United States v. Desrick Gordon

662 F. App'x 814
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedNovember 10, 2016
Docket16-11141
StatusUnpublished

This text of 662 F. App'x 814 (United States v. Desrick Gordon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Desrick Gordon, 662 F. App'x 814 (11th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

After a jury trial Desrick Gordon was convicted of (1) conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(l)(A)(ii), and 846; and (2) possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(l)(A)(ii) and 18 U.S.C. § 2, He contends that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict.

I.

This case, is one of several arising out of a drug smuggling operation involving crew members of the Norwegian Sun, a cruise ship. In late 2014, the Norwegian Sun made a scheduled stop in Honduras. Jason Carmichael, a member of the ship’s crew, used this opportunity to visit a club in Roatan. 1 According to Carmichael, a man *815 at the club approached him and offered him an opportunity to earn money by smuggling cocaine into the United States. The plan was simple. Carmichael would carry the drugs on and off the Norwegian Sun in specially-designed underwear with a pouch between the legs. He would wear tights over the underwear to keep the drugs in place. And he would wear his pants slightly lower than usual so that security would not find the drugs if he was subjected to a pat-down. Carmichael would be paid two thousand dollars for each package he successfully delivered to Tampa, Florida. He agreed to participate and carried drugs into the country several times using this method.

Carmichael was not the only crew member who smuggled cocaine into the United States on board the Norwegian Sun. Indeed, Carmichael himself recruited several of his shipmates to participate in the smuggling operation. By March 2014 Ar-kine John, Teffan Delice, Alfred Ince, Jason Cherubin, and several others had joined the operation.

At Gordon’s trial, Carmichael testified that Gordon had approached him and said he wanted to start running drugs, too. According to Carmichael, Gordon needed the money for his son, who has asthma. He agreed to let Gordon join the operation. But because Gordon was on duty, he was unable to leave the ship when Carmichael left to collect a shipment of drugs.

Carmichael testified that Gordon was upset that he was left behind because he needed the money for his sick child. Seeking to solve two problems at once, Carmichael arranged for Gordon to offload one of the two packages Arkine John had brought on board, because John had trouble walking with both packages between his legs. Another coconspirator, Cherubin, testified that a package had almost fallen out of John’s pants on the way onto the ship, causing Carmichael to be copcerned that John would get them all caught if he tried to take two packages off the ship in Tampa. Carmichael testified that it was agreed that Gordon would receive one thousand dollars for transporting the package off the Norwegian Sun.

Carmichael testified that, upon arriving in Tampa and successfully disembarking with the drugs on March 8, 2015, the conspirators called two contacts to pick them up near the Hooters restaurant at the port. Because everyone could not fit in the car, Gordon, Ince, and John removed their packages in a public restroom near the restaurant and gave them to Carmichael'. After that, Carmichael, Delice, and Cheru-bin went with the contacts in their vehicle.

What the conspirators did not know is that the Department of Homeland Security was already surveilling the contacts. Agents followed the vehicle to a Residence Inn. Carmichael testified that the contacts took them to a room at the hotel where the three conspirators handed over the drugs and received their payment. The contacts also gave Carmichael some money to take back to “the boss” in Honduras. After that, the contacts drove the conspirators back to the Hooters, dropped them off there, drove back to the hotel to shower, and headed on their way. The contacts were soon stopped by law enforcement officers, who found the cocaine in their vehicle. Most of the other conspirators were quickly arrested trying to board the ship or in their cabins. Gordon managed to make it back onto the Norwegian Sun and was not identified and arrested until some time later.

Ince and Delice also testified at Gordon’s trial and their testimony largely matched Carmichael’s account of these events, though there were some minor inconsistencies. For instance, Carmichael testified that he was given drugs by “the boss” and his son in Honduras, but none of the other conspirators knew anything *816 about the boss having a son. While Carmichael testified that he talked to John about giving Gordon one of his packages, Cheru-bin testified that Carmichael was arguing with John after John almost dropped a package coming on board. Cherubin claimed he was the one who suggested giving one of the packages to Gordon, not Carmichael. And so on.

Gordon moved for a judgment of acquittal at the close of the government’s case. After the district court denied the motion, Gordon took the stand to testify in his own defense. He testified that, although Carmichael had approached him about joining the conspiracy, he had rejected the invitation. According to Gordon, John owed him six hundred dollars. Gordon testified that he left the ship with the others on March 8 because John had promised to pay him the money that day and he wanted to send it to the mother of his sick child. He claims he was only loitering around the Hooters because it offers free wireless internet access to its patrons.

In rebuttal, the government called Jonathan Vasquéz, who had shared a jail cell with Gordon. Vasquez testified that Gordon had confessed to transporting the drugs and giving them to Carmichael in a public restroom. He also asserted that Gordon said he was going to track down the families of the coconspirators who testified against him.

At the close of all evidence, the district court denied Gordon’s renewed motion for a judgment of acquittal. The jury deliberated and found Gordon guilty of both charges against him: conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

II.

Gordon raises only one issue on appeal. He contends that there is insufficient evidence to support his convictions and that, as a result, the district court erred by denying his motion for a judgment of acquittal.

“We review both a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence and the denial of a [Federal] Rule [of Criminal Procedure] 29 motion for judgment of acquittal de novo.” United States v. Gamory, 685 F.3d 480, 497 (11th Cir. 2011).

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Bluebook (online)
662 F. App'x 814, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-desrick-gordon-ca11-2016.