U.S. v. Williams
| Decision Date | 29 January 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-2588,85-2588 |
| Citation | 809 F.2d 1072 |
| Parties | 22 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 485 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Drake WILLIAMS, Vance E. Williams, Oscar Silva, Edward Orellana, Michael Sahs, Joseph C. Watson, Jan E. Grossman, Salvador Meraz, and Tanny Miller, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
David H. Berg, Joel Androphy, Houston, Tex., for Drake Williams.
Clyde W. Woody, Houston, Tex., for Vance Williams.
Dick DeGuerin, Houston, Tex., for Oscar Silva.
Robert S. Bennett, Houston, Tex. (Court-appointed), for Edward Orellana.
Michael E. Tigar, Austin, Tex., (Court-appointed), for Michael Sahs.
Jim Skelton, Houston, Tex., for Joseph C. Watson.
George McCall Secrest, Jr., Houston, Tex., for Jan E. Grossman.
Charles Louis Roberts, Joseph Abraham, Jr., El Paso, Tex., for Salvador Meraz.
Ray Bass, Austin, Tex. (Court-appointed), for Tanny Miller.
Mervyn Hamburg, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Henry K. Oncken, U.S. Atty., James R. Gough, Kenneth Magidson, Asst. U.S. Attys., Houston, Tex., for U.S.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before GEE and HILL, Circuit Judges, and HUNTER, * District Judge.
Nine appellants directly appeal their convictions from the district court. We affirm except as to Oscar Silva, all of whose convictions we reverse for further proceedings, as to Vance Williams, whose conviction on count 3 we reverse, as to Tanny Miller, whose convictions on counts 8 and 19 we reverse, and as to Drake Williams, as to whom we reverse on counts 5 and 6.
This criminal trial followed a 24-count indictment that originally named the nine appellants and five others. The trial commenced with ten defendants and 19 counts. The main thrust of the prosecution centered on three RICO counts: count 1--violation of 18 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1962(d) (RICO conspiracy); count 2--violation of 18 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1962(c) (substantive RICO); count 3--violation of 18 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1962(a) (). Count 1 accused all appellants except Miller. Count 2 omitted Miller, Vance Williams, and Watson. Drake and Vance Williams, 1 Silva, and Orellana were charged in count 3. Next, the indictment charged Drake Williams with conspiring to evade currency transaction reporting requirements in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 (counts 5-6) and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371 (count 7). The indictment included conspiracy to file false income tax returns in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371 (count 8--Drake Williams, Watson, Miller, and Silva), as well as the completed substantive offenses in violation of 26 U.S.C. Sec. 7206(1) () and Sec. 7206(2) (count 24--Watson). The other counts involved controlled substances violations: count 9--21 U.S.C. Sec. 846 () (Drake Williams, Silva, Watson, Grossman, and Miller); counts 16, 17, and 20--21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1) (substantive cocaine possession) (Drake Williams and Grossman); count 4--21 U.S.C. Sec. 848 (continuing criminal enterprise) (Drake Williams).
The trial proceeded with the nine appellants and Beverly Lunday. At the close of evidence, the district court dismissed count 9 as to Miller and count 3 as to Orellana for lack of evidence. The jury acquitted Lunday on each of the four counts that named her and acquitted Watson on count 9, convicting the rest on all other counts and finding that certain assets of Drake and Vance Williams, Silva and Sahs should be forfeited under the RICO and continuing criminal enterprise counts. The appellants received terms of imprisonment ranging from 5 years to 25 years and fines of up to $100,000.
The prosecutor filed this indictment on October 26, 1984. This followed an indictment filed in the same district, but dismissed five months earlier. The indictment resulted from a joint investigation between the Southern and Western Districts of Texas begun in the late 1970s to discover the connections between Sahs, Meraz, and Silva (El Paso residents) and Drake Williams, Vance Williams, and other individuals (Houston residents). The connections were many and for illicit purposes. Later, the two districts split their investigation and pursued different targets. The Western District Grand Jury indicted Sahs, Meraz, Silva, and others and they pled guilty in exchange for reduced charges. The Southern District prosecutor filed the present, more comprehensive, charges.
