United States v. Hassan

280 F. App'x 271
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJune 6, 2008
Docket07-4602
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 280 F. App'x 271 (United States v. Hassan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth 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. Hassan, 280 F. App'x 271 (4th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Hatem Abu Hassan appeals his convictions for trafficking in goods bearing a counterfeit mark, and aiding and abetting the same, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2320(a) and 2. We affirm.

I

In the summer of 2004, the Wilson Police Department began to investigate whether some of the convenience store owners in the Wilson, North Carolina area were trafficking in stolen goods. Hassan, who owned a convenience store in Wilson, was approached by undercover officers on July 8, 2004 to see if he was interested in purchasing purportedly stolen cigars. During his first meeting with the undercover officers, Hassan purchased ten boxes of Cigarillo cigars for $100. Later that day, the undercover officers returned to Hassan’s convenience store and inquired whether he was interested in purchasing purportedly stolen baby formula. Hassan told the officers that he had a friend who would purchase all of the baby formula that the undercover officers could provide. Thereafter, on numerous occasions, Hassan purchased purportedly stolen baby formula from the undercover officers. All of the purportedly stolen goods sold to Hassan were contained in their original factory packaging.

Sometime in July 2004, the undercover officers learned that Hassan was selling pills bearing trademarks registered to the drug manufacturer Pfizer, Inc. The use of the Pfizer trademarks on the pills made the pills appear to be genuine Viagra pills. During a baby formula transaction on July 19, 2004, one of the undercover officers, Detective Alfred Drayton, asked Hassan to give him a Viagra pill. In response, Hassan retrieved a pill from his cash register and gave it to Detective Drayton as a free sample, adding that “it truly works.” (J.A. 102).

On September 23, 2004, while delivering 500 cases of baby formula to Hassan, Detective Drayton asked Hassan to sell him some Viagra pills. Detective Drayton told Hassan that he had $1,000 to spend on Viagra pills, and Hassan sold Detective Drayton 200 pills for $1,000. On four other occasions, between October 2004 and January 2005, Detective Drayton purchased pills from Hassan. All told, Detective Drayton purchased approximately 1200 pills from Hassan.

At trial, a chemist testified that Viagra is a patented drug made by Pfizer and that genuine Viagra requires a doctor’s prescription before it can be dispensed. The chemist also testified that the pills Hassan sold to Detective Drayton were not genuine Viagra pills. According to the chemist, the color of the pills sold by Hassan was slightly different from that of a genuine-Viagra pill. Moreover, although the pills sold by Hassan contained the same active ingredient as a genuine Viagra pill and had similar markings as those of a genuine Viagra pill, they also contained fillers not found in a genuine Viagra pill. The government also introduced evidence showing that Hassan did not dispense the counter *273 feit Viagra pills from a bottle typically used for genuine Viagra pills. Rather, he typically retrieved the pills from an Aleve bottle, a Tylenol box, or a ziplock bag.

Following his arrest in February 2005, Hassan’s vehicle was searched. Nine counterfeit Viagra pills, similar to the ones sold to Detective Drayton, were recovered during the search. In a post-arrest statement, Hassan stated that he obtained the pills from a friend in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

On January 11, 2006, Hassan was charged by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina with one count of conspiracy to transport stolen property (baby formula) in interstate commerce, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2314 and 371, five counts of transporting stolen property (baby formula) in interstate commerce, and aiding and abetting the same, id. §§ 2314 and 2, and five counts of trafficking in goods bearing a counterfeit mark, and aiding and abetting the same, id. §§ 2320(a) and 2. At trial, the district court dismissed one of the § 2314 counts because the government failed to meet the interstate commerce element. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury convicted Hassan of the remaining counts.

The district court sentenced Hassan to 37 months’ imprisonment, concurrent on each count. Hassan filed a timely notice of appeal. On appeal, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions on the § 2320(a) counts.

II

We review de novo the district courts decision to deny a motion for judgment of acquittal pursuant to Rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. United States v. Osborne, 514 F.3d 377, 385 (4th Cir.2008). Where, as here, the motion was based on a claim of insufficient evidence, “[tjhe verdict of a jury must be sustained if there is substantial evidence, taking the view most favorable to the Government, to support it.” Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942); Osborne, 514 F.3d at 385. Substantial evidence is evidence “that a reasonable finder of fact could accept as adequate and sufficient to support a conclusion of a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Burgos, 94 F.3d 849, 862 (4th Cir.1996) ten banc). We consider circumstantial and direct evidence and allow the government the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the facts proven to those sought to be established. Id. at 858.

In resolving issues of substantial evidence, we do not weigh evidence or review witness credibility. United States v. Saunders, 886 F.2d 56, 60 (4th Cir.1989). Rather, it is the role of the jury to judge the credibility of witnesses, resolve conflicts in testimony, and weigh the evidence. United States v. Manbeck, 744 F.2d 360, 392 (4th Cir.1984).

Section 2320(a) prohibits “intentionally traffic[king] or attempt[ing] to traffic in goods or services and knowingly us[ing] a counterfeit mark on or in connection with such goods or services.” In order to prove a violation of § 2320(a), the government must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant “(1) trafficked or attempted to traffic in goods or services; (2) did so intentionally; (3) used a counterfeit mark on or in connection with such goods and services; and (4) knew the mark was counterfeit.” United States v. Habegger,

Related

United States v. Awni Shauaib Zayyad
741 F.3d 452 (Fourth Circuit, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
280 F. App'x 271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hassan-ca4-2008.