U.S. v. Jones, s. 93-8022

Citation44 F.3d 860
Decision Date04 January 1995
Docket Number93-8030 and 93-8031,Nos. 93-8022,s. 93-8022
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Pamela JONES, Katresa Marie Johnson, Mark J. Scott, Jr., Defendants-Appellants.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit)

Joseph D. Welton, Detroit, MI, for Pamela Jones, defendant-appellant.

Cyril C. Hall, Pontiac, MI, for Katresa Marie Johnson, defendant-appellant.

Joseph P. McCaffery (Julia N. Whalen with him on the brief), Chicago, IL, for Mark J. Scott, Jr., defendant-appellant.

John R. Green, Asst. U.S. Atty. (David D. Freudenthal, U.S. Atty., with him, on the brief), Cheyenne, WY, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before SEYMOUR, Chief Judge, ANDERSON, Circuit Judge, and DAUGHERTY, District Judge. *

SEYMOUR, Chief Judge.

Mark Scott, Pamela Jones and Katresa Johnson appeal their convictions for conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 846 and 841(a)(1), and for possession with intent to distribute over 200 kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841(a)(1), and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2. We affirm the conspiracy and possession convictions of Mr. Scott and Ms.

Jones and reverse the convictions of Ms. Johnson.

I.

On March 15, 1992, Wyoming Highway Patrolman Daniel J. Dyer clocked a Lincoln Continental driving 76 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour zone. Officer Dyer signaled for the car to stop by turning on his overhead lights and headlights. The car did not stop immediately, but instead continued for approximately one mile past an entrance-exit ramp, finally stopping on an overpass where Officer Dyer could not safely approach the driver's side. Before approaching the car, Officer Dyer verified that it was not stolen.

Officer Dyer noted that the car had California license plates and was rented from Budget Rent-A-Car (Budget). There were two occupants, a driver, Pamela Jones, and a passenger, Katresa Johnson. Officer Dyer also observed three small pieces of luggage on the back seat. After admonishing Ms. Jones for speeding, Officer Dyer asked for her driver's license and the rental car agreement. He also inquired about their destination. Ms. Jones replied, "Well, we're just coming from Los Angeles and we're going back to Detroit." Rec., vol. VII, at 145. Ms. Jones also told Officer Dyer that they had flown from Detroit to Los Angeles but, because they ran out of money, decided to drive back to Detroit. Officer Dyer noticed that a Mr. Scott, rather than Ms. Jones, appeared as the renter on the contract. Ms. Jones identified Mr. Scott as her cousin.

Officer Dyer then returned to his car to check the status of Ms. Jones' driver's license. After receiving an ambiguous response from dispatch, Officer Dyer returned to the car and informed Ms. Jones and Ms. Johnson that they would have to wait until dispatch clarified whether the license was suspended. He then checked Ms. Johnson's license, which was valid.

Meanwhile, Officer Dyer became suspicious that the car might be transporting contraband. He described numerous factors which contributed to this suspicion: 1) the car was a large rental automobile; 2) Ms. Jones and Ms. Johnson were driving from Los Angeles to Detroit, two cities associated with high drug usage; 3) Ms. Jones and Ms. Johnson, purportedly returning from a two week vacation in Los Angeles, had purchased one-way plane tickets to Los Angeles and had three, relatively small pieces of luggage in the back seat; 4) Mr. Scott rented the car for their return trip, allegedly because Ms. Jones and Ms. Johnson had run out of money on their vacation; 5) the car did not immediately stop, and when it did, it stopped in an area where it was unsafe for the officer to approach the vehicle from the driver's side; 6) the picture of Ms. Jones appeared more sophisticated on her driver's license; and 7) Ms. Jones was not nervous, suggesting that she may have been stopped under similar circumstances previously. Consequently, Officer Dyer asked Ms. Jones whether there were any drugs in the car. She responded negatively. He then asked, "Well, you don't mind if I took [sic] a quick look in the trunk then, do you?" Rec., vol. VII, at 150. She refused, stating that her teachers had instructed that the police do not have the right to look in vehicles. Officer Dyer was persistent, arguing, "[Y]ou don't want me to think you got something in there, do you?" Id. at 151. Ms. Jones firmly resisted his requests.

At this time, dispatch reported that Ms. Jones' license had been suspended. Officer Dyer issued Ms. Jones a citation for driving under suspension and asked Ms. Johnson to drive Ms. Jones to the sheriff's office to post a $220 bond. While en route, Officer Dyer asked the local drug enforcement agents to meet them at the sheriff's office.

Once at the station, Officer Dyer asked Ms. Jones about the contents of the trunk. She claimed that she was carrying new luggage holding clothes. In a separate conversation, Officer Dyer asked Ms. Johnson, "What do you have in the trunk there? Pamela Jones said you had wicker chairs." She replied, "Wicker chairs? Well, whatever she said is what we got in there." Rec., vol. VII, at 155. Ms. Jones made several credit card calls from memory upon arrival at the police station.

Officer William Gallatin, a member of the Wyoming Drug Task Force, informed Ms. Shelly Lucas, a manager in the Los Angeles Officer Gallatin also spoke with Ms. Jones. She became visibly nervous after he identified himself as a narcotics agent. During this conversation, Ms. Jones told Officer Gallatin that she and Ms. Johnson had been visiting relatives in Los Angeles for two weeks, that they ran out of money, and that her cousin rented them a car for their return trip. She also claimed to be unemployed.

