United States v. Gelean Mark

284 F. App'x 946
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJuly 8, 2008
Docket08-1518
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 284 F. App'x 946 (United States v. Gelean Mark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Gelean Mark, 284 F. App'x 946 (3d Cir. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

CHAGARES, Circuit Judge.

Gelean Mark (Mark) appeals from the District Court’s denial of his motion to dismiss an indictment on double jeopardy grounds. Mark contends that the drug conspiracies alleged in two separate indictments were actually a single agreement. Because the two alleged conspiracies had different objectives, we conclude that they are distinct and will affirm the District Court’s decision.

I.

On October 6, 2005, a grand jury in the Virgin Islands charged Mark, Vernon Fagan (Fagan), Walter Ells (Ells), and others in an 18-count indictment, hereinafter referred to as “Redball I.” 1 The indictment charged the defendants with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, cocaine base, and marijuana, and conspiracy to import cocaine and cocaine base. While Redball I was pending before the United States District Court for the Virgin Islands, the grand jury returned a separate 14-count indictment on December 19, 2006, naming Mark, Fagan, Ells, and others as defendants. This indictment, here *948 inafter referred to as “Redball II,” alleged conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and conspiracy to import cocaine. 2

The jury trial in Redball I began on March 5, 2007 and ended in a mistrial on March 27, 2007 due to a deadlocked jury. The jury trial in Redball II began on September 5, 2007. The jury returned a partial verdict of guilty with respect to Mark and co-defendant Henry Freeman on Count I of the Redball II indictment, and the trial judge declared a mistrial on the remaining Redball II counts and defendants on October 1, 2007. On January 28, 2008, Mark filed a motion to dismiss Counts I and XVIII of the Redball I indictment, contending that, given his conviction on Count I in Redball II, reprosecution of the conspiracy counts in the Redball I indictment would violate his double jeopardy rights. The District Court denied his motion, and this appeal followed. We have jurisdiction to review this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and the collateral order doctrine. See Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 659, 97 S.Ct. 2034, 52 L.Ed.2d 651 (1977); United States v. Venable, 585 F.2d 71, 74 (3d Cir.1978). “Our review of double jeopardy challenges is plenary.” United States v. Smith, 82 F.3d 1261, 1265 (3d Cir.1996).

II.

In this appeal, we must decide whether Mark’s conspiracy conviction in Redball II bars retrial in Redball I under the double jeopardy clause. See U.S. Const, amend. V, cl. 2. A defendant moving to dismiss an indictment on double jeopardy grounds bears the evidentiary burden of going forward by putting his double jeopardy claim in issue. If the defendant presents a non-frivolous showing of double jeopardy, he is entitled to a pre-trial evidentiary hearing to determine the merits of his claim. Once the defendant has established his prima facie case, the burden of persuasion shifts to the Government to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the two indictments charge the defendant with legally distinct crimes. See Smith, 82 F.3d at 1266.

The double jeopardy clause prevents the Government from 'splitting one conspiracy into multiple prosecutions. See Braverman v. United States, 317 U.S. 49, 53, 63 S.Ct. 99, 87 L.Ed. 23 (1942). Generally, the same evidence test is utilized to determine whether a second prosecution is barred. Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932) (holding that test for whether two offenses are not the same is whether each offense requires proof of a fact that the other does *949 not). When the charge involves a conspiracy, however, this Court applies a “totality of the circumstances” test as established in United States v. Liotard, 817 F.2d 1074, 1078 (3d Cir.1987). This is because “successive indictments against a single defendant for participation in a single conspiracy might withstand same evidence scrutiny if the court places undue emphasis upon the evidence used to prove the commission of the overt acts alleged,” id. at 1078, and with a conspiracy, “it is the agreement which constitutes the crime, not the overt acts.” Id. (quoting United States v. Young, 503 F.2d 1072, 1076 (3d Cir.1974)). The “ultimate inquiry presented by conspiracy double jeopardy claims is whether there are two agreements or only one.” Smith, 82 F.3d at 1267. See also United States v. Becker, 892 F.2d 265, 268 (3d Cir.1989) (“The critical determination is whether one agreement existed.”)

In order to determine whether one or more agreements existed, Liotard’s totality of the circumstances test instructs us to examine four factors: (1) the “locus eriminis” of the alleged conspiracies 3 ; (2) the degree of temporal overlap between the conspiracies; (3) the overlap of personnel between the conspiracies, including unindicted co-conspirators; and (4) the similarity in the overt acts charged and role played by the defendant in each indictment. Liotard, 817 F.2d at 1077. These factors should not be rigidly applied, as “different conspiracies may warrant emphasizing different factors.” Smith, 82 F.3d at 1267. The goal is to determine “whether the overt acts alleged in the first conspiracy charge were carried out in furtherance of the broad agreement alleged in the second indictment or whether these acts were carried out in furtherance of a different agreement.” Liotard, 817 F.2d at 1078 (quotation and citation omitted).

III.

Mark is correct in his assertion that there is significant overlap in the locations, time periods, and participants in the two conspiracies alleged in this case. However, we find it determinative that the conspiracies had different objectives. As the District Court concluded, the conspiracy alleged in Redball I aimed “to possess large quantities of cocaine, crack, and marijuana with intent to distribute the drugs on the streets of St. Thomas for financial gain,” App. 17, while the goal of the conspiracy alleged in Redball II was “to possess large quantities of cocaine for distribution in New York and North Carolina for financial gain.” Id. at 18. In Becker,

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United States v. Gelean Mark
666 F. App'x 162 (Third Circuit, 2016)

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284 F. App'x 946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gelean-mark-ca3-2008.