Velarde-Villarreal v. United States

• Decision Date: 29 November 1965
• Docket Number: No. 19834.,19834.
• Parties: Jesus VELARDE-VILLARREAL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

354 F.2d 9 (1965)

Jesus VELARDE-VILLARREAL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 19834.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

November 29, 1965.

David Edward Creigh, San Diego, Cal., for appellant.

Manuel L. Real, U. S. Atty., John K. Van De Kamp, Asst. U. S. Atty., Chief, Crim. Div., J. Brin Schulman, Asst. U. S. Atty., Asst. Chief, Crim. Div., Phillip W. Johnson, Asst. U. S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee.

Before POPE, DUNIWAY and ELY, Circuit Judges.

POPE, Circuit Judge.

Appellant was charged in a two count indictment with knowingly importing heroin into the United States and facilitating its transportation and concealment in violation of Title 21 U.S.C. §§ 173 and 174. After pleading not guilty and waiving jury trial, appellant was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to five years imprisonment upon each count, the sentences to run concurrently. During the trial the appellant moved for the production of one Margarito, a government informer who participated with appellant in the commission of the crime as an employee of the Government agents. Appellant moved in the alternative for a dismissal of the action and a judgment of acquittal.

Upon this appeal from the judgment of conviction appellant assigns as error the failure of the court to order the production of Margarito. He asserts that because of the non-production of this informer-participant the court should have dismissed the action and that we should now reverse the judgment.

The evidence shows that the appellant participated in the sale of heroin to certain Government customs agents. It also shows that Margarito, the informer for the Government, was present and participated in the sale of heroin to the agents. Appellant testified that he had been solicited by Margarito to make a sale of the heroin and that this solicitation by Margarito had been carried on for a period of months. It occurred in Mexico and at first, according to appellant, he announced that he refused to participate in any sale of heroin. Appellant further testified that Margarito had been very insistent in his attempt to persuade appellant to join in the sale. Margarito, according to appellant, made repeated calls on him, during which he called the appellant a coward, told him that he would never improve his financial condition, and told appellant that if he had any regard for his family he would participate. Finally, appellant says, he changed his mind, yielded to these persuasions, and agreed to participate in the transactions here in question.

It would appear that Margarito might have been an important witness for the defendant-appellant had he been made available. Had Margarito been called, his testimony might possibly have served to corroborate appellant's claim of entrapment. See Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed. 2d 848.

In denying the motions made by appellant the district court stated that it did not believe the defendant's story and that entrapment had not been made out. But this is no answer to the appellant's claim that he should have had Margarito available for possible corroboration. His testimony might have convinced the judge that the defense of entrapment had been made out.

Appellant relies upon the case of Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639, and argues that the decision in that case supports his claim that it was the duty of the United States to have Margarito present to testify at the trial. We disagree. In Roviaro the question was whether it was the Government's duty to disclose to defendant the identity of an undercover informer who, it was charged, purchased narcotics from the defendant. The court held that in the circumstances of that case, the identity of the informer should have been disclosed. That is not the case here where the record shows that the appellant knew Margarito; that he had known him for a long time and was well acquainted with his identity.

It was suggested in a dictum in United States v. D'Angiolillo, 2 Cir., 340 F.2d 453, that the defendant is entitled to receive from the Government "reasonable cooperation in securing the appearance of such an informer". All that appears from the record is that one of the witnesses for the Government, a customs agent, testified that he did not know the name or the whereabouts of Margarito. Another customs agent testified that Margarito had worked with him as a paid confidential informer for the period of a year or so. This witness asserted that he did not know the name or the whereabouts of Margarito. Another customs agent testified that Margarito had worked with him as a paid confidential informer for the period of a year or so. This witness asserted that he did not know the whereabouts of Margarito; that he did not know how to contact him and stated: "He contacts me when he has information only." The agent's testimony further shows that although Margarito had contacted the customs agent after the transaction affecting the appellant, the agent had not advised Margarito that he might be required as a witness and Margarito did not indicate where he was located. When asked whether he had any knowledge of Margarito's whereabouts, the agent relied "I have none whatever. If he has information for me he will contact me. This is the only contact I have with him."

If it were made to appear that the Government, through reasonable effort, could have produced Margarito and yet failed to do so when defendant demanded such production, there should be a new trial. On the other hand, if the Government was actually unable by reasonable effort to produce him, we cannot hold that such inability would require a dismissal of the case, unless of course the Government itself purposely saw to it that Margarito disappeared, in the manner suggested hereafter. We know of no rule that the Government is under any general obligation to produce an informer.

The right of a defendant to have the testimony of such an informer, where the defense of entrapment is presented, is recognized in United States v. White, 2 Cir., 324 F.2d 814, although the court in that case noted that "Cases in this circuit and others have made it abundantly clear that the Government is not the guarantor of a special employee's appearance at trial."

In United States v. Clarke, D.C.E.D. Pa., 220 F.Supp. 905, 909, the court granted the defendant a new trial because it found the Government had not shown it had performed its "duty to expend every reasonable effort to produce the informer at trial." The defense there was entrapment. The court said: "We think common fairness made it the Government's duty to produce Flores at the trial, or, failing that, to show that reasonable efforts to produce him were fruitless." Even in that case, which goes as far as any we can find in support of appellant's position here, the Government's duty is merely one of "reasonable effort" to produce.

Looking in the other direction is the case of Washington v. United States, 5 Cir., 275 F.2d 687. There defendant claimed entrapment by a special employee of the Government and argued that he should have been acquitted because of the failure of the Government to call the special employee as a witness. This contention was rejected. The court said: (p. 690) "The government is not required to call all witnesses who are competent to testify. * * * The principle applies even to a special agent or informer who participated in the transaction."

The action of the court in that case may be explained, in part at least, by the fact that the court noted that the defendant there had made no showing of entrapment. He had made prior sales of narcotics. He did not hesitate in making the sale there in question. He arranged a sale over the telephone. The heroin was in his own possession. He complained he was not getting enough narcotics purchasers, and objected to his customers buying from others.

The case now before us is widely different. This defendant had never before been in any similar conflict with the law. There is no showing that he ever dealt with narcotics before, or that he ever possessed any. On his own testimony this presented a typical case of entrapment. See Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413; Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848.

Disturbing is certain testimony of one of the customs agents who described the departure of Margarito from the motel where the sale of the drug had taken place. That testimony was as follows: "Q. Did you see him leave? A. Yes, sir. Q. And you saw him leave by the stairway? A. Yes, sir. Q. And, I assume, going down. What did you see him do after he went down the stairway? A. He walked across the parking lot patio and disappeared out of my view walking in the direction of the Mexican border. Q. Was this on instructions from you? A. Yes. Q. And at what time was it that you saw him walking down the stairs in relation to the happenings in the room? A. Possibly three or four seconds after the knock on the door."

This testimony suggests the possibility that Margarito was sent out of the country and into Mexico by this customs agent. If the customs agent had reason to know that Margarito would be a material witness at the trial of his case and if this agent participated in a plan to have the witness disappear so that he might be unavailable to the defense his actions might constitute an obstruction of the defense within the principles expounded in Alcorta v. State of Texas, 355 U.S. 28, 78 S.Ct. 103, 2 L.Ed.2d 9. The case of Roviaro v. United States, supra, would appear to require that one in the position of this appellant should not be denied access to such an informer through any action of the United States. However, the record here is ambiguous. It is not clear whether the agent was advising Margarito to leave the country and whether that advice was given for the purpose of denying the defense...