United States v. Blake-Saldivar

505 F. App'x 400
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 7, 2012
DocketNos. 10-6029, 10-6031, 10-6032, 10-6422, 10-6440
StatusPublished

This text of 505 F. App'x 400 (United States v. Blake-Saldivar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Blake-Saldivar, 505 F. App'x 400 (6th Cir. 2012).

Opinion

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

Defendants-appellants were convicted of conspiracy to distribute a massive amount of marijuana. Of thirty-three indicted defendants, seven went to trial, and five were found guilty. All five now appeal. Although the individual cases share common facts, many of the issues on appeal are unique to each individual. The issues on appeal include evidentiary issues, challenges to the jury instructions, arguments about the sufficiency of the evidence, allegations of a mistrial, and sentencing challenges. As explained below, none of the defendants-appellants’ arguments warrants reversal.

I. BaCkground

A. Investigation of the Conspiracy

This case began with a handful of traffic stops and ended with the disruption of a major network of drug distribution that brought marijuana from Mexico to places like Johnson City, Tennessee. Sheriffs’ departments in eastern Tennessee conducted the first two stops. In the first stop, on August 9, 2007, defendant Jesus Huerta, defendant Carlos Hernandez, and two other men were found with $1400, an unlawful Glock nine-millimeter handgun, and ammunition. Huerta also had 2.8 grams of cocaine on his person. After Huerta was charged with federal drug and firearms offenses, Huerta made two proffer statements to DEA agents regarding his trafficking activities. In the second stop, in November 2007, a codefendant who is not part of this appeal was caught [403]*403with forty-four pounds of marijuana in a rental car. Based on connections between a business card that was found in the rental car and a triple murder in Louisville, Kentucky, DEA Special Agent Michael Templeton opened a federal investigation.

Following these two stops, federal agents stopped two cars leaving Huerta’s house. In one car, Huerta possessed a social security card and birth certificate bearing the name of James Loya. In the other car, Raymundo Miller-Guerra (who is believed to have been the leader of the conspiracy) was driving and defendant Javier Flores-Delacruz, Miller-Guerra’s brother-in-law, was a passenger. When asked for identification, Flores-Delacruz presented identification bearing the name of James Loya and a photograph of Huerta. During a search of this vehicle, agents seized over $21,000.

While these first four stops indicated illegal and suspicious activity, a fifth stop revealed the scale of the conspiracy. On May 13, 2008, Texas state troopers pulled over a recreational vehicle (RV) because it twice crossed the white “fog line” and drove on the shoulder. The driver, defendant Wiley E. Barnett, consented to a search, and the troopers found approximately six hundred pounds of marijuana in seventeen bundles.

Two weeks after the stop of the RV, agents went to 750 Georgia Street, Johnson City, Tennessee on an unrelated matter. On the back porch of the house, agents saw suspicious items such as money wrappers and a cooler from which the insulation had been removed. A co-defendant who is not part of this appeal consented to a search of the residence. Inside the residence, agents found marijuana, two sets of digital scales, a vacuum sealer and bags, five cellular phones, $2900 in concealed cash, and another cooler, which appeared brand new. After a trained canine alerted to the cooler, agents found $80,010 in cash concealed where the cooler’s insulation normally would be. The agents could also see marijuana growing outside the house and obtained a search warrant for the remainder of the property. After a trained canine alerted to an outbuilding, agents found freshly turned soil. Agents found buried in the hole a twelve-gauge shotgun, five handguns, and discarded plastic packaging that contained marijuana residue and was marked with silver stars and the initials ‘WB.” Based on the size of the packaging, Agent Templeton estimated that each package held ten to fifteen pounds of marijuana. In addition, the packaging appeared identical to the packaging of the bundles found in the RV that Wiley Barnett was driving. Barnett resided nearby at 760 Georgia Street and leased 750 Georgia Street.

On July 7, 2008, agents executed search warrants for other properties in Johnson City. At Hernandez’s residence, agents found digital scales, marijuana residue in a U-Haul cardboard box measuring four cubic feet, and spiral notebooks that agents characterized as drug ledgers. One notebook showed that “Chips” (later identified by codefendants as Huerta) regularly obtained ten-pound quantities. At Huerta’s residence, agents seized a vacuum sealer, a box for digital scales, and a spiral notebook alleged to be a drug ledger.

On July 30, 2008, agents obtained a search warrant for Barnett’s residence at 760 Georgia Street. Before the search began, Barnett agreed to cooperate with the agents and provided phone numbers for four people, including Miller-Guerra. Barnett said that between January and May 2008, he made four trips to and from Houston to deliver drugs or money. During the search of the property, agents [404]*404found items that linked Barnett, Huerta, and other codefendants, as well as Miller-Guerra.

A new aspect of the investigation developed in September 2008 when U.S. Forest Service officers discovered a campsite in a remote area of Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. At the campsite, officers found piles of cut marijuana as well as hundreds of marijuana plants. Using surveillance, the officers observed codefen-dants who are not part of this appeal harvesting marijuana. Early in the morning on September 23, 2008, officers saw a car near the trail leading to the campsite and heard the car’s doors being opened and shut, from which they inferred that three people had left the car and gone into the woods. Around 6:00 p.m. that evening, officers heard people coming out of the woods and saw them carrying large bags. A blue van arrived soon after and picked up the men and their bags. Using a roadblock, officers stopped the van and found that it was driven by Barnett and carried three codefendants and 193.6 pounds of fresh marijuana. Officers also found a .45-caliber pistol in the pocket of one of the duffel bags containing the marijuana.

The investigators subpoenaed Western Union for records related to the suspects. Records showed payments going to and from a number of people in the alleged conspiracy. One record showed two payments from Tina Porter to Justin Blake-Saldivar, for $2500 and $3000. Another showed a payment of $900 from “James Loya” to Flores-Delacruz. This amount was below the $1000 threshold at which Western Union requires the sender to show identification.

The alleged conspirators were arrested and the grand jury for the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a series of indict-merits. Miller-Guerra was murdered in Houston on December 8, 2009. The trial of the seven defendants took place in January 2010.

B. Arguments of Defendants-Appellants and Related Facts

1. Justin Blake-Saldivar (Appeal No. 10-6029)

The jury convicted Blake-Saldivar of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute at least one hundred, but less than one thousand, kilograms of marijuana. The key evidence against Blake-Saldivar came from Tina Porter, the girlfriend of conspirator Jose Colunga. Porter testified that in 2007 or 2008, Blake-Saldivar came to collect money that Jose Colunga owed to a Texas marijuana supplier, and on other occasions, he accepted vehicles as payments for drugs.

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505 F. App'x 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-blake-saldivar-ca6-2012.