People v. Poleon

50 V.I. 144, 2008 V.I. LEXIS 20
CourtSuperior Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedNovember 20, 2008
DocketCase No. ST-08-CR-234
StatusPublished

This text of 50 V.I. 144 (People v. Poleon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Poleon, 50 V.I. 144, 2008 V.I. LEXIS 20 (visuper 2008).

Opinion

DUNSTON, Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

(November 20, 2008)

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant’s September 29, 2008, Motion for Judgment of Acquittal, initially made orally following the jury’s return of a verdict of guilty of conspiracy to commit possession of a controlled substance, crack cocaine, with intent to distribute on September 20, 2008. Because his sole co-defendant was acquitted of conspiracy, Defendant contends that the rule of consistency requires his acquittal as well, and he further alleges that there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction for conspiring with anyone other than his co-defendant. On October 10, 2008, the People opposed the Motion, asserting that the evidence was sufficient to establish that Defendant also conspired with the confidential informant (the “Cl”) who made a controlled purchase of narcotics from Defendant.

FACTS

At trial, the People presented overwhelming evidence of the drug transaction between Defendant and the Cl, including a video and audio recording, the testimony of the Cl and several surveillance witnesses, the crack cocaine and packaging delivered by Defendant to the Cl, the money [146]*146paid to Defendant by the Cl, and expert testimony identifying the controlled substance as crack cocaine. Additionally, the People presented a statement of Defendant in which he admitted he agreed to find the drugs for the Cl, left the area in his own vehicle, found the co-defendant, brought the co-defendant back to the area where he had spoken to the Cl, received drugs from the co-defendant, and gave those drugs to the Cl in exchange for money. Before the statement was admitted, the Court ordered redaction of the references identifying the person from whom he got the drugs as his co-defendant. Moreover, during deliberations, the jury sent the Court a note inquiring whether the Agreement Between Conspirators instruction permitted them to find that the person with whom Defendant formed a conspiratorial agreement was someone other than the co-defendant. The Court instructed them that they could, but also referred them to other instructions.

LEGAL STANDARDS

Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, made applicable to the Superior Court through Rule 7 of the Rules of the Superior Court, permits a defendant to move for a judgment of acquittal following the return of a jury verdict when the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction. A judgment of acquittal must be granted when, viewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to, and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of, the prosecution, the Court determines as a matter of law that a reasonable jury could not find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Walters v. Virgin Islands, 36 V.I. 101, 172 F.R.D. 165 (D.V.I. 1997), affd., 135 F.3d 764 (3rd Cir. 1997); United States v. Charles, 35 V.I. 306, 949 F. Supp. 365 (D.V.I. 1996).

DISCUSSION

The Rule of Consistency

At common law, the rule of consistency provided that where all but one of the alleged participants in a conspiracy have been acquitted, the conviction of the remaining conspirator must be vacated. There is little decisional law in the Virgin Islands regarding the rule. Defendant correctly points out that Government v. Hoheb, 111 F.2d 138, 140 (3rd Cir. 1985), indicated that the rule of consistency may be applied in a case, such as this one, where the acquittals and the conviction were rendered in [147]*147the same trial by the same jury. However, ultimately, Hoheb does not support entry of a judgment of acquittal in favor of Defendant.

Franke Hoheb, then the Chief Enforcement Officer of the Virgin Islands Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs, and his brother Derek Parrilla, were charged with conspiracy with intent to distribute marijuana for their development of, and participation in, a detailed plan with undercover DEA agents to import 150 pounds of the drug into the Virgin Islands. At trial, both were convicted of simple possession of a controlled substance arising out of the delivery of a sample of the drugs, and Hoheb was convicted of conspiracy, while Parrilla was acquitted. The Hon. Almeric A. Christian granted Hoheb’s motion for judgment of acquittal, based on Parrilla’s acquittal by the jury and a finding that the evidence was insufficient to support Hoheb’s conviction

After the Government appealed, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Judicial Circuit reversed the trial court’s ruling on the conspiracy charge and reinstated the verdict. Relying upon Hoheb’s active participation in the importation scheme, the conclusion that certain of the defendants’ actions necessarily suggested that additional persons were involved in the plan, and admissions by Hoheb while the crime was in progress, the court held there was substantial evidence upon which a reasonable jury could conclude that Hoheb conspired with someone other than Parrilla to commit the crime. The court pointed out that its prior decisions had addressed the rule of consistency only in dicta, and, after later indicating that it did not decide whether the rule of consistency retained validity, the Third Circuit found that the continued viability of the rule of conspiracy had been brought into doubt by two decisions of the United States Supreme Court, Standefer v. United States, 447 U.S. 10, 100 S. Ct. 1999, 64 L. Ed. 2d 689 (1980) and United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 105 S. Ct. 471, 83 L. Ed. 2d 461 (1984):

... Standefer... held that a person could be convicted of aiding and abetting a crime even though his principal was acquitted in a separate proceeding . . . Powell. . . reaffirmed and explained the long established rule that a jury may reach inconsistent verdicts with respect to a single defendant in a criminal trial. The rule of consistency pertains to inconsistent verdicts for co-defendants at a single trial, and therefore neither Standefer nor Powell is directly on point. But while the situation among the cases are not identical, they are similar, and [148]*148Standefer and Powell suggest that the rule of consistency may be a vestige of the past.

(Hoheb, supra, at 142) (internal citations omitted).

In a concurring opinion, Judge Garth indicated he would go further that the majority and uphold the conviction on the basis of the Standefer and Powell decisions:

Thus, in my view it is clear that even though the crime charged is a criminal conspiracy which must involve at least two individuals, the acquittal of one defendant and the conviction of this co-defendant may nevertheless be upheld even though the verdict may be deemed inconsistent and irrational. As Chief Justice Burger wrote in Standefer, “While symmetry of results may be intellectually satisfying, it is not required.”...
It may be argued by some that neither Standefer or Powell

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Related

Hartzel v. United States
322 U.S. 680 (Supreme Court, 1944)
Standefer v. United States
447 U.S. 10 (Supreme Court, 1980)
United States v. Powell
469 U.S. 57 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Julian W. Sears v. United States
343 F.2d 139 (Fifth Circuit, 1965)
United States v. Flora Purin and Ernani Da Silva
486 F.2d 1363 (Second Circuit, 1973)
United States v. Hershey Moss
591 F.2d 428 (Eighth Circuit, 1979)
United States v. Amos A. Hopkins
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United States v. Hilda Escobar De Bright
742 F.2d 1196 (Ninth Circuit, 1984)
United States v. Clifford Hayes
775 F.2d 1279 (Fourth Circuit, 1985)
Government of the Virgin Islands v. Franke Hoheb
777 F.2d 138 (Third Circuit, 1985)
The United States of America v. Eddie Barboa
777 F.2d 1420 (Tenth Circuit, 1985)
United States v. Sylvester Andrews
850 F.2d 1557 (Eleventh Circuit, 1988)
United States v. Wayne S. Dakins
872 F.2d 1061 (D.C. Circuit, 1989)
United States v. Bruno Mancari
875 F.2d 103 (Seventh Circuit, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
50 V.I. 144, 2008 V.I. LEXIS 20, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-poleon-visuper-2008.