objects to the conspiracy instruction which was given in preference to the one tendered by him. He also objects that although the trial judge had indicated that he would caution the jury from time to time about the limitations on the use of alleged co-conspirators hearsay he failed to do so. On this latter aspect our holding in United States v. Santiago,582 F.2d 1128 (7th Cir. 1978), decided after the trial of the present case, obviates the necessity for interruptions by the judge to caution the jury during the trial. It is now contemplated that the trial judge outside the presence of the jury will make the preliminary determination regarding the existence of the conspiracy and defendant's participation in it in accordance with Federal Rule of Evidence 104(a). The trial judge did not make a specific determination based on a preponderance of the evidence as Santiago has suggested. Defendant does not assist us in identifying the particular prejudicial co-conspirator hearsay to which he now objects. However, testimony of that nature played a very minor role in this case. The existence of the conspiracy and defendant's leading part in it were adequately evidenced by the defendant's own admissions: the solicitation of Taylor to find a buyer for a load of beef, the telephone negotiations with Marino, his dispatch of Taylor to Wisconsin to collect the money and his later phone call to convince Marino that the beef was not stolen. There were in addition the phone and shipping company records and other circumstantial evidence. The absence of a specific finding by the trial judge in accordance with Santiago, although an implied finding may be gleaned from the record, is harmless error in the narrow circumstances of this case. It is apparent in the record that the trial judge fully understood the requirement for independent evidence. We note also the total failure of the defendant to remind the court to give the desired cautionary instructions at the appropriate times.

The conspiracy instruction given at the close of the case omitted that part of the conspiracy instruction which was customary before Santiago to the effect that co-conspirator statements could not be considered against Allen until the jurors were convinced by independent proof that a conspiracy existed and that defendant had participated in it. Defendant has more faith in the jury being able to somehow abide by that abnormal command than we do, but in accordance with our views expressed in Santiago as applied to the particular circumstance of this case we find no necessity for the full former instruction and therefore no reversible error. Where the totality of the instructions as given and the overall trial procedures were fair, along with substantial evidence of guilt, reversal is not required because of a questionable portion of an instruction. United States v. Shaffner, 524 F.2d 1021 (7th Cir. 1975), Cert. denied, 424 U.S. 920, 96 S.Ct. 1126, 47 L.Ed.2d 327 (1976).

III. The Indictment Content

Defendant complains that although the indictment alleged the existence of a conspiracy from "on or about" a certain time period that one alleged overt act which occurred two days later should have been stricken, but was not. The "on or about" language of the indictment sufficiently included the later overt act within its scope.

IV. The Court's Comments at Sentencing

Allen contends that comments made by the district court judge at the sentencing hearing indicated an impermissible intent on the part of the judge to penalize the defendant for the assertion of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. ³

The defendant has some basis for questioning portions of the judge's remarks as reflecting adversely upon the defendant...