United States v. Gaskins

• Decision Date: 14 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. 08–3011.,08–3011.
• Citation: 690 F.3d 569
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee v. Alvin GASKINS, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

690 F.3d 569

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee

v.Alvin GASKINS, Appellant.

No. 08–3011.

United States Court of Appeals,District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued April 24, 2012.

Decided Aug. 14, 2012.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 04cr00379–06).

Julian S. Greenspun, appointed by the court, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

Suzanne Grealy Curt, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellee. With her on the brief were Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney, and Roy W. McLeese III, Elizabeth Trosman, and John K. Han, Assistant U.S. Attorneys. Mary B. McCord, Assistant U.S. Attorney, entered an appearance.

Before: SENTELLE, Chief Judge, and HENDERSON and GARLAND, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge GARLAND.

GARLAND, Circuit Judge:

Alvin Gaskins appeals his conviction for conspiracy to distribute narcotics. After hearing oral argument on Gaskins' appeal, we issued an order reversing his conviction and directing the entry of a judgment of acquittal. Our order stated that an opinion would follow in due course. This is that opinion.

A jury convicted Gaskins of being a member of a conspiracy that was alleged to have consisted of more than twenty individuals and to have taken place over a period of five years. To describe the events of those years, the government proffered eight cooperating witnesses, more than 14,000 intercepted telephone conversations, visual and video surveillance,and evidence seized during the execution of search warrants.

Not one piece of evidence put Gaskins together with drugs, or conversations about drugs, involved in the conspiracy. None of the cooperating witnesses, many of whom pled guilty to participating in the conspiracy, described Gaskins as having any knowledge of the conspirators' drug trafficking activities. None of the recorded telephone conversations in which Gaskins participated mentioned drugs or drug transactions, whether in clear or coded language. Nor did any of the conversations of any other conspirators mention drugs or drug transactions in connection with Gaskins. No surveillance detected Gaskins engaging in drug transactions, in the presence of drugs, or engaging in any conspiratorial meetings. And despite the execution of multiple search warrants, including one at the apartment in which Gaskins lived, the government found no guns, drugs, or drug paraphernalia associated with Gaskins. Moreover, although there was substantial evidence of the wealth amassed by other conspirators, there was no such evidence regarding Gaskins. To the contrary, the only evidence was that he lived in a modest apartment with his mother.

To convict a defendant of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, the government must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant knowingly entered into the conspiracy with the specific intent to further the unlawful objective of drug distribution. We have reversed Gaskins' conviction because no reasonable juror could have so found.

I

In 2004, a grand jury returned a 100–count indictment charging 21 defendants, including Gaskins, with being members of a conspiracy to distribute narcotics that operated between 1999 and September 2004, and that spanned Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Maryland. The alleged objects of the conspiracy were the distribution of heroin, cocaine, cocaine base, and phencyclidine (PCP). Many of the 21 defendants pled guilty, and the ones who did not went to trial in two groups in 2006.

Gaskins went to trial with the second group of four defendants, which also included Gerald Eiland, Frederick Miller, and Robert Bryant. The indictment, which contained dozens of counts relating to narcotics trafficking, conspiracy, racketeering, and continuing criminal enterprise, charged Eiland and Miller with being the leaders of the conspiracy. Bryant was charged with being the conspiracy's PCP supplier.

The government's theory was that Gaskins was a “business manager” of the conspiracy. The indictment charged him with: (1) conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute ¹ heroin, cocaine, cocaine base, and PCP, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (the “narcotics conspiracy”); (2) conspiring to participate in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (the “RICO conspiracy”); and (3) four counts of using a communication facility to facilitate a drug trafficking offense, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) (the “telephone counts”).

A

1. The government's case consisted of the testimony of cooperating conspirators, wiretaps and consensual recordings, visual and video surveillance, and seizures from the execution of search warrants.

Eight cooperating witnesses testified on behalf of the government. All were deeply involved in the drug trafficking conspiracy. All but one were facing life in prison if they did not obtain a downward sentencing departure in consideration for cooperating with the government. Nonetheless, none testified about any connection between Gaskins and a narcotics conspiracy.

