United States v. Lee W. Roberts, Also Known as Kurlee Roberts, Also Known as Dr. Lee Susan Byers and Jackie Wood

14 F.3d 502, 39 Fed. R. Serv. 1434, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 32764
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit·Decided December 17, 1993·No. 92-8065, 92-8066 and 92-8069·Published·Cited by 138 cases

Opinion

JOHN P. MOORE, Circuit Judge.

This consolidated appeal arises from a multi-state investigation into the illegal distribution of methamphetamine in the Casper, Wyoming area. Of the nine defendants named in a multi-count indictment, three, Lee W. Roberts, Jackie Wood, and Susan Byers, were tried by a jury, convicted, and sentenced to substantial terms of imprisonment. Review of the numerous issues presented requires ferreting out sufficient evidence establishing individual guilt but fails to confirm the many contentions of error defendants have raised. Nevertheless, finding error in the determinations of Mr. Roberts’, Ms. Wood’s, and Ms. Byers’ sentences, we vacate and remand for resentencing consistent with our later discussion.

I. Background

On March 7, 1990, Karen Flint, a patrolwoman with the Casper Police Department, was dispatched to investigate a report of an armed robbery. Arriving at 1010 West 20th Street, Officer Flint met Lee Roberts 2 and Jackie Wood, who described how someone purporting to have car trouble entered the house asking to use the phone, when a second man armed with a gun burst in. Rob *508 erts stated the intruders stole his overnight bag, which contained $12,000 in cash, and later, Ms. Wood reported a .380 caliber handgun registered to her was also taken. Thus alerted, 3 the following month, Natrona County Deputy Sheriff, Lynette Cohee, working undercover, arranged to buy two eight-balls 4 of methamphetamine from Billy Joe Wood, a friend of Lee Roberts. Officer Cohee paid Billy Joe Wood $580 in pre-reported state buy funds.

A month later, a $100 bill recorded in that buy surfaced in Mesquite, Nevada, after Lee Roberts, riding his motorcycle, was stopped for violating the state helmet law. Impounding