U.S. v. Clavis, 89-9011

• Decision Date: 31 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 89-9011,89-9011
• Citation: 956 F.2d 1079
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Oswald O'Brien CLAVIS, Ivan Frederick Edwards, Orin Terry Greene, Henry Louis Ismond, Winston Daniel Frazer, Ronald Reginald Phillips, Colin Andrew Grant, John Kirkland, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1079

956 F.2d 1079

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Oswald O'Brien CLAVIS, Ivan Frederick Edwards, Orin Terry Greene, Henry Louis Ismond, Winston Daniel Frazer Ronald Reginald Phillips, Colin Andrew Grant, John Kirkland Defendants-Appellants.

No. 89-9011.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

March 31, 1992.

Alan Baverman, Atlanta, Ga., for Clavis.

Thomas E. Spraley, Atlanta, Ga., for Edwards.

Jake Waldrop, Federal Defender Program, Inc., Atlanta, Ga., for Greene.

James Booker, Booker & Associates, Atlanta, Ga., for Ismond and Frazer.

Robert L. Barr, Jr., U.S. Atty., H. Allen Moye, Asst. U.S. Atty., Atlanta, Ga., for U.S.

Michael J. Trost, Atlanta, Ga., for Kirkland.

Thomas R. Moran, Atlanta, Ga., for Grant.

L. David Wolfe, Atlanta, Ga., for Phillips.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Before COX and DUBINA, Circuit Judges, and GODBOLD, Senior Circuit Judge.

GODBOLD, Senior Circuit Judge:

This case concerns a complex, long-running cocaine conspiracy operating in and near Atlanta, Georgia. Eight appellants ¹ were convicted in various combinations of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute, possession within 1,000 feet of a school, maintaining a place for manufacture, distribution, or use and maintaining such a place within 1,000 feet of a school, weapons violations, immigrations violations, and false statements.

I. The conspiracy

Without doubt there was a massive conspiracy with many actors. Its existence and the details of its operation were established by a host of witnesses. Several defendants, however, contest the sufficiency of the evidence tending to show them as participants in the conspiracy. Evidence of participation in the conspiracy is important not only with respect to the convictions under the conspiracy count but also, as to some defendants, to responsibility for offenses committed by one or more co-conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy, pursuant to Pinkerton v. U.S., 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946). The thread of Pinkerton runs through the case.

Evidence showed the following. The operation centered on distribution of cocaine in a low-income area of Atlanta--ironically, near the walls of the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary--at and around a square or court known as The Trap. The Trap was a known location for drug dealing. The entire neighborhood was dangerous, and gunfire was commonplace. The leader of the conspiracy was Ronald Druses, who was apprehended but fled before trial. In mid-May 1988 the conspiracy rented 760 Ann Avenue, one of a series of small houses rented to low-income residents. This house was the original point for temporary warehousing and distribution to street sellers, who in turn distributed to the streets nearby. Various defendants were housed at 760 Ann, or at least slept there. Others came back and forth to the house. Some were street sellers who picked up their contraband there.

Much of the evidence came from Larry Brooks, a government informer, who managed the Ann Avenue houses and other houses in the area. Druses told Brooks that he intended to use 760 Ann as a place for "his people" to sleep. After 760 Ann was rented Brooks became concerned about the volume of traffic to that site, overparking, and complaints by other tenants about traffic and noise. Druses told Brooks that if he had any problem to contact him and he would see that things were quiet in the community. Brooks did complain that "Druses' people" were getting out of control and that there was too much gunfire. Tenants were complaining about traffic and their children being unable to come out of doors. Druses would "take care of" these complaints, and things would quiet down for a day or two.

Brooks reported to police that he suspected drug activity. Police put the house under surveillance for several weeks beginning in early June. During the period of approximately a month that 760 Ann was in operation, but at a date not established by the evidence, Brooks saw in the house a large quantity of material that "appeared to be cocaine" and large amounts of money being counted. He saw persons going back and forth between 760 Ann and The Trap, carrying packages from the house to The Trap. He described exchanges of packages for money at the fence in back of the house and similar exchanges at The Trap. Surveilling police officers identified various of the defendants. Videotapes were taken, and various defendants depicted on them were identified. Kathy Brooks, wife of Larry Brooks, testified to her observations of the area and identified at least one of the defendants.

On June 22, 760 Ann was raided. Officers found large quantities of plastic bags, manila envelopes, and glassine bags containing cocaine residue. A convicted conspirator who has not appealed was arrested. On the day of the raid occupants presumably received a tip that the raid was to occur. Several of them left the premises, carrying suitcases and parcels.

