U.S. v. Posada-Rios, POSADA-RIO
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
| Citation | 158 F.3d 832 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-20645,C,POSADA-RIO,94-20645 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Esnoraldo De Jesusarlos Antonio Mena, Elisa Grajales Murga, Carmenza Guzman Varon, Raul Gamboa, Luis Gerardo Rios-Castano, Manuel De Jesus Parada, Anthony Jerome Gage, Kelvin Jackquet, Mona Smith Watson, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Decision Date | 21 October 1998 |
Page 832
v.
Esnoraldo De Jesus POSADA-RIOS, Carlos Antonio Mena, Elisa
Grajales Murga, Carmenza Guzman Varon, Raul Gamboa, Luis
Gerardo Rios-Castano, Manuel De Jesus Parada, Anthony Jerome
Gage, Kelvin Jackquet, Mona Smith Watson, Defendants-Appellants.
Fifth Circuit.
Page 840
Paula Camille Offenhauser, Asst. U.S. Atty., Houston, TX, Charles Edwin Lewis, Brownsville, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Ralph R. Martinez, Houston, TX, for Posada-Rios.
Constance Yvonne Singleton, Houston, TX, for Carlos Antonio Mena.
Paul LeRoy Crist, Houston, TX, for Elisa Grajales Murga.
Lourdes Rodriguez, Houston, TX, for Carmenza Guzman Varon.
Steven Jeffrey Lieberman, Houston, TX, for Raul Gamboa.
Frank Aguilar, The Law Office of Frank Aguilar, Houston, TX, for Luis Gerado Rios-Castano.
Gregory Charles Gladden, Houston, TX, for Manuel De Jesus Parada.
David Richard Bires, Bires & Schaffer, Houston, TX, for Anthony Jerome Gage.
Robert D. Adams, Houston, TX, for Kelvin Jackquet.
Mike J. DeGeurin, Foreman, DeGeurin & Nugent, Houston, TX, for Mona Smith Watson.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND ................................................... 841
A. Samuel Posada"Rios Organizes "La Compania" ...................... 841
B. Threats from Rival Drug Dealers and Retaliation by La Compania .. 843
C. Samuel Posada"Rios Operates La Compania from Colombia ........... 844
1. Ariel Ochoa and Esnoraldo De Jesus Posada"Rios take over the
Houston operation ........................................ 844
2. Elisa Grajales Murga ....................................... 844
D. Harold and Wonda Cortes ......................................... 845
1. The Harold Cortes Organization (Manuel Parada) ............. 845
2. The Wonda Cortes Organization .............................. 847
a. Mona Smith Watson and Tony Jones ..................... 847
b. Mary Helen Hermann ................................... 848
c. Anthony Jerome Gage and Kelvin Jackquet .............. 848
d. Carmenza Guzman Varon ................................ 848
e. November 15"16, 1991, distributions to Gage, Jackquet,
Watson, and Varon .................................. 848
f. December 10"11, 1991, distributions to Watson, Gage,
Jackquet, Carmenza Varon, and Janeth Varon ......... 849
g. January 1992 distributions ........................... 851
E. Mona Smith Watson's Cocaine Distributions ....................... 851
F. Anthony Gage and Kelvin Jackquet's Cocaine Distributions ........ 851
G. Raul Gamboa and Carlos Mena ..................................... 852
H. The Demise of La Compania ....................................... 853
II. VERDICTS AND SENTENCES ............................................... 854
III. DISCUSSION ........................................................... 855
A. Sufficiency of the Evidence Challenges .......................... 855
1. RICO, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c)... 41 ............................. 855
2. RICO Conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d)... 45 .................. 857
a. Mena ................................................. 858
b. Murga ................................................ 859
c. Varon ................................................ 859
d. Parada ............................................... 859
e. Gage ................................................. 859
3. The Controlled Substances Violations ....................... 860
a. Mena ................................................. 860
b. Murga ................................................ 860
c. Gamboa ............................................... 860
d. Parada ............................................... 860
e. Gage ................................................. 861
4. Jackquet's conviction for use of a firearm "during and in
relation to" a drug trafficking offense in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 924(c)... 56 ..................................... 861
5. Murga's conviction for making a false statement on a visa
application in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a)... 58 ..... 862
B. Joinder and Severance Issues .................................... 862
1. Joinder .................................................... 862
2. Severance .................................................. 863
C. Evidentiary Issues .............................................. 865
1. Admissibility of Watson's Statements ....................... 865
2. Admissibility of Murga's Statements ........................ 867
3. Admissibility of Evidence Seized from the Mercury Sable .... 867
4. Admissibility of Evidence Seized from Jackquet's Residence . 868
5. The Government's Trial Charts .............................. 869
6. The Alleged Hearsay Testimony of Agent Schaefer ............ 869
7. Impeachment Evidence Against Agent Schaefer ............... 870
8. Extraneous Offense Evidence Against Gage ................... 871
9. Violation of Fed.R.Evid. 615 by Hall and Cortes ............ 871
D. Instructions to the Jury ........................................ 872
1. Voir Dire Instruction About Guilty Pleas ................... 872
2. Failure to Submit Duress Instruction ....................... 873
3. Deliberate Ignorance Instruction ........................... 875
E. Contact with a Juror ............................................ 876
F. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel ............................... 877
G. Sentencing Issues ............................................... 877
1. Esnoraldo Posada"Rios ...................................... 878
2. Mena ....................................................... 878
3. Murga ...................................................... 879
4. Varon ...................................................... 880
5. Gamboa ..................................................... 880
6. Rios"Castano ............................................... 880
7. Gage ....................................................... 881
8. Jackquet ................................................... 881
IV. CONCLUSION ........................................................... 882
Page 841
Before KING and STEWART, Circuit Judges, and LAKE, * District Judge.
