United States v. Jose Carlos Martell, A/K/A Saul Garcia Ramos

906 F.2d 555, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 12046, 1990 WL 90282
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 19, 1990
Docket89-8302
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 906 F.2d 555 (United States v. Jose Carlos Martell, A/K/A Saul Garcia Ramos) 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. Jose Carlos Martell, A/K/A Saul Garcia Ramos, 906 F.2d 555, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 12046, 1990 WL 90282 (11th Cir. 1990).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

This appeal arises from the conviction of appellant Jose Carlos Martell (Martell) of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiring to import more than five kilograms of cocaine, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise by distributing and importing more than 150 kilograms of cocaine, traveling interstate to facilitate a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and conducting a financial transaction involving the proceeds of dealing in cocaine. Martell raises a plethora of issues involving the sufficiency of the indictment, the admission into evidence of a prior conviction for possession of cocaine, and the propriety of the sentence he received. We reject Martell’s contentions as to all issues, save the issue regarding sentencing. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the conviction, VACATE the sentence, and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

On December 13, 1988, Martell was charged in five counts of a seven-count indictment with violating various narcotics laws. In Count One, the government states that Martell conspired to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; in Count Two, the government alleges that Martell conspired to import more than five kilo *557 grams of a mixture containing cocaine hydrochloride; in Count Three, the government accuses Martell of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise; in Count Six, the government alleges that Martell traveled in interstate commerce between Florida and Georgia to promote and participate in a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine; and in Count Seven, the government states that Martell conducted a financial transaction involving the proceeds of cocaine dealing. 1 Martell pleaded not guilty to all counts and filed a motion to dismiss the continuing criminal enterprise count, contending that the government had failed to inform him of a particular predicate offense in the indictment. Additionally, Martell filed a motion requesting a bill of particulars regarding the offense upon which the continuing criminal enterprise charge was predicated. These motions were denied.

The case went to trial on January 10, 1989. Because of highly prejudicial statements of a government witness, the district court declared a mistrial on January 17. A new jury was impaneled, and a new trial commenced on January 19, 1989. The trial resulted in a guilty verdict on all counts in which Martell was charged.

On March 30,1989, the court conducted a sentencing hearing and determined through reference to the sentencing guidelines that the appropriate sentence is 235 months served consecutive to the term Martell then was serving. The court imposed an additional ten year sentence to be served consecutive to the 235 months for committing the offense while on release. DISCUSSION

We address three of the numerous issues raised by appellant. 2 Martell initially contends that regarding the continuing criminal enterprise count, the indictment is insufficient because it fails to describe with particularity the offenses forming the predicate for a continuing criminal enterprise. Count Three of the indictment reads:

That from on or about December, 1983, and continuously thereafter, up to and including February 13, 1988, in the Northern District of Georgia and elsewhere, the defendant,
JOSE CARLOS MARTELL
a/k/a Saul Garcia Ramos
knowingly, willfully, and intentionally did engage in a continuing criminal enterprise, in that he violated Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841, 846, 952 and 963 by doing, causing, facilitating, and aiding and abetting the possession with the intent to distribute, the distribution, importation of more than 150 kilograms of a mixture containing cocaine hydrochloride as alleged in but not limited to Counts One and Two of this indictment, which are incorporated herein by reference, and which violations were a part of a continuing series of violations undertaken by defendant, JOSE CARLOS MARTELL, a/k/a Saul Garcia Ramos in concert with at least five other persons with respect to whom JOSE CARLOS MARTELL, a/k/a Saul Garcia Ramos occupied a position of organizer, a supervisory position, and any other position of management, and from which JOSE CARLOS MARTELL, a/k/a Saul Garcia Ramos obtained substantial income and resources, all in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 848.

Rl-39-3. Martell asserts that the description of the predicate offenses as violations of 21 U.S.C. sections 841, 846, 952 and 963 did not put him on notice of the particular predicate offenses that the government would seek to prove at trial. 3

*558 “An indictment charging a [continuing criminal enterprise] is sufficient for constitutional purposes if it articulates in statutory language the elements of the violation.” United States v. Alvarez-Moreno, 874 F.2d 1402, 1410 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 1484, 108 L.Ed.2d 620 (1990). A conspiracy to import cocaine offense in violation of 21 U.S.C. section 963 may appropriately be considered a predicate offense to a continuing criminal enterprise, and the government is under no duty to provide defendant with all overt acts that might be proven at trial. Alvarez-Moreno, 874 F.2d at 1411; United States v. Rosenthal, 793 F.2d 1214, 1227 (11th Cir.), modified on other grounds, 801 F.2d 378 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 919, 107 S.Ct. 1377, 94 L.Ed.2d 692 (1987). Furthermore, a defendant is not entitled to a bill of particulars “with respect to information which is already available through other sources.” Rosenthal, 793 F.2d at 1227.

In this case, the indictment tracked the statutory language of 21 U.S.C. section 848(c), 4 informing Martell that the government sought to prove a continuing series of violations of sections 841, 846, 952 and 963 of Title 21 from December 1983 up to and including February 13, 1989, and that the two conspiracy counts in the indictment described two of the series of violations the government would attempt to prove. Considering additionally that Martell had been tried once before on the indictment and was acutely aware of the prior offenses that the government sought to prove at that trial, which resulted in a mistrial, we are confident that Martell was adequately informed of the charges against him and was accorded the opportunity to plan his defense accordingly.

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Bluebook (online)
906 F.2d 555, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 12046, 1990 WL 90282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jose-carlos-martell-aka-saul-garcia-ramos-ca11-1990.