United States v. Gonzalez

733 F. Supp. 29, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2330, 1990 WL 18452
District Court, D. New Jersey·Decided February 22, 1990·No. Crim. No. 88-435·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION

BROTMAN, District Judge.

Presently before the court is the formal objection of defendant Modesto Anthony Caba to the contents of the presentence report pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(3)(A). Specifically, the defense disputes the government’s calculation of the [30]*30base offense level of 26, and urges the court to find that the proper base offense level under the United States Sentencing Guidelines (hereinafter “U.S.S.G.”), codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3551 et seq. and 28 U.S.C. §§ 991-998, is Level 14. The significance of the dispute is that if the court adopts the defendant’s view and holds that Level 14 is appropriate, defendant Caba must serve from 15 to 21 months in prison, in addition to the five year mandatory enhancement under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1); by contrast, under the government’s theory, defendant Caba will be required to serve a term of incarceration from 63 to 78 months, in addition to the mandatory five year enhancement.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURE

On December 8, 1988, a grand jury indicted defendant Caba along with two co-defendants, Lorenzo Gonzalez and Raphael Vasquez, for conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to deliver, 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Count One), possession with intent to deliver 700 grams of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Count Two), and the use or carrying of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Count Three). The period of the conspiracy alleged was from November 14, 1988 to December 7, 1988. All defendants entered pleas of not guilty to all charges.

Although it may seem unnecessary to review the evidence presented at trial, as the court has already reviewed it in determining that there was sufficient evidence to support the convictions, United States v. Gonzalez, 729 F.Supp. 1057 (D.N.J.1990) (denying defendants’ motions for judgments of acquittal filed pursuant to Fed.R. Crim.P. 29(c)), defendant Caba’s objection to the presentence report requires the court to review the evidence once more. Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(e)(3)(D)(i).

At the trial, which commenced on October 16, 1989, the government introduced the testimony of Detective Salvatore Fras-cino of the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”), Fiodaliza Gabriel, DEA Agent Quinton Maddox, and DEA Agent John Gillespie. Their testimony indicated that Frascino, who was undercover, arranged to make several purchases of relatively small amounts of drugs from Gonzalez and Vasquez. Specifically, the government presented evidence that on November 16, 1988, Gonzalez and Vasquez arranged for a distribution of 49.2 grams of cocaine. This was not admitted as evidence of the underlying substantive offenses charged, but under Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). Frascino then arranged to purchase $14,000 worth of cocaine, to be delivered on December 7, 1988 at the home of Gabriel. While waiting for Frascino to arrive on the night of December 7, Caba commented that he could not wait long because he had to take care of the money. When Frascino arrived, he was taken into a back room and shown the cocaine. Caba remained in the front room. Frascino then began to go outside to his car purportedly to get the money. As he was leaving, Caba blocked his path until he said the cocaine was of good quality.

When he arrived outside, Frascino sig-nalled to the agents to enter the apartment. Upon their entry and announcement that they were police, Caba pulled a gun from his waistband. The gun was loaded and had the safety in the off position. He was subdued as he began to point it at one of the agents.

It was the position of Gonzalez and Vasquez that they had entered into a conspiracy to sell drugs, but that Caba was not a part of the conspiracy and that they had no way of knowing that he had a gun in any event. Caba admitted having the gun, but denied any knowledge of or participation in the conspiracy to sell drugs. Each defendant filed a motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of the government’s case, and each motion was denied. Thereafter, defendant Caba took the stand and testified that he had no involvement in the conspiracy to sell drugs, and denied having any knowledge that Gonzalez and Vasquez had drugs. On October 26, 1989, the jury returned a verdict finding defendant Caba guilty of Counts One and Three only, and finding Gonzalez and Vasquez each guilty of all three counts charged.

[31]*31The court denied defendants’ motions for judgments of acquittal and held that the evidence presented was sufficient as a matter of law to sustain the verdict. United States v. Gonzalez, 729 F.Supp. 1057 (D.N.J.1990).

The presentence report initially submitted to defendant calculates the base offense level with the 747.2 grams from the December 7, 1988 transaction included in the calculation. Caba maintains that to include in the sentencing determination the amount of cocaine involved in the December 7, 1988 transaction, the transaction involved in Count Two, for which Caba was acquitted, “smacks of fundamental unfairness” and triggers “at least a semblance of double jeopardy considerations.”

II. DISCUSSION

The court recognizes the apparent anomaly in holding Caba responsible at sentencing for the conduct for which the jury acquitted him; such a determination, however, neither presents a fundamental constitutional difficulty nor is it inconsistent with the purposes of the Sentencing Guidelines. As this court noted in denying defendants' motions for judgments of acquittal, “the jury acquitted Caba of the possession charge, for whatever reason_” United States v. Gonzalez, 729 F.Supp. at 1061. At no time did the court make any finding as to the quantum of evidence presented by the government as to Count Two of the Indictment as it related to Caba. Moreover, Caba does not dispute that an “[ajcquittal does not have the effect of conclusively establishing the untruth of all the evidence introduced against the defendant.” United States v. Bernard, 757 F.2d 1439, 1444 (4th Cir.1985) (quoting United States v. Sweig, 454 F.2d 181, 184 (2d Cir.1972)). A verdict of acquittal demonstrates only a lack of proof beyond a reasonable doubt of all of the elements of the offense charged. Id.

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United States v. Gonzalez, 733 F. Supp. 29, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2330, 1990 WL 18452 (D.N.J. 1990).

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