SIM LAKE, District Judge:
In December of 1992 a 134-page superseding indictment was returned charging 35 defendants with drug trafficking and related charges arising out of a conspiracy that began in 1985. After 84 days of trial, the ten defendants who are parties to this consolidated appeal were convicted of a number of offenses. Most of the defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support their convictions, and various defendants challenge a number of the trial court's rulings before and during trial and at sentencing. Except as to the RICO conspiracy conviction of Carlos Antonio Mena, we AFFIRM the judgments of the trial court.
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
A. Samuel Posada-Rios Organizes "La Compania"
In 1985 Leoncio Ysreal Espaillat 1 met Fabio Ochoa, Jr., a Colombian cocaine supplier,
Page 842
and Samuel Posada-Rios. From 1986 through 1988 Espaillat stored approximately 12,000 kilograms of Fabio Ochoa's cocaine at Espaillat's ranch in the Dominican Republic. Some of the cocaine was delivered to Samuel Posada-Rios, who was then operating from Tampa, Florida. Samuel Posada-Rios and his partner, Carlos Moncada Rendon, formed a cocaine trafficking enterprise known as "La Compania." Samuel Posada-Rios' inner circle of associates included Miguel Cardona and Luis Gerardo Rios-Castano ("a/k/a Luis Rios "; a/k/a "Flecha ") 2 (both of whom operated as transporters and assassins for the organization), Pepo Rendon (Carlos Rendon's brother), Wilson Patino, Mario Restrepo, and Mercedes Agredo. Samuel Posada-Rios supplied cocaine to a number of major distributors, including Esnoraldo De Jesus Posada-Rios, Jose Aref-Mohammed, Enrique Perez, Jose Hernandez, Harold Cortes, and Wonda Cortes. Each of the major distributors had his or her own distributor customers.At Samuel Posada-Rios' direction Espaillat began transporting drugs and money from Los Angeles to New York and Miami in 1986. On his first trip Espaillat flew to Los Angeles and was driven by Samuel Posada-Rios from the airport to the cocaine stash house. After hiding the cocaine in a secret compartment in a camper of a small truck, Espaillat drove to Queens, New York, and delivered the cocaine to Esnoraldo De Jesus Posada-Rios. Shortly thereafter, Samuel Posada-Rios moved his drug trafficking operations from Tampa to Houston. Samuel Posada-Rios began paying Espaillat $10,000 a month to assist in driving 25- to 200-kilogram loads of cocaine from Houston to Austin, Dallas, New York, and Colorado by renting cars and finding apartments and storage for the cocaine.
In early 1987 Espaillat delivered two loads, of 10 and 25 kilograms, to Aref-Mohammed at the instructions of Samuel Posada-Rios. Aref-Mohammed then asked to meet Samuel Posada-Rios, and the two began dealing directly with one another. Espaillat then began making cocaine deliveries at least twice a month to "Chu Chu," an employee of Aref-Mohammed. Henry Alfredo Garcia also transported cocaine from Samuel Posada-Rios to Aref-Mohammed through Chu Chu.
In 1987 most of the cocaine delivered to Samuel Posada-Rios in Houston arrived over land. On September 6, 1987, however, 850 kilograms of cocaine arrived in Houston on a ship from Colombia and was transported to Samuel Posada-Rios' house in the Mission Bend area of Houston. Present at the house to count and distribute the cocaine were Samuel Posada-Rios, Espaillat, Enrique Perez, Mercedes Agredo, Miguel Cardona, Rios-Castano, and Chu Chu. Perez and Aref-Mohammed received 350 kilograms, and the remaining 500 kilograms went to Samuel Posada-Rios. Espaillat delivered $675,000 in cash to the captain of the ship as...
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