United States v. Zayas
| Citation | 32 F.4th 211 |
| Decision Date | 21 April 2022 |
| Docket Number | 20-1265 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. Louis Antonio ZAYAS, Appellant |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit) |
Joseph A. O'Brien, Esq. [ARGUED], Oliver Price & Rhodes, 1212 South Abington Road, P.O. Box 240, Clarks Summit, PA 18411, Counsel for Appellant
Michelle L. Olshefski, Esq [ARGUED], Office of United States Attorney, 235 North Washington Avenue, P.O. Box 309, Suite 311, Scranton, PA 18503, Counsel for Appellee
Before: SMITH, Chief Judge,* McKEE, and RESTREPO, Circuit Judges.
During the early morning hours on July 7, 2016, Kathryn Ann Price was found dead in her bedroom from an overdose of fentanyl
. The investigation that followed led to the arrest and prosecution of Louis Zayas. A jury subsequently convicted Zayas of distributing and conspiring to distribute the fentanyl that killed Price. He was also convicted of distributing fentanyl to someone who was pregnant as well as distributing it within 1,000 feet of a playground. The District Court sentenced Zayas to life imprisonment.
Zayas appeals arguing that the evidence was insufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, that he was prejudiced by the government's failure to timely disclose potentially exculpatory evidence, and that the Court erred by imposing two terms of life imprisonment. For the reasons below, we agree that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for distributing fentanyl within 1,000 feet of a playground as defined by the statute. However, we reject his other arguments and will therefore affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for possible resentencing.
Around midnight on July 7, 2016, a family member found Kathryn Ann Price dead in her bed. She was eight months pregnant. Investigators who responded to the emergency call observed evidence in Price's bedroom consistent with an apparent drug overdose. This included drug paraphernalia such as a spoon, syringes, and many white and blue glassine baggies. Testing of the residue in a blue baggie established that it contained fentanyl, the same substance that an autopsy would subsequently confirm as the cause of her death.
Text messages between Price and Louis Zayas shortly before her death and video from surveillance cameras outside of Price's house soon caused investigators to focus on Zayas. The text messages, which are discussed in detail infra Section II.A.1., revealed that Zayas had delivered drugs to Price the same evening that she died and that she had ingested those drugs just before her death. Additionally, a security camera captured Price engaging in transactions with the occupant of a car later confirmed to be owned by Zayas. The video also confirmed that after Price obtained drugs from Zayas, she returned to her house and subsequently left only once to walk her dog.
Based on this evidence, investigators arrested Zayas at his home about a month after Price's death. During a Mirandized interview immediately following his arrest, Zayas admitted to selling what he believed to be heroin to Price on the day she overdosed. Thereafter, Zayas entered into a plea agreement, which he subsequently withdrew. After he withdrew from the plea agreement, a federal grand jury returned a four-count superseding indictment charging him with (1) conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C) ;1 (2) distribution and possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 ;2 (3) distribution and possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a daycare center with an attached outdoor playground in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C), 860, and 18 U.S.C. § 2 ;3 and (4) distribution and possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance to a pregnant individual in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 861(f), 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C), and 18 U.S.C. § 2.4
Following the close of all the evidence at the ensuing jury trial, Zayas moved for judgment of acquittal under Rule 29(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Zayas claimed that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he delivered fentanyl to Price and that the nearby playground was not open to the public as required for a conviction on Count 3.5 He also argued that the government had to prove that he knew that Price was pregnant when he sold her drugs and that the evidence was insufficient to establish that element of Count 4.6 Finally, Zayas moved to dismiss the superseding indictment based on the government's delayed disclosure of a potentially exculpatory statement he made during a proffer interview held pursuant to his initial plea discussions with the government.
The District Court denied both motions and Zayas was convicted on all counts. The District Court subsequently sentenced Zayas to a term of life imprisonment as mandated by 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C). The sentence consisted of separate terms of life imprisonment for Counts 1 and 2 and one year of imprisonment on Counts 3 and 4, all to run concurrently. This timely appeal followed.7
"We exercise plenary review over a district court's grant or denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal based on the sufficiency of the evidence."8 We interpret the evidence in the light most favorable to the government as the verdict winner and "do not weigh evidence or determine the credibility of witnesses in making [our] determination."9 We will sustain a verdict if "any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt."10
Zayas was convicted on Count 2 of the superseding indictment for distributing the fentanyl that killed Price.11 "Zayas does not deny selling Price drugs."12 Nor does Zayas argue the government needs to prove that he knew he was selling Price fentanyl.13 Rather, he argues that the evidence is insufficient to prove that the substance he sold her was the fentanyl that caused her death. He claims that the evidence shows only that he sold her heroin. More specifically, Zayas believes that: (1) the record contains no evidence that the drugs he delivered to Price contained fentanyl, (2) there is no evidence connecting him to the blue baggie containing fentanyl found in Price's bedroom, and (3) that it is at least, if not more likely, that Price obtained the fatal drugs from someone else. We disagree.
Our standard of review of a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is highly deferential.14 As we noted at the outset, the government's evidence included text messages between Zayas and Price during the thirty-four-hour period before her death, video footage outside the Price home, and witness testimony, including admissions Zayas made after his arrest. The text messages themselves are evidence of the delivery of controlled substances, negotiating the prices and quantity of drugs, as well as locations of meetings. The relevant texts begin the day before Price's overdose.
July 5, 2016 text messages:
July 6, 2016 text messages:
At Price's request, and consistent with her 2:36 p.m. message, her friend Anthony Almeida placed $50 in the mailbox outside her home between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Video footage shows Zayas's car parking near Price's house at 3:55 p.m. on July 6. Zayas was the driver, and an individual identified as Justin Haines was in the passenger seat. Price can be seen approaching the car on the passenger side and engaging in a hand-to-hand transaction as she leans into the car.17 During the interview after his arrest, Zayas told the DEA that he and Haines obtained money from Price to sell her drugs.18 The video also shows Zayas and Haines driving away after Price went to his car. Zayas and Haines then proceeded to another location in Hazleton, Pennsylvania to get drugs to sell to Price. About an hour later, the text messaging between Price and Zayas resumed:
Zayas returned to Price's house at 5:07 p.m., between five and seven hours before Price's death. Again, Price walked to the passenger side of the car where she obtained a bundle, or ten bags of drugs, via another hand-to-hand exchange before returning to her house. Afterward, the two continued to exchange text messages:
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