Budget office from which the car had been rented, that police stopped the car for speeding, the driver of the vehicle had a suspended license, and the authorized driver, Mr. Scott, was not present when Officer Dyer stopped the car. Ms. Lucas asked police to seize the car on Budget's behalf.

Officer Gallatin then told Ms. Jones and Ms. Johnson that they were seizing the car and inventorying the contents. Both became visibly upset. Ms. Johnson appeared on the verge of tears. Officer Gallatin then asked if a black suitcase on the back seat belonged to either of them. Both denied ownership. The officers opened the suitcase to discover several "bricks" of cocaine. The police arrested Ms. Jones and Ms. Johnson. The officers subsequently found over 200 kilograms, or 440 pounds, of cocaine in closed luggage in the back seat and trunk of the car.

The government's investigation revealed that Ms. Jones and Ms. Johnson used cash to purchase one-way tickets on Northwest flight 51 for $628 each. They departed from Detroit for Los Angeles at 7:00 p.m. on March 12, 1992. Mr. Scott departed from Detroit for Los Angeles later that evening on Northwest flight 339. He purchased a round-trip ticket on an American Express card for $1,252. Mr. Scott rented the car that Ms. Jones was driving from the Budget Rent-A-Car at LAX Airport on March 12 at 11:56 p.m. He then checked into the Howard Johnson Motel.

At trial, Special Agent Susan Mathison of the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") office in Detroit testified that when contacted by the Wyoming agents, she was involved in an ongoing investigation concerning Mr. Derek Washam and Ms. Jones. As part of this investigation, Agent Mathison placed a pen register on various telephone numbers associated with Derek Washam. A telephone number associated with Ms. Jones appeared repeatedly on the pen register. For example, in a one week period a few days before Ms. Jones trip to Los Angeles, there were eighteen calls between Washam-related numbers and Pamela Jones' number. Mr. Scott's telephone number also appeared on the pen register which revealed four calls between the Washam residence and the Scott residence on March 12, 1992. Mr. Scott called a Washam-related pager number several times between March 7 and March 13, 1992, including three calls from Mr. Scott's room at Howard Johnson's. The address book in Mr. Scott's possession when he was arrested contained the pager number.

The district court denied Ms. Jones' and Ms. Johnson's motion to suppress the evidence seized from the car, concluding that neither defendant had standing to contest the search of the car. A jury convicted Mr. Scott, Ms. Jones, and Ms. Johnson on both the conspiracy and the possession charges. Defendants appeal, arguing insufficient evidence to sustain the convictions, Fourth Amendment violations, Sixth Amendment violations, and various evidentiary errors.

II. SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE
1. Ms. Johnson
A. Conspiracy

Ms. Johnson claims that the evidence was insufficient to sustain her conviction for conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. We review the sufficiency of the evidence in the light most favorable to the government to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Chatman, 994 F.2d 1510, 1514 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 230, 126 L.Ed.2d 185 (1993). To support a conspiracy conviction, "the government must show that there was an agreement to violate the law, that the defendant knew the essential objectives of the conspiracy, that the defendant knowingly and voluntarily took part in the Ms. Johnson was a passenger in a vehicle caught transporting drugs. To meet its burden, the government must prove guilty knowledge: an implicit or explicit agreement to enter into a known conspiracy with a known objective. Mere knowledge that drugs are present in a vehicle, without additional evidence to support a reasonable inference of a knowing agreement to distribute them, is insufficient to sustain a conspiracy conviction. See United States v. Sanchez-Mata, 925 F.2d 1166, 1168 (9th Cir.1991). For the reasons...

To continue reading

Request your trial
223 cases
  • State v. Arceo-Rojas, No. 119,266
    • United States
    • Kansas Court of Appeals
    • February 7, 2020
    ...given the stated purpose of the trip), aff'd 192 Fed. Appx. 749 (10th Cir. 2006) (unpublished opinion); see also United States v. Jones , 44 F.3d 860, 872 (10th Cir. 1995) (noting that "the lack of luggage for an alleged two week trip" was a factor supporting a reasonable suspicion finding)......
  • Ortiz v. New Mexico
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of New Mexico
    • July 22, 2021
    ...cannot suppress evidence unless the movant proves that a search implicates personal Fourth Amendment interests." United States v. Jones, 44 F.3d 860, 871 (10th Cir. 1995) (emphasis in original). " ‘[N]o interest legitimately protected by the Fourth Amendment’ is implicated by governmental i......
  • U.S. v. Garcia
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Kansas
    • April 27, 1999
    ...however, if during the initial stop the detaining officer acquires "reasonable suspicion," of criminal activity, United States v. Jones, 44 F.3d 860, 862 (10th Cir.1995), that is to say the officer must acquire a "particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopp......
  • U.S. v. Gomez
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit
    • October 10, 1995
    ...evidence at trial. Generally, the failure to object to the admissibility of evidence is a waiver absent plain error. United States v. Jones, 44 F.3d 860, 875 (10th Cir.1995). Therefore, we must determine whether the admission of this evidence constitutes plain error. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b); Un......
  • 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