UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Armando LOPEZ-MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant

725 F.2d 471, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 1524
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 10, 1984
Docket82-1646
StatusPublished
Cited by81 cases

This text of 725 F.2d 471 (UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Armando LOPEZ-MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Armando LOPEZ-MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant, 725 F.2d 471, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 1524 (9th Cir. 1984).

Opinion

DUNIWAY, Circuit Judge:

Lopez-Martinez appeals from his conviction on both counts of an indictment. Count 1 charged that he “did knowingly and intentionally import approximately 737.2 grams of heroin, a Schedule I narcotic drug controlled substance, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 952 and 960(b)(1).” Count 2 charged that he “did knowingly and intentionally possess with intent to distribute approximately *472 737.2 grams of heroin, a Schedule I narcotic drug controlled substance, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1).” We affirm.

I. The Facts.

Border Patrol agents arrested Lopez on June 21, 1982, in Nogales, Arizona, just after he had crossed the border from Mexico into the United States through a hole in the border fence. He was carrying a package that contained 737.2 grams of heroin. After waiving his Miranda rights, Lopez said that a man had offered to pay him $1,000 to carry the package from Hermosillo, Mexico, to Nogales, a distance of about 160 miles. He said that he did not know what was in the package, but that he had thought that it might be marihuana. The package was small and weighed about a pound and a half.

At the trial, the government introduced, as part of its case-in-chief and over Lopez’s objections, evidence of a statement that Lopez had made while under arrest in 1974 for possessing marihuana with intent to distribute it. A former Drug Enforcement Administration agent testified that in 1974 officials had stopped and confiscated two vehicles containing, between them, a total of 680 pounds of marihuana. He also testified:

I asked [Lopez] how much he was to be paid for driving the car containing the marijuana up to Tucson. He stated he was to receive a thousand dollars.

II. The Instructions to the Jury.

The trial court instructed the jury that heroin is a controlled substance, defined the two offenses — importing heroin and possessing heroin with intent to distribute it, and stated, in defining each offense, that Lopez must have “knowingly or intentionally imported . . . heroin” or “knowingly and intentionally possessed heroin ... in ... Arizona” and “possessed the heroin with intent to distribute the same.” (Instruction 8.)

The court then continued:

The Government is not required to show that the defendant knew that the
substance involved was heroin. It is sufficient if the evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly and intentionally imported and possessed a controlled substance, with intent to distribute. You are instructed that marijuana is a controlled substance within the meaning of the law. [Instruction 9]
:j; * * * *
Actual knowledge that the substance the defendant brought into the country was a controlled substance is an essential element of the offense charged. You may not find the defendant guilty of the offenses charged unless you find beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew that what he brought into the country was a controlled substance. It is not sufficient to show that he may have suspected or thought the substance was a controlled substance.
The fact of knowledge, however, may be established by direct or circumstantial evidence, just as any other fact in the case. The prosecutor has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant has actual knowledge that what he brought into the country was a controlled substance. It can meet that burden by proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was aware of the high probability that the substance was a controlled substance and acted with a conscious purpose to avoid learning the truth about the true contents of the package. [Instruction 10]
[As I stated before,] an act is done knowingly if it is done voluntarily or intentionally and not because of mistake or accident or other innocent reason.
The purpose of adding the word “knowingly” was to insure that no one would be convicted for acts done because of an omission or failure to act due to mistake or accident or other innocent reason.
Thus, if you find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not actual *473 ly aware that it was heroin he was carrying when he entered the United States, but that the only reason he did not learn it was because he deliberately chose not to learn for the very purpose of being able to assert his ignorance if he was discovered with the controlled substance in his possession, then you may find that he had the full equivalent of knowledge because his self-imposed ignorance cannot protect him from criminal responsibility.
If, however, you find that the defendant actually believed that what he was carrying was not a controlled substance, then you must acquit the defendant. [Instruction 12]

Instruction 10 was proposed by defense counsel, but the instruction as given differed from counsel’s in one important respect. At each place where “a controlled substance” appears in the court’s instruction, the word “heroin” appeared in counsel’s instruction. The court, in each instance, struck the word “heroin” and inserted the words “a controlled substance.”

Lopez argues that it was error to give instruction 9 and to modify instruction 10 as the court did. The error is said to be that knowingly and intentionally importing marihuana, or possessing marihuana with intent to distribute, were not the offenses charged by the grand jury, which expressly charged that the drug was heroin. It is reversible error to instruct a trial jury that it can convict a defendant of an offense not charged by the grand jury, even though there is ample evidence that the uncharged offense was committed. Stirone v. United States, 1960, 361 U.S. 212, 80 S.Ct. 270, 4 L.Ed.2d 252. There, the grand jury charged violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951, by extortion, which obstructed the movement of sand into Pennsylvania. The trial judge, on the basis of evidence in the record, told the jury that it could convict if the commerce affected was the movement of steel from Pennsylvania to other states. The Court reversed the conviction, holding that the instruction violated the defendant’s right, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, “to be tried only on charges presented in an indictment returned by a grand jury.” 361 U.S. at 217, 80 S.Ct. at 273. Our own decisions are to the same effect. United States v. Carlson, 9 Cir., 1980, 616 F.2d 446; Howard v. Dag-gett, 9 Cir., 1975, 526 F.2d 1388, 1390; see United States v. Kartman, 9 Cir., 1969, 417 F.2d 893.

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725 F.2d 471, 13 Fed. R. Serv. 1524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-of-america-plaintiff-appellee-v-armando-lopez-martinez-ca9-1984.