The government's case was founded on the testimony of Tim Cassias and Jude Peterson, both members of the drug conspiracies. Cassias was also a paid Drug Enforcement Administration informer. Peterson was a member who testified in return for immunity. The government produced other witnesses, including Laura Sahs, the wife of appellant Michael Sahs, to corroborate many of the details of Cassias's testimony. That testimony revealed a group of individuals that distributed marijuana from New Mexico to New England as well as distributing cocaine in Texas. For this appeal, we need only adumbrate the illicit activities of this organization.
In El Paso in the late 1970s, Vance Williams and Silva had a small business of trafficking in marijuana. They recruited Sahs to deliver drugs for them. Sahs delivered marijuana frequently to Orellana in Boston and Watson in Houston. These deliveries included as much as a ton of marijuana. Sahs prospered as a deliveryman, sufficiently so that soon he acquired a clientele of his own and retained Silva and Vance Williams as sources for his supplies.
Appellant Meraz supplied some of the marijuana and cocaine to this El Paso operation. Grossman lived next door to Sahs and would at times test the cocaine's purity for the gang. Watson would sell drugs to individuals referred to him by Drake Williams. Drake, along with Silva and Vance Williams, was also involved in obtaining the large initial supplies.
Cassias was one of the first customers of the group. He testified as to specific dealings of the group: the storage of tons of marijuana at a Girl Scout camp in New Mexico; the conversion of a mobile home into a one-ton marijuana transport machine; the delivery of marijuana for suitcases and paper bags full of cash; the purchase of property with the cash from drug activities; the organization behind the deliveries; and many more specific illegal activities. His testimony chronicles a continuing criminal conspiracy remarkable for its extensive distribution network and large cash flow.
Jude Peterson worked as an accountant for Drake Williams in Houston. Peterson's testimony ties in Drake Williams, Jan Grossman and Joseph Watson to the conspiracy: Grossman's delivery of cocaine; the receipt of Thai sticks by Drake; the supervisional role of Drake Williams in the conspiracy; the delivery of large amounts of cash; and other drug dealing activities.
Vance Williams was the first to run afoul of the law. While in New England delivering marijuana in 1977, he was snared in a wiretap that the New Hampshire police conducted on a large-scale distributor in the area. He pled guilty to the charge of marijuana trafficking and served approximately one year in prison and a half-way house from mid-1979 to mid-1980. His friends, however, did not forget him: they set aside $5 for each pound of marijuana they sold for Vance.
The drug activities generated large amounts of cash. Much of the money went directly into the cash purchase of real estate. Some money was laundered through Vance Williams and Silva's El Paso restaurant. Drake Williams, a certified public accountant, provided other ways to clean the money. Drake's story flows from rags (defaulting on his government student loans in 1972) to riches (owning a printing company and a Swiss bank account in excess of $700,000 in 1982). Unfortunately, it is not a Horatio Alger story. He did work hard, but also illegally. Drake laundered some money through bogus labor charges by some of his more successful clients who would provide a check and receive cash less a transaction fee. By such means, the customer would reduce his taxable income and Drake's friends would launder their money. This is the count that caught Tanny Miller on aiding tax fraud.
Drake's most successful laundering scheme involved one of his initial clients--A Jiffy, Inc., a Houston printing company. In 1978, A Jiffy faced bankruptcy. Drake personally loaned the owners cash (in brown paper bags) and later bought a controlling interest in the company. The company began making money hand over fist, mainly through the injection of drug money. Drake's personal finances began to mix with the company's finances and company checks were used to purchase personal items. The company also hired Vance Williams and Michael Sahs. Drake also laundered money by having people purchase cashiers' checks in amounts under the $10,000 reporting requirement. He successfully laundered close to $300,000 in this way.
The appellants argue many things on appeal. We address them below.
In 1982, Appellants Silva, Meraz, and Sahs were indicted in the Western District of Texas on various charges related to the charges eventually brought in the Southern District of Texas. In connection with those indictments, these three appellants entered into plea agreements with United States Attorney Bock of the Western District and pled guilty to at least one count in exchange for dismissal of other charges pending in the Western District. All three knew of the continuing investigation by United States Attorney Longoria in the Southern District and each now asserts that his agreement included an understanding that he would not be indicted in the Southern District. The trial judge conducted a hearing in which he found that the appellants' claims were untrue.
The existence of a plea agreement is a factual...
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