United States v. James R. Monaco and Eugene O. Hicks

702 F.2d 860
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedApril 6, 1983
Docket80-5595
StatusPublished
Cited by70 cases

This text of 702 F.2d 860 (United States v. James R. Monaco and Eugene O. Hicks) 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. James R. Monaco and Eugene O. Hicks, 702 F.2d 860 (11th Cir. 1983).

Opinion

R. LANIER ANDERSON, III, Circuit Judge:

James Ronald Monaco and Eugene O. Hicks appeal their convictions for conspiring to import marijuana into the United States in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 963 (West 1981) and for importation of marijuana into the United States in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 952(a) (West 1981). We affirm the convictions, but remand for resentenc-ing of appellant Hicks.

I. BACKGROUND

On October 4, 1977, appellants were indicted along with three other persons for conspiracy to import marijuana, importation of marijuana, and distribution of marijuana. After a jury trial in early 1978, Monaco, Hicks and one co-defendant were convicted on all three counts; the other two co-defendants were acquitted on all counts. Several months after the conclusion of the 1978 trial, appellants and their convicted co-defendant discovered that the government had failed to disclose certain Jencks Act material, see 18 U.S.C.A. § 3500 (West 1969), to the defense. They also learned that three of the government’s witnesses at the first trial had violated the court’s witness sequestration order. Based on these revelations, appellants and their co-defendant filed a motion for a new trial, which was granted. See Record on Appeal, vol. 2, at 433-36. Before the new trial began, the government dismissed the charges against the third co-defendant.

At the second trial, which also was a jury trial, appellants again were convicted of conspiracy to import marijuana and impor *864 tation of marijuana. 1 The district court entered judgment on these convictions, and this appeal followed.

The major issues on this appeal involve the admissibility of John Steel’s testimony from the first trial (Part II); the admissibility of certain hearsay declarations of Joseph Nadaline as related by Richard Manfredi (Part III); the sufficiency of the evidence as to both appellants (Part IV); and a challenge to Hicks’ sentence based on Bifulco v. United States, 447 U.S. 381, 100 S.Ct. 2247, 65 L.Ed.2d 205 (1980), and North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969) (Part V).

II. ADMISSIBILITY OF PRIOR TESTIMONY OF JOHN STEEL

A. FACTS

The government’s first witness at appellants’ second trial was John Steel. Although Steel had testified at appellants’ first trial, he had indicated prior to the second trial that he was unwilling to testify again. See 1st Supp. Record on Appeal, vol. 1, at 4, 8. Nevertheless, when Steel was called to the stand he began to answer questions about his personal background and his involvement in marijuana smuggling. 2 Steel indicated that in late 1975 and early 1976 he was a major organizer in the smuggling and distribution of marijuana from South America into the United States. Specifically, Steel arranged the transportation of marijuana on large ocean-going vessels and the offloading of marijuana onto smaller boats to bring the drugs ashore. One of the vessels under Steel’s supervision at this time was the CIÑA IV or GINA IV. 3 Steel testified that in mid-February of 1976, this vessel was bringing a load of marijuana from Columbia to an offloading point somewhere near the Bahamas.

After eliciting these facts from Steel, the prosecutor began a line of questions designed to tie appellants to Steel’s smuggling activities. However, Steel refused to testify any further. Record on Appeal, vol. 9, at 43-44; id., vol. 10, at 37-39. At first, Steel stated that he would not testify because he feared reprisals in jail. 4 A public defender *865 then was appointed to represent Steel and advised him that he had a right not to testify under the Fifth Amendment, despite the fact that the government had granted him use immunity. 5 In any event, Steel persisted in his refusal to testify even though the court ordered him to testify and held him in contempt for failing to do so.

*866 At this point in the proceedings, the government sought to read the transcript of Steel’s testimony at the first trial into the record. The defense objected to the admission of this prior testimony, pointing out that Steel was one of the witnesses who had violated the court’s witness sequestration order at the first trial. According to the defense, the opportunity to cross-examine Steel at the first trial had not been adequate because the sequestration violation had not been revealed until after the trial was over. In addition, the defense argued, the fact that the sequestration violation took place made Steel’s first-trial testimony inherently unreliable. The district court rejected these contentions, ruling that Steel’s refusal to testify rendered him unavailable within the meaning of Fed.R.Evid. 804(a)(2) and, therefore, that Steel’s prior testimony was admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule under Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(1). Consequently, the court permitted the government to read into the record the entire transcript of Steel’s direct examination at the first trial.

The most important aspects of Steel’s direct examination testimony from the first trial can be summarized as follows: Steel indicated that he had difficulty procuring boats to handle the offloading of 50,000 pounds of marijuana from the CINA IV in early February of 1976. Steel discussed this problem with John Boyd, 6 and Boyd stated that he knew a person who had “the ability and the boats to take the marijuana off the CINA IV.” Record on Appeal, vol. 10, at 105. Subsequently, on February 10 or 12,1976, Boyd brought appellant Monaco to a meeting at Steel’s home. At the meeting, Boyd and Monaco agreed to offload the CIÑA IV and smuggle the marijuana into the United States. Steel gave Boyd a secret signal code and one-half of a 50-peso note that the captain of the CIÑA IV would use to identify the persons who had been hired to unload the marijuana. Boyd later told Steel that he had given the signal code and the half of the 50-peso note to Monaco. A day or two later, Steel’s partner in Columbia informed Steel that approximately 1,200 pounds of marijuana had been removed from the CINA IV. When Steel asked Boyd to ascertain who had taken the marijuana from the CINA IV, Boyd arranged a meeting with a person named “Hickey” who supposedly was working with Monaco. Steel later identified “Hickey” as appellant Hicks. Hicks denied any responsibility for the 1,200 pounds of marijuana, but stated that he thought he knew who had taken the marijuana off the CIÑA IV.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
702 F.2d 860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-james-r-monaco-and-eugene-o-hicks-ca11-1983.