U.S. v. Partida
| Decision Date | 10 September 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-40781.,03-40781. |
| Citation | 385 F.3d 546 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Marco Abel PARTIDA and Gerardo Vigil, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Mitchel Neurock (argued), Laredo, TX, James Lee Turner, Asst. U.S. Atty., Houston, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Joseph A. Connors, III (argued), Law Office of Joseph A. Connors, III, McAllen, TX, for Partida.
Ralph R. Martinez (argued), Martinez & Martinez Law Offices, Houston, TX, for Vigil.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before DeMOSS, STEWART and PRADO, Circuit Judges.
This public integrity action involves an undercover reverse sting operation devised by government agents to snare two former corrupt city police officers. Plaintiffs-appellants Marco Abel Partida ("Partida") and Gerardo Vigil ("Vigil"), on separate occasions, assisted in the transportation of what they believed to be sizeable marijuana shipments through Donna, Texas. Following a jury trial, Partida and Vigil were convicted of various crimes in connection with their drug trafficking participation. On appeal, Partida and Vigil raise numerous challenges to their convictions and sentences. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
Beginning in 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") began an investigation into allegations of criminal activity within the Donna Police Department of Donna, Texas. The government's investigation focused on two former police officers, acting chief of police Partida and patrol officer Vigil, after receiving information that those officers provided protection for drug shipments through their patrol districts in exchange for money. The story of how these two former police officers went astray began with the revelation of a long-term friendship between Partida and reputed drug dealer, turned government informant, Rigoberto Quintanilla ("Quintanilla").
In the spring of 1999, FBI agents learned that Partida and Quintanilla had close ties. While Partida was a sheriff's officer in Hidalgo County, Texas, Quintanilla served as a former sheriff's deputy in Hidalgo County. FBI agents also learned that law enforcement officer Partida and South Texas drug dealer Quintanilla pursued trips to Atlanta, Georgia together. Additionally, Government agents discovered that Partida and Quintanilla had been friends for years, and at one time, the two men were even roommates.
In July 1999, FBI agents interviewed Partida at the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office. Partida informed government agents that he knew Quintanilla had transported 200 pounds of marijuana to Georgia. Partida also stated he had flown to Georgia to meet Quintanilla, at Quintanilla's expense. Upon Partida's arrival at the airport, and while placing his bags in the trunk of Quintanilla's vehicle, Partida stated he could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from the trunk, and air fresheners in the trunk of the vehicle masking the odor. Partida also informed FBI agents that Quintanilla showed him approximately $19,000 that he had amassed from transporting 200 pounds of marijuana to Georgia. Until this interview, officer Partida had never disclosed this information. Shortly after the interview, Partida resigned from the sheriff's office and was hired as a patrol officer with the local police department in the City of Donna, Texas.
In April of 1999, Quintanilla was identified by the government in connection with the transportation of about 6,000 pounds of marijuana, which was seized at the Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas. Following his arrest, Quintanilla became a confidential source for the government, and provided FBI agents with information about a number of individuals. Quintanilla also informed government agents that he knew a patrol officer with the Donna Police Department, who turned out to be Partida, interested in assisting the transportation of marijuana. Quintanilla told FBI agents that Partida and another police officer had once stopped a vehicle transporting marijuana through Donna. After a fellow officer took the driver to the police station, Partida and another police officer unloaded some of the seized marijuana, hid it in a ditch, and returned to retrieve it later. Quintanilla also informed agents that Partida had accompanied him on trips to Florida, while Quintanilla picked up drug payments and Partida served as an escort.
With Quintanilla's consent, FBI agents commenced a reverse sting operation centered around Quintanilla, posing as a drug dealer, driving an empty vehicle which Partida was told would be carrying marijuana loads through Donna. Quintanilla would arrange for Partida, while on duty as a Donna police officer, to escort the load vehicle in a marked patrol vehicle to a destination outside the Donna city limits. Once the load vehicle reached the city limits, the patrol car would turn around, and the load vehicle would continue on. At a later point in time, Quintanilla would arrange a location to meet up with Partida and perform payment for the services rendered.
