United States v. Lechuga

769 F. Supp. 1056, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11211, 1991 WL 153407
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedAugust 2, 1991
DocketNo. 88-CR-59
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 769 F. Supp. 1056 (United States v. Lechuga) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Lechuga, 769 F. Supp. 1056, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11211, 1991 WL 153407 (E.D. Wis. 1991).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

MYRON L. GORDON, Senior District Judge.

On May 17, 1988, the defendant in the above-captioned action (along with another individual) was charged in a two-count indictment (1) with having knowingly and willfully conspired to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and (2) with having knowingly and intentionally possessed with intent to distribute cocaine. A jury trial was commenced on May 28, 1991; the jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty as charged in the indictment. The defendant has now filed a “motion for judgment of acquittal or new trial.” The motion will be denied.

I.

At trial, the evidence showed that, in early May 1988, Milwaukee county sheriff department detective Kevin Carr was conducting an undercover operation. Detective Carr approached Evelio Pinto (who was later indicted along with the defendant) and entered into an agreement to purchase 500 grams of cocaine. Mr. Pinto then contacted Samuel Pagan Rivera (who has come to be referred to as “Mr. Pagan”), his cocaine supplier, to get the cocaine. Mr. Pagan, in turn, contacted the defendant, Humberto Lechuga, who had at least once before supplied cocaine to Mr. Pagan for Mr. Pinto. (The testimony disclosed that the defendant had “shorted” Mr. Pinto three ounces on a prior transaction.)

The defendant obtained the cocaine and made arrangements with Mr. Pagan for its delivery. The delivery was to be made at an apartment near 35th Street and Howard Avenue on May 11, 1988. After some apparent logistical problems, the defendant (who was carrying duct tape and a package) and an unidentified man arrived at the apartment in a 1980 Pontiac Grand Prix, then owned by David Lopez. Detective Carr waited in the parking lot, along with Mr. Pinto and Mr. Pagan. When the defendant and other man entered the apartment building, Mr. Pagan followed to the designated apartment unit. At the door of that unit, Mr. Pagan was handed a package containing cocaine, and was directed by the defendant to return with the money.

The package, a bag containing a 500 gram “brick” of cocaine (sealed with duct tape) and three one ounce “baggies” of cocaine, was taken to the awaiting Messrs. Carr and Pinto. Mr. Pinto took the three baggies of cocaine and left the 500 gram brick for detective Carr. After struggling with an equipment failure, the detective soon gave awaiting law enforcement officers the signal to make the arrest of Messrs. Pinto and Pagan. A search warrant was obtained for the apartment a few hours later.

The search uncovered various items associated with the sale and distribution of [1058]*1058cocaine: freezer bags, a triple-beam scale, a device for compacting cocaine into brick form (also known as a “cocaine press”), and a roll of duct tape. The duct tape contained a latent fingerprint of the defendant. Further testimony disclosed that the defendant later called Mr. Lopez to tell him that his car may have been stolen (while, in fact, the car had been impounded and was subject to forfeiture for having been used in furtherance of a drug deal).

The defendant was arrested the following day, and when released on bail, he fled the jurisdiction. He was apprehended nearly three years later in Chicago, Illinois, and brought to trial. At trial, the defendant endeavored to convince the jury that it was not he who was involved in the above-described drug deal, but his brother, Raul Lechuga. The evidence disclosed that the two brothers looked very much alike, and that the defendant used the name “Raul,” ostensibly to capitalize on the physical similarities. The jury was not swayed by the “misidentification defense” and, instead, accepted the government’s evidence of the defendant’s involvement in the drug trade as having established his guilt as charged beyond a reasonable doubt.

II.

Count I of the indictment (the conspiracy count) charged the defendant with having knowingly and willfully conspired to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Count II (the possession count) charged the defendant with having knowingly and intentionally possessed with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Specifically, the defendant seeks the following: a judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count, pursuant to Rule 29(c), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, or, in the alternative, for a new trial on that count; and a new trial on the possession count, pursuant to Rule 33, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The defendant proffers the following bases for his motion: (1) that the evidence was insufficient to establish a conspiracy; (2) that the court’s instructions to the jury contained numerous “plain errors”; and (3) that government agents had threatened a “critical witness” before he testified, and that the government failed to disclose that fact to defense counsel, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).

A.

The defendant asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict of guilty on the conspiracy count. Of course, when ruling on such a challenge, the court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government. See United States v. Nesbitt, 852 F.2d 1502, 1509 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1015, 109 S.Ct. 808, 102 L.Ed.2d 798 (1988); United States v. Pritchard, 745 F.2d 1112, 1122 (7th Cir.1984). Where, as here, the defendant was convicted after a jury trial, “[a] verdict will withstand a sufficiency of the evidence challenge unless there is no evidence from which the jury could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Caudill, 915 F.2d 294, 297 (7th Cir.1990).

The defendant claims that the evidence showed him to be involved in nothing more than a buyer-seller relationship with Mr. Pagan, as distinguished from being involved in a cocaine conspiracy. Notably, the defendant concedes that there was evidence of his “sporadic dealings” in cocaine. Defendant’s Reply Memorandum at 3.

As it must, the government concedes that an isolated purchase of drugs does not, without more, demonstrate the existence of a conspiracy, citing United States v. Koenig, 856 F.2d 843, 854 (7th Cir.1988). However, the government suggests that its evidence showed that there was, indeed, “more” than an isolated purchase of drugs in this case.

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Related

United States v. Humberto Lechuga
975 F.2d 397 (Seventh Circuit, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
769 F. Supp. 1056, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11211, 1991 WL 153407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lechuga-wied-1991.