Darius Ames testified that he was a close friend of Eiland's and began selling drugs with him in 1997. He said that during one period, he bagged heroin for Eiland in Eiland's apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. There, he processed and bagged the drugs six to eight hours a day, twice a week, and was paid $500 per week. He testified that only he, Eiland, and Miller had keys to the apartment, and that Eiland and Miller were the only people he ever saw there. Ames also said that he was the one who paid the utility bills. He testified that another conspirator, Ricky Gore, was given most of the heroin to distribute, and that only he, Gore, and an individual named Simon Craig collected the proceeds from street distribution. Ames also testified that he made plane trips with Eiland and others to Phoenix, Arizona to obtain heroin, which they brought back to the apartment concealed in their clothes. Ames said nothing about Gaskins having any role in the conspiracy.

Ricky Gore testified that he was a “lieutenant” in Eiland's organization. During 2002–04, Gore said, Darius Ames gave him approximately 1,500 bags of heroin per week to distribute. Gore explained to the jury the coded language the conspirators used to discuss narcotics transactions. He also testified that he made between $8,000 and $10,000 a week, and that he used the money to buy luxury cars for himself, his wife, and his mistress, and to pay rent on an apartment for the mistress. Gore testified that, although he knew Gaskins socially, he did not know of anything that linked him to drugs.

The testimony of four other conspirators did not mention Gaskins. Huber Garcia testified that he supplied cocaine and heroin to Eiland and his associates, and that he made enough money from drug trafficking to spend $10,000 a month on clothes, cars, women, and jewelry. Tyrone Thomas testified that he transported drugs and money for the conspiracy, and that defendant Robert Bryant (whom the jury acquitted) was Miller's PCP supplier. Je Bradford testified that he was a distributor for Eiland. Brian Lipscombe, who sold heroin and cocaine for Eiland, testified to shooting someone on Eiland's behalf. Neither Garcia, nor Thomas, nor Bradford, nor Lipscombe said anything about Gaskins.

Another cooperating witness, Charles Brown, was Frederick Miller's cousin. Brown testified that he took plane trips to Kansas City and Los Angeles for the purpose of transporting money that Miller gave him to deliver to defendant Bryant. Brown said he did not know who made the plane reservations or who paid for them. The only person he spoke to about reservations or scheduling was Miller, who would instruct him to pick up his tickets at the airport where they had been reserved in Brown's name. Brown's testimony did not mention Gaskins in connection with any of his trips except one. On February 19, 2004, when Brown could not get on a flight to Los Angeles because he did not have proper identification, Brown called Miller. Miller told him to call Gaskins, which he did. Brown testified that he did not know why Miller told him to call Gaskins, and that he did not discuss the purposeof his trips with Gaskins.² This was the only mention of Gaskins in Brown's testimony.

The eighth cooperating witness, Rayshawn Briggs, testified that he started selling drugs acquired from Eiland in February of 2002. In 2003, Briggs was in jail, facing charges carrying a mandatory life sentence. He began cooperating with the government and was interviewed six or seven times by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office. Briggs testified that during those interviews, the government expressed an interest in Gaskins. Briggs said that he knew Gaskins from the neighborhood and that he knew Gaskins was “close” to Miller. He told the FBI that in 2001, he had asked Gaskins if he could get a quarter ounce of crack cocaine for him. Gaskins got the crack for Briggs, who paid him $250 for it. Briggs said he did not know from whom Gaskins had obtained the crack. The government does not contend that this sale was part of the narcotics conspiracy charged in this case.

Briggs also testified that he was motivated to get his pending criminal cases resolved and to get out of jail. In January 2004, he entered into a plea agreement pursuant to which he was released to help the government obtain information regarding several suspects, including Gaskins. As a condition of release, he had to report to the FBI on a daily basis. Briggs testified that he had multiple contacts and conversations with Gaskins after he was released. Although he said that Gaskins helped him fill out job and housing applications, Briggs said that none of their interactions involved the subject of narcotics.

In addition to the cooperators, the government proffered the testimony of law enforcement officers regarding evidence obtained during the government's 18–month...