Pursuant to this operation, FBI agents began recording a series of meetings and conversations between Quintanilla and Partida, in which Partida pledged to assist in escorting bulks of marijuana through the city of Donna. In one recorded telephone conversation, Quintanilla and Partida spoke about how Quintanilla would be passing through the area with 300 pounds of marijuana in a red Suburban with tinted windows at "exactly uno." Partida replied,
In a recorded conversation on April 20, 2001, a staged event was arranged for Partida to follow a red Suburban through Donna while Partida was under the belief that he would be protecting the transport of 300 pounds of marijuana. Unbeknown to Partida, the Suburban actually contained no marijuana inside. Government agents provided Quintanilla with the Suburban (which had a video camera specially installed), and instructed Quintanilla to drive from McAllen to a location near the Donna city limits. Once Quintanilla arrived at the location near Donna, FBI agents switched on the camera. As the staged event unfolded, undercover FBI agents videotaped Partida's marked patrol vehicle "bumper locked" to the Suburban for two and a half miles as the Suburban, driven by Quintanilla, slowly drove through the city limit of Donna. Five days later, the two men met at Quintanilla's house, and in a recorded encounter Quintanilla paid Partida $500 for his assistance. As he took the money, Partida commented,
As circumstances would have it, another ill fated opportunity arose for Partida to participate in drug trafficking. In May 2001, Quintanilla informed Partida of another "load coming through again." After learning of the time frame for the shipment, Partida responded "I'm there, Dude." Quintanilla and Partida discussed whether another Donna police officer was also willing to escort Quintanilla through the city. Government agents instructed Quintanilla to ask about this subject because by this time Partida had risen to the rank of acting chief of police. Partida's ascendance caused a problem because he no longer drove a marked patrol car. Quintanilla insisted that he needed a marked patrol car to follow the drug shipment in order to limit the risk of "getting the load ripped off" by a rival trafficking organization. Partida had someone in mind, and he discussed with Quintanilla how much Quintanilla would pay Partida and the other officer.
The person Partida had in mind was Donna police officer Vigil. After several phone calls between Quintanilla and Partida, a meeting was finally arranged. On November 7, 2001, Partida and Vigil met with Quintanilla in a videotaped meeting at a hotel in nearby Pharr, Texas. At the behest of government agents, Quintanilla asked Vigil whether Partida forced him to provide escort services to the drug shipment. Vigil responded, "Nah ... I'm cool with it." Vigil also stated that prior to Partida requesting his services, he planned on asking Partida about the possibility of continuing drug escort activities a second time.
Two days later, on November 9, 2001, a similar "drill" was set up, with Vigil meeting Quintanilla (who was again driving a camera-equipped red Suburban without any drugs) at the southern city limits of Donna. Quintanilla phoned Partida ahead of time to tell him that he had 300 pounds of marijuana, and he later called both Partida and Vigil as he approached the designated meeting point. The operation went off as planned, and was captured on videotape as Quintanilla drove up FM 493 with Vigil following closely behind. Later that day, after the reverse sting operation was completed, Vigil and Quintanilla met again at the Comfort Inn in Pharr, Texas. Quintanilla paid Vigil $700 (he had already received $100 "up front"). Later, Partida arrived at the hotel room, Quintanilla paid him $2,200, and Partida placed the payment in his boot.
Partida was subsequently arrested on November 12, 2002. At the time of his arrest, agents showed Partida one of the videotapes, and after watching for a while, Partida stated, Partida produced a handwritten confession. Vigil was also arrested on November 12, 2002. After Vigil signed a rights waiver, agents showed him a portion of one of the videotapes — after a while Vigil too stated he had seen enough and asked that the tape be turned off. Vigil then executed a written confession.
A federal grand jury issued a five-count indictment against Partida and Vigil. Count 1 charged that Partida attempted to aid, abet, and assist in the possession of a controlled...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
U.S. v. Ramos
...defense and to allow the accused to invoke the double jeopardy clause in a subsequent proceeding.'" Id. (quoting United States v. Partida, 385 F.3d 546, 554 (5th Cir. 2004)). Those minimal constitutional standards therefore do "`not compel a ritual of words.' The validity of an indictment i......
-
United States v. Lockhart
...McCullouch] based on an alternative basis permitted by the statute, but not charged in the indictment," United States v. Partida , 385 F.3d 546, 557 (5th Cir. 2004) (citing United States v. Daniels , 252 F.3d 411, 414 (5th Cir. 2001) ), a possibility that constructively amended the indictme......
-
U.S. v. Moussaoui
...these claims. The jury's rejection of the death penalty means that Moussaoui's claims are now moot, cf. United States v. Partida, 385 F.3d 546, 560 n. 10 (5th Cir. 2004) (rejecting sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim as moot where defendant was acquitted of the count being challenged), or, at......
-
State v. White
...involving the liberal use of their duty weapons, handcuffs and body armor to facilitate these offenses. {¶ 158} In United States v. Partida, 385 F.3d 546 (5th Cir.2004) two police officers were convicted of extortion, drug trafficking and conspiracy. The gist of their misdeeds involved esco......