U.S. v. Schmidt
| Decision Date | 10 January 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-5247MN,90-5247MN |
| Citation | 922 F.2d 1365 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Randy Charles SCHMIDT, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Ronald Meshbesher, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.
Margaret Burns, Asst. U.S. Atty., Minneapolis, Minn., for appellee.
Before ARNOLD and MAGILL, Circuit Judges, and BATTEY, * District Judge.
Randy Schmidt appeals his conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1) (1981), and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846. Schmidt argues that the district court 1 erred because there was insufficient evidence to support either conviction and because the jury instructions were flawed. Furthermore, Schmidt argues that because he received ineffective assistance of counsel, we should reverse his convictions and grant him a new trial. We dismiss without prejudice Schmidt's ineffective assistance of counsel claim since it is more properly raised in a habeas proceeding. Because there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions and because the jury instructions did not contain any plain errors, we affirm.
Schmidt was the last link in a cocaine distribution chain that started in Tucson, Arizona and ended in Mankato, Minnesota. Charles Babich, the Arizona supplier, sold cocaine in kilogram amounts to Ron Boelter in Mankato, Minnesota. Boelter then sold the cocaine to local distributors in Mankato. Schmidt was one of these local distributors. Schmidt met Boelter in 1985, the same year Boelter began selling drugs. In March of 1987, Boelter purchased his first kilogram of cocaine from Babich. Boelter then sold this cocaine in quarter-pound, multiple-ounce and ounce quantities to Randy Schmidt and four or five other regular customers. Until he was arrested on October 28, 1987, Boelter received two kilograms of cocaine from Babich approximately every other month. During that time, Boelter continued to sell this cocaine to Schmidt and other local distributors. Boelter testified that he occasionally "fronted" the cocaine to his customers and allowed them to pay him after they had resold it.
Two weeks before his arrest, Boelter received his last two-kilogram shipment of cocaine from Babich. Boelter sold approximately four ounces of this cocaine to Schmidt. After his arrest, Boelter agreed to cooperate with the authorities by taping conversations and meetings with Schmidt regarding Schmidt's drug debt. Two of these tapes were played for the jury. Boelter testified that Schmidt admitted to owing Boelter $5,500 for drugs in one of the taped conversations. One of the tapes played to the jury contained the following dialogue:
BOELTER: I kind of ah, got rid of everything I had to get rid of it. I'm workin' on somethin' ... (laughing) so scared and stuff. I got a guy
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Tr. of Nov. 5, 1987 Conversation, Gov.Ex. 8A, at 3. Boelter explained that Schmidt was asking for more cocaine for his customers. The government argued that Schmidt's request constituted an admission that he had distributed all the cocaine (approximately 100 grams) he purchased from Boelter in less than one month, thus providing a basis for the charge of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute.
Boelter also testified that from March 1987 through October 1987, he made several multi-ounce cocaine sales to Schmidt. A government expert witness testified that this amount of cocaine constituted "dealer" quantities, not "personal use" quantities.
Schmidt opposed the government's proposed conspiracy instruction because it allowed the jury to find Schmidt guilty of conspiracy even if he was not aware of Babich's existence. The court resolved the dispute by submitting the following instruction:
In determining whether a conspiracy existed, it is not necessary that the conspirators made a formal agreement or that they agreed on every detail of the conspiracy. But it is not enough that they simply met, discussed matters of common interest or acted in similar ways or perhaps even helped one another. You must find beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a joint plan to deal in drugs.
It is not necessary that the Government prove the defendant knew the identity of other conspirators or that he had direct contact with them. The Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, however, that the defendant knew that there were other conspirators.
Trial Tr. at 191. Neither party objected to any of the jury instructions. The jury convicted Schmidt and the court sentenced him to ten years' imprisonment.
Schmidt first claims that the jury had insufficient evidence to convict him of either possession with intent to distribute cocaine or conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine. When a defendant attacks a conviction because of insufficiency of evidence, this court must "view the evidence, including all reasonable inferences that may be logically drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the Government." United States v. Springer, 831 F.2d 781, 784 (8th Cir.1987); see also United States v. Patterson, 886 F.2d 217, 219 (8th Cir.1989) (per curiam). Therefore, we must not reweigh evidence, but only decide if "any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) (emphasis in original); see Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942).
On the charge of possession with the intent to distribute, Schmidt argues that the "vague" testimony of Boelter, Schmidt's supplier, should be discounted because Boelter was a drug addict, an admitted liar, and a plea-bargainer. Schmidt also attacks the veracity of the government's expert witness testimony. Even if all these claims are true, they are irrelevant. On a sufficiency of the evidence claim, we must resolve all evidentiary conflicts in favor of the government, and "can only reverse if we conclude that a reasonable fact-finder could not have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." United States v. Peters, 912 F.2d 208, 210 (8th Cir.1990) (citations omitted) (quoting United States v. Shurn, 849 F.2d 1090, 1093 (8th Cir.1988)).
To convict Schmidt of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine, the government had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Schmidt (1) knowingly possessed cocaine, and (2) possessed it with the intent to distribute. United States v. Turpin, 920 F.2d 1377, 1383 (8th Cir.1990). Schmidt does not contest that he knowingly possessed the cocaine; he argues that there was insufficient evidence to support a finding that he had the intent to distribute it. It is well-settled in this circuit that intent can be proven by circumstantial evidence. See Turpin, at 1383; Patterson, 886 F.2d at 219; United States v. Matra, 841 F.2d 837, 840 (8th Cir.1988).
The government presented sufficient evidence to support the finding that Schmidt intended to distribute....
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