U.S. v. Garza

Decision Date20 April 1993
Docket NumberNo. 92-7150,92-7150
Citation990 F.2d 171
Parties38 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 801 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Isai Isauro GARZA, a/k/a Jesus Isauro Garza, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Julie Ann Epps, Jackson, MS (Court-appointed), for defendant-appellant.

Bonnie Janice Ellington, Corpus Christi, TX, Paula Offenhauser, Asst. U.S. Attys., Ronald G. Woods, U.S. Atty., Houston, TX, for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before WISDOM, DUHE, Circuit Judges, and DOHERTY 1, District Judge.

WISDOM, Circuit Judge.

In this case, the defendant, Isai Isauro Garza, appeals his conviction under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A) for possession of 447 kilograms cocaine with the intent to distribute. He contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction. Additionally, he contends that the trial court's admission of testimony concerning the computer listings of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) constitutes reversible error. Finally, he contends that he was denied effective assistance of counsel based on his lawyer's failure to object to the admission of the allegedly inadmissible testimony. We hold that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's verdict and we find no reversible error. We affirm.

I.

In August 1991, a United States Border Patrol agent stopped Garza at the Falfurrias Checkpoint in Texas for a routine inspection. Garza was driving his tractor trailer. In response to questioning, Garza told the agent that he had come from Edinburg, Texas with a load of limes he was taking to Los Angeles. The agent then asked to see a copy of Garza's bill of lading. The bill of lading listed Los Angeles as the destination of the load. The agent testified that Garza seemed nervous, his voice trembled, and his hand shook as he handed over the document. Based on these observations, the agent asked Garza for permission to search his trailer. Garza immediately granted permission.

The agent looked through a small ventilation hatch located behind the driver's door and spotted several burlap sacks on top of the lime boxes. He asked Garza to move his truck to the secondary inspection area and to open the rear doors of the trailer. Garza complied. As the agent crawled forward in the trailer on top of the lime boxes, he discovered additional burlap sacks stacked in between the boxes. Cocaine was inside the sacks in the form of bricks. Over the next half hour, with the help of a second border agent and a forklift, the two agents unloaded 447 kilograms of cocaine from the truck, worth approximately fifteen million dollars.

A search of the cab of the truck turned up a package of blank bills of lading hidden beneath the carpeting on the floor of the cab and a second handwritten bill of lading giving the name of a non-existent buyer and falsely listing Houston as Garza's destination. The defendant admitted that he had purchased the package of bills of lading and that he had prepared the second, false bill of lading. In addition, Garza admitted to falsifying his logbook to reflect an inaccurate departure time. 2

Garza was charged under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A) with one count of possession of 447 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute. The case was tried to a jury for two days in December 1991. At trial Garza's counsel called a DEA special agent and asked him to identify any of the government witnesses whose names were listed in the DEA computer system. 3 The agent named one government witness and went on to name London Fruit, the lime supplier, and B & R Trucking, the company that provided Garza with the lime shipping job. On cross-examination, the government asked the agent if any additional persons involved in the Garza case appeared in the system. The agent testified that Garza's name appeared in the system in connection with a 5200 pound seizure of marijuana in 1990. He also testified that approximately twenty of the names in Garza's address book, seized from his truck, also appeared in the system. Garza's counsel did not object to the admission of the agent's testimony. 4 The court, however, twice cautioned the jury that Garza was not on trial for the 1990 marijuana seizure.

The district court denied Garza's motion for a directed verdict at the close of the government's case and again at the close of evidence. The jury returned a guilty verdict. In March 1992, Garza was sentenced to 235 months confinement to be followed by a five year term of supervised release. He also received a $1,000 fine and a $50 special assessment.

Garza appeals his conviction on three grounds. First, he contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's guilty verdict. Next, he argues that the DEA agent's testimony on cross-examination was improperly admitted and constitutes reversible error. Finally, he argues that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in failing to object to the agent's allegedly inadmissible testimony.

II.

"The standard for review for sufficiency of evidence is whether any reasonable trier of fact could have found that the evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." 5 In reviewing a case for sufficiency of the evidence, reasonable inferences from the evidence will be construed in favor of the jury verdict. 6 In addition, "determining the weight and credibility of the evidence is within the sole province of the jury". 7 We "will not supplant the jury's determination of credibility with that of [our] own." 8

Under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A), the government must prove three elements beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict Garza: (1) knowledge, (2) possession, and (3) intent to distribute. 9 Garza contests only the knowledge element.

The knowledge element in a possession case can rarely be established by direct evidence. Knowledge can be inferred from control of the vehicle in some cases; however, when the drugs are hidden, control over the vehicle alone is not sufficient to prove knowledge. 10 The general rule in this circuit is that knowledge can be inferred from control over the vehicle in which the drugs are hidden "if there exists other circumstantial evidence that is suspicious in nature or demonstrates guilty knowledge". 11

Garza argues that because the drugs were hidden, 12 the government was required to show more than control of the vehicle. We agree. In addition, he contends that the government failed to bring forward sufficient "other circumstantial evidence" and consequently his conviction should not be sustained. We disagree.

At trial the government offered several pieces of evidence to support Garza's guilt. Specifically, this evidence includes Garza's nervousness, his control and ownership of the truck containing the cocaine, the large amount of cocaine, the false bill of lading, the falsified log book, the package of blank bills of lading, the gap in time between when Garza left the loading station with the truck and his actual departure time, and finally, the fact that Garza admittedly left his loaded truck unlocked and unattended for over an hour at a dark truck stop before departing for Los Angeles. For reasons discussed below, we do not consider the DEA agent's testimony regarding the contents of its computer files in analyzing the sufficiency of the evidence.

First, Garza maintains that his alleged nervousness was improperly considered as evidence of guilty knowledge. 13 In United States v. Diaz-Carreon, this Court held that nervousness, "[i]n the absence of facts which suggest that [the nervousness] ... derives from an underlying consciousness of criminal behavior ... is insufficient to support a finding of guilty knowledge". 14 Applying this rule, in Diaz-Carreon, this Court held that inconsistent statements made to custom officials in addition to an implausible story constituted persuasive evidence of the defendant's consciousness of guilt; thus, the Court allowed nervousness to be considered as evidence of guilty knowledge.

Although the facts in the instant case are not identical with those in Diaz-Carreon, they do share some similarities. Both cases contain evidence of an implausible explanation for suspicious circumstances. When the false bill of lading was discovered hidden in Garza's truck, Garza stated that he had completed it to provide a substitute bill of lading for his trip when he realized he would be unable to acquire the form from the shipper. According to Garza, he filled out the second bill of lading as practice. He maintains that he had planned to telephone the shipper to determine if he had filled out the bill correctly and to see if the shipper wanted him to fill out the substitute because he had been unable to acquire one before he departed. He maintains that he listed Houston as the final destination because that was the destination on the last delivery he had made. He offered no explanation for listing a non-existent buyer.

At trial, a representative for Amerifresh testified that he had placed an order for the limes with London Fruit. London Fruit was listed as the supplier on the first, original bill of lading. He stated that it was the policy of Amerifresh to substitute its name as supplier for fear its customers would deal directly with the real supplier, cutting Amerifresh out of future deals. The fruit shipping company's agent's testimony corroborates Garza's belief that they wanted to alter the name of the fruit supplier on the bill for business reasons. Yet, his contention that he was "practicing" does not explain why the bill listed Houston and not Los Angeles as his destination or indeed why the bill of lading listed a non-existent buyer. Thus, his explanation is arguably implausible.

Although Garza made no inconsistent statements to the border agent, his arguably implausible explanation of the bill of lading in...

To continue reading

Request your trial
42 cases
  • U.S. v. Calverley
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)
    • October 20, 1994
    ...1456 (5th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom., Nunn v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 266, 126 L.Ed.2d 218 (1993); United States v. Garza, 990 F.2d 171 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 332, 126 L.Ed.2d 278 (1993); United States v. Martinez-Cortez, 988 F.2d 1408 (5th Cir.......
  • Harrell v. State
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of Texas. Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
    • September 21, 1994
    ...under federal rules 403 and 404(b) when it is doubtful that the defendant committed the extraneous offense. See United States v. Garza, 990 F.2d 171, 176-77 (5th Cir.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 926, 114 S.Ct. 332, 126 L.Ed.2d 278 (1993). In Garza, the defendant was charged with possession......
  • U.S. v. Hall
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)
    • August 21, 1998
    ...marks omitted)). "[D]etermining the weight and credibility of the evidence is within the sole province of the jury." United States v. Garza, 990 F.2d 171, 173 (5th Cir.1993) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also United States v. Kelley, 140 F.3d 596, 607 (5th In support of his claim ......
  • Allen v. State
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of Texas
    • March 7, 2008
    ...of any narcotic located in the residence, United States v. Rojas-Alvarez, 451 F.3d 320, 334 (5th Cir.2006); United States v. Garza, 990 F.2d 171, 174 (5th Cir.1993), nor is it synonymous with control of the contraband found therein. Meyers v. State, S.W.2d 590, 595 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT