U.S. v. Andrus

• Decision Date: 22 October 1985
• Docket Number: Nos. 82-2403,s. 82-2403
• Parties: 19 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 296 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Louis C. ANDRUS, George E. Collett, William J. Lutson, Billy Ray Whittington, and Larry Thomas Whittington, Defendants-Appellants. to 82-2407.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 825

775 F.2d 825

19 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 296

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Louis C. ANDRUS, George E. Collett, William J. Lutson, Billy Ray Whittington, and Larry Thomas Whittington Defendants-Appellants.

Nos. 82-2403 to 82-2407.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Oct. 22, 1985.

John E. Gambill, Rantoul, Ill., Richard Parsons, Peoria, Ill., James M. Murphy, Dallas, Tex., Todd M. Tennant, Dobbins, Fraker, Tennatn, Joy & Perlstein, Champaign, Ill., Michael S. Meza, Cerritos, Cal., for defendants-appellants.

Frances C. Hulin, U.S. Atty's Office, Danville, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before ESCHBACH and FLAUM, Circuit Judges, and MARSHALL, District Judge. ^*

PRENTICE H. MARSHALL, District Judge.

After a joint three week trial, a jury convicted defendants Louis C. Andrus, George E. Collett, William J. Lutson, Billy Ray Whittington (Bill), and Larry Thomas Whittington (Tom) of conspiring to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846 (1982). Collett was also found guilty of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and carrying a firearm during the commission of a felony in violation of id. Sec. 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c)(2) (1982). Simply stated, the government proved that Andrus supplied cocaine to Collett and Lutson who sold it to Tom and Bill Whittington for distribution. None of the defendants testified at trial. The indictment also charged Cathie Becker and Ted Howard as members of the conspiracy. Becker pleaded guilty and testified at trial against the defendants. Howard was a fugitive at the time of trial.

The conspiracy spanned from September, 1981 to January, 1982. In October, 1981 a confidential informant, to whom the government refers as Double X, gave the California Department of Justice information about some of the defendants, which was used to obtain state court authorization to place a transponder on an airplane owned by some of the defendants and used to transport cocaine. Later, in December, 1981, the government enlisted the aid of two other informants, Leland Mansuetti and Karla Mitchell, in its investigation of the case. Mansuetti and Mitchell had participated in the conspiracy until December, 1981. They continued their association with the defendants and later testified at trial against them. They were not indicted.

As appears later, the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged and so we view it in the light most favorable to the government. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942).

Karla Mitchell met William Lutson in September, 1980. The following summer, Mitchell met Lee Mansuetti and introduced him to Lutson. Lutson and Mansuetti saw each other regularly, and Lutson hired Mansuetti as a pilot for Lutson and Collett. After September, 1981 Mansuetti flew Mitchell, Collett, and Lutson on numerous trips from California to the midwest to purchase cocaine from Louis Andrus and then flew them back to California to sell the cocaine to Tom and Bill Whittington for distribution.

In September, 1981 Mansuetti flew Mitchell and Lutson from Auburn, California to Kankakee, Illinois in a rented plane. Collett picked them up at the airport in Kankakee. Mansuetti and Mitchell returned to California that day. Collett and Lutson returned to California sometime later. Three or four days later, Mansuetti flew Mitchell, Collett, and Lutson to Porterville, California to deliver twenty ounces of cocaine that Collett had hidden in his boots.

On October 2, Mansuetti flew Mitchell and Collett to Kankakee and on to Paducah, Kentucky. Collett told Mansuetti the trip was "to see Louis and pick up more cocaine from him." Mansuetti flew Mitchell and Collett back to South Lake Tahoe, California where they picked up Lutson. They then flew on to Porterville. There, Collett phoned someone and had the person pick him up at the airport. The group stayed in Porterville only a few hours before flying back to South Lake Tahoe.

Later in October, 1981 Mansuetti and Mitchell flew back to Porterville. They called Bill Whittington and asked him to pick them up at the airport. Bill and Collett did pick them up and took them to Bill's house. It was on that trip that Mitchell and Mansuetti met Bill. At Bill's house, Collett, Lutson, and a woman sat at the kitchen table. Collett gave Bill some cocaine in exchange for some money. Several people stopped by Bill's house, went to the back room with Bill, and then left.

Around October 12, Mansuetti, Collett, and Lutson purchased a seven person plane that the group used on several trips transporting cocaine.

During the second or third week in October, Mansuetti piloted Lutson, Collett, and Mitchell to Porterville. Bill met them at the airport and took them to his house. Ted Howard, Tom Whittington, and a woman were there. Everyone but Mansuetti sat around the kitchen table snorting cocaine and talking. The people at the table talked about the cocaine business. Bill told Collett that he had lots of buyers for cocaine. Collett responded that he could supply Bill with as much cocaine as Bill would ever need and that he would be willing to front Bill an amount of cocaine equivalent to what Bill actually paid for. Bill introduced Tom to Collett, Lutson, and Mitchell. Bill said that Tom would be taking over the business while Bill was away. Tom did not respond to Bill's statement.

On October 23, Mansuetti flew Collett and Lutson to Sevierville, Kentucky. They picked up some more cocaine from Louie and headed back to California.

In November Mansuetti flew Mitchell, Collett, and Lutson to Boca Raton, Florida. Lutson called Cathie Becker (the defendant who pleaded guilty and testified) in South Lake Tahoe. Becker then flew to Bakersfield. At the Bakersfield airport, she met Ted Howard who gave her a suitcase with $20,000 in cash. Becker flew to Florida where she met Collett, Lutson, Mansuetti, and Mitchell. Becker gave Collett $15,000.

Mansuetti flew Collett, Lutson, Mitchell, and Becker to South Lake Tahoe. They went to Becker's home where Lutson, Collett, and Mansuetti weighed some cocaine and prepared it for delivery. Lutson, Collett, Mitchell, and Mansuetti left for Bakersfield to meet Tom. They checked into a hotel. Tom met them in their room. Lutson and Collett showed Tom some cocaine. Lutson, Collett, and Tom left. A few hours later, they returned to the room with a large sum of money. Mitchell helped Collett count some of the money. She counted $5,000. On two other occasions, Collett, Lutson, Mansuetti, and Mitchell flew to Porterville to meet with Tom at the motel.

Also in November, Mansuetti flew Collett to Detroit, Michigan, where Collett said he picked up nine ounces of cocaine from Louie. Mansuetti flew Collett on to Kankakee, Illinois. After a few days, Mansuetti flew to Denver, picked up Lutson, and returned to Illinois. They stayed at Lutson's house in Dwight, Illinois. Later, Mansuetti flew Lutson to Kankakee where they picked up Collett and flew to Paducah, Kentucky to pick up some more cocaine from Louie.

Mansuetti and Mitchell spent Thanksgiving with Mitchell's family in Texas. They then returned to California. From then on, Mansuetti flew only local flights because Collett and Lutson were short of money and they had trouble making payments on the plane they had earlier purchased. In December, 1981, the man who had sold them the plane agreed to trade a smaller plane for the seven person plane.

On December 5 or 6, Mansuetti and Mitchell were in a motel room in Auburn, California. Two agents of the California Department of Justice, Chuck Jones and Stuart Till, appeared at their door and asked Mansuetti to accompany them to their office. Mansuetti went with them and talked to them. Thus began Mansuetti and Mitchell's cooperation. Mitchell and Mansuetti met with the agents several times after that night. Mansuetti gave them receipts he had saved for gas for the airplane, hotels, and automobile rentals during the time he worked for Collett and Lutson.

On December 15 Lutson and Collett chartered a flight from Rusk Aviation Company in Kankakee to Paducah, Kentucky. Two Kentucky State Police officers watched Collett and Lutson after they left the plane in Paducah. They took a cab to the Holiday Inn. Collett got out of the cab carrying a satchel and walked to a blue car driven by Andrus. He got into Andrus' car, got out of the car, and got back into the cab.

The next day, an officer of the Illinois Division of Criminal Investigation saw Collett and Lutson get off a plane in Kankakee. They drove to a farm owned by a man named Louis Sternberg and drove their car into a metal building on the farm. They then drove to the Alsip Inn where Collett dropped Lutson off.

On January 10, 1982 Mitchell and Mansuetti took undercover agent Wayne Tellis of the California Department of Justice to meet Lutson, who was staying at the Day's Inn in Sacramento. Tellis posed as a person interested in purchasing cocaine. After meeting Lutson, Tellis told Lutson that he wanted three kilograms of cocaine. Tellis and Lutson agreed on a price of $65,000 per kilogram and discussed a sample of the cocaine. Tellis said that he had only enough money for a one ounce sample. Lutson sold Tellis about an ounce of cocaine for $2,300. Tellis and Lutson then talked about the place of delivery for the sale. Tellis said that he wanted the cocaine in California, but Lutson said only one kilogram could be delivered there. Lutson said he would talk to his partner that afternoon about the delivery. Tellis, Mansuetti, and Mitchell then left Lutson's room for Tellis' office. There, Tellis weighed the sample he had purchased from Lutson. It weighed less than one ounce.

Later the same afternoon, Tellis, Mansuetti, and Mitchell returned to Lutson's room. Lutson let them in. The phone in the room was off the hook. Lutson told Tellis his partner wanted Tellis to come to Florida to pick up the cocaine. Lutson gave...