Soon after the raid the house was closed down. The enterprise rented another house close by at 740 Ann Avenue, and distribution continued from there to the streets until it was raided in January 1989. Surveillance was conducted off and on from June until the raid. At this house Brooks saw powdered cocaine, rock cocaine, cocaine packaged in small tubes, and marijuana. Some of the appellants were identified as persons involved in activities in and around the house. Ultimately Brooks penetrated the organization and, around Thanksgiving, was employed to transport shipments to Ann Avenue. Shipments were brought by others to a parking area near Ann Avenue, where they were delivered to Brooks. In turn, he would deliver them to 740 Ann and would store all or part of some of these shipments in a locked tool shed. Many of Brooks' pickups were surveilled, and the persons delivering to him were identified as well as the automobiles they used. Members of the conspiracy would withdraw cocaine from these shipments to 740 Ann for distribution to street sellers, who operated in three shifts 24 hours a day.

The operation established two houses elsewhere, in Stone Mountain and Decatur, Georgia. In June 1988, 3002 Summerview Drive, in Stone Mountain, was rented. In mid-September 1601 Weatherly Drive, in Decatur, was rented. There was evidence that some of the conspirators lived at these houses.

On January 13, 1989, 740 Ann was raided. Cocaine was found in parcels on the premises and was seized. Large amounts of currency were found in a bedroom and in a handbag belonging to Clavis, who was arrested at the scene. Also arrested was Ronald Phillips. Distribution paraphernalia was found, including coin envelopes often used for drugs (ten boxes of 1,000 each) and a pistol. That same day Grant and Edwards, the transporters to the parking lot, were arrested in the car they had been using.

Also, on January 13, 1601 Weatherly Drive was raided. Agents found drugs, paraphernalia, $5,000 in cash, and records of the operation kept in the handwriting of Grant.

The house at 3002 Summerview Drive was raided January 18. Raiding agents found cocaine packaged for distribution, packaging materials, heat sealers, and identifying documents. John Doe # 1 (Greene) and an unindicted conspirator were arrested. The same day the home of Druses was raided. Officers seized from there a document with the name "Kirkland" on it and an envelope addressed to John Fluker, 740 Ann Avenue.

Documentary evidence found at some of the houses connected various of the defendants to the operation.

                Summarizing relevant dates
                May 18, 1988:           760 Ann Avenue rented by the enterprise.
                Late May (approx.)      According to testimony of Brooks, he saw a substantial
                  1988:                   amount of what appeared to be cocaine at 760 Ann.
                Early June 1988:        Surveillance of Ann Avenue area began.
                June 22, 1988:          760 Ann Avenue raided.
                June 1988:              Summerview Drive rented.
                July 5, 1988:           740 Ann Avenue rented.
                Sept. 13, 1988:         1601 Weatherly Drive rented.
                January 13, 1989:       740 Ann Avenue raided.
                                        1601 Weatherly Drive raided.
                January 18, 1989:       3002 Summerview Drive raided.
                

Over the life of the conspiracy Druses regularly purchased with cash airline tickets for several persons to and from Atlanta and the Caribbean Basin area in what the jury could find was a courier operation. Couriers were intercepted bringing cocaine to Atlanta by air and by automobile on behalf of the conspiracy.

II. Count One, the conspiracy count ²

We review the sufficiency of the evidence in the light favorable to the government, drawing reasonable inferences in favor of the government, seeking to determine if a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt. U.S. v. Delgado, 903 F.2d 1495, 1500 (11th Cir.1990).

There is no need to discuss in detail the sufficiency of the evidence of conspiracy with respect to Clavis, Edwards, Grant, Ronald Phillips and John Doe # 2 (a/k/a Kirkland or Fluker). ³ With respect to each of them the evidence was more than sufficient. Once the existence of a conspiracy is established, only slight evidence is necessary to connect a particular defendant to the conspiracy. U.S. v. Orr, 825 F.2d 1537, 1543 (11th Cir.1987).

We discuss sufficiency with respect to John Doe # 1 (a/k/a Greene).

With respect to John Doe # 1 (Greene), when Summerview Drive was raided on January 18, 1989, he and an unindicted conspirator, Rudolph Hines, were present. This house had been rented by Druses' wife. Hines was named as a passenger on an air ticket purchased by Druses. In one bedroom officers found 161 grams of crack cocaine hidden in the bedsprings of a mattress, a heat sealer, and documents bearing Edwards' name and address. In another bedroom they found sandwich bags and another heat sealer. A photograph, showing...