U.S. v. Meshack
| Decision Date | 28 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-50669,99-50669 |
| Citation | 225 F.3d 556 |
| Parties | (5th Cir. 2000) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. HUGH VON MESHACK; LAWAYNE THOMAS; LINDA PARKER; TERRENCE IAN HODGES, also known as Guda, Defendants-Appellants |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
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[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
Before JOLLY, HIGGINBOTHAM, and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges.
Hugh Von Meshack, Lawayne Thomas, Linda Parker, and Terrence Ian Hodges appeal their convictions and sentences. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand in part.
In 1992, the Drug Enforcement Administration Heart of Texas Task Force ("DEA") and the Coryell County Sheriff's Department began a joint investigation of what was believed to be a "crack" cocaine trafficking organization based in Temple, Texas. The investigation eventually focused on a Temple restaurant known as Meshack's Bar-B-Que and its proprietor, Hugh Von Meshack. Investigators believed Meshack to be the leader of an organization which purchased crack and powder cocaine and marijuana near Houston and distributed it at Meshack's Bar-B-Que and other locations in Temple. Suspicions were confirmed when confidential government informants made several drug purchases at the Bar-B-Que. While Meshack himself refused to sell directly to one informant, Meshack directed the informant to his son, Terrence Hodges, and watched the deal take place.
Over the years, the task force began to accumulate evidence against Meshack and many customers and employees of his Bar-B-Que. In 1997, several individuals arrested in central Texas for possession of various controlled substances identified Meshack's Bar-B-Que and several of its employees as the source of their drugs. The arrestees told task force officials that they had purchased crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and marijuana at the Bar-B-Que and had either received the drugs at the Bar-B-Que or had it delivered to other locations in Temple. They identified Meshack as the primary drug distributor and claimed that they made their purchases from either him, Hodges, or Bar-B-Que employee Larry Smith.
Eventually, participants in Meshack's drug ring began to turn on the organization. Wayne Hatcher was the first. Initially debriefed by the government on July 9, 1997, Hatcher told officials that crack cocaine was dealt from Meshack's Bar-B-Que and that Meshack was the "main man." Hatcher told authorities that Meshack ran the organization, and that he, Hodges, Linda Parker (Meshack's girlfriend), and Lamont Bailey worked directly under Meshack. Hatcher also informed officials that several individuals, among them Bethel Kelly, would drive to Houston weekly to purchase kilograms of cocaine for Meshack which were eventually distributed from Meshack's Bar-B-Que. Kelly, debriefed by officials on August 11, 1997, confirmed Hatcher's story and named others involved in distributing the crack cocaine that he brought to Meshack.
Several others followed Hatcher's lead and informed on Meshack and other members of his organization. Montonyua Waller, Anthony Dailey, Albert Taplin, Skyler Newsome, Lamont Bailey, Andre Moore, Larry Smith, Frank Alcorn, and Lee Odis Ford all separately informed task force officials that Meshack ran a crack cocaine distribution organization from the Bar-B-Que primarily through Parker and Hodges. These informants thoroughly described the details of the organization, which the task force confirmed through investigation.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the government indicted Meshack and eleven codefendants on various charges in a fourteen-count indictment. Significantly, although most of these were drug charges, no count of the indictment specified the amount of drugs for which each charged defendant was responsible.
Many of those indicted agreed to plead guilty in exchange for their testimony against the remaining conspirators. By the time the case went to trial, charges remained only against Meshack, Parker, Hodges, Lawayne Thomas, and Chester White. Many of the other conspirators, including Hatcher, Michael Peoples, Moore, Bailey, Isiah Walker, Smith, Kelly, and Waller testified at trial, detailing the many drug-related activities run from Meshack's Bar-B-Que.
At the conclusion of trial, the jury found Meshack, Hodges, and Parker guilty of conspiracy to possess crack cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) (count 1).1 Meshack was alone found guilty of maintaining a place for the unlawful distribution of crack cocaine in violation of the "crackhouse statute," 21 U.S.C. § 856 (count 2), aiding and abetting the possession of crack cocaine found in Hodges's and Parker's apartments in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (counts 4 and 5), and possession with intent to distribute marijuana found in a search of the Bar-B-Que (count 7). Hodges was also found guilty of possession with intent to distribute marijuana (count 8). Thomas was found guilty of possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute (count 11). Meshack and Parker were also found guilty of conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956 (count 14).
The trial judge then conducted individual sentencing hearings for each defendant, at which he determined, by a preponderance of the evidence, the amount of drugs for which each defendant was responsible. For Meshack's conspiracy and for one of his aiding and abetting convictions, the trial judge found that Meshack was responsible for more than 50 grams of crack cocaine. Because Meshack had been convicted of two prior felony drug convictions, the trial judge sentenced him to concurrent terms of life imprisonment with 10 years of supervised release on each count.2 See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b). Meshack's other sentences and terms of supervised release, the largest of which was thirty years, would be served concurrently with the life sentences.3 Meshack was also fined a total of $30,000 and given a special assessment of $600.
Parker, as described above, was found guilty of two crimes, conspiracy to possess crack cocaine with intent to distribute and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The trial judge found that the amount of crack cocaine attributable to Parker for her conspiracy conviction "would exceed one and a half kilograms," making her statutory maximum life imprisonment, see 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and giving her a base offense level of 38, see U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(1). Because Parker had little criminal history, her guideline range was 235 to 293 months, and the judge sentenced her to 235 months imprisonment and 5 years of supervised release for that conviction. The judge also sentenced Parker to a concurrent 235 month sentence and 3-year term of supervised release for her money laundering conviction. See U.S.S.G. §§ 2S1.1(a)-(b), § 3D1.1.4 Parker was also fined $1,500 and specially assessed $200.
Thomas was sentenced for the only crime of which the jury found him guilty, possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). At sentencing, the government called a witness, officer Gary Medford, in an attempt to clarify the amount of crack cocaine the court should attribute to Thomas. Over the defendant's objections, the court held that the evidence was "sufficiently reliable to be used as relevant conduct, and the proper amount . . . would be the 245.73 grams set forth in the Pre-Sentence Report." Based on the judge's finding of that amount, the appropriate base offense level was 34, see U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(3), and based on Thomas's criminal history level of II, the appropriate guideline range was 168 to 210 months. The trial judge sentenced Thomas to 168 months imprisonment, five years of supervised release, a $2,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment.
Hodges was convicted on two counts, conspiracy to possess crack cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. At sentencing, Hodges challenged the amount of drugs attributable to him, but the judge accepted the calculation in the PSR, which attributed a substantial amount of cocaine and marijuana to Hodges.5 Based on this amount, the statute provided a maximum life term with a mandatory minimum of 20 years for the conspiracy conviction. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). The guidelines provided a base offense level of 38, see U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(1), and based on Hodges's criminal history category of IV, the applicable guideline range was 324 to 405 months. Accordingly, the trial judge sentenced Hodges to 324 months imprisonment and 10 years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. On the marijuana conviction, again based on the finding of a substantial amount of marijuana, the trial judge sentenced Hodges to concurrent terms of 10 years in prison, the maximum authorized under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(D), and four years of supervised release. Hodges was also fined $2,500, and specially assessed $100, on each conviction.
Meshack, Parker, Thomas, and Hodges now appeal.
We first review the defendants' various challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence underlying their convictions. We view all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, drawing all inferences in its favor, and we cannot reverse unless "no rational trier of fact could find substantial evidence establishing the defendants' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." United States v. Lee, 217 F.3d 284, 288 (5th Cir. 2000).
Several defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence used to convict them of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. To convict, the government needed to prove: (1) the existence of an agreement to violate the drug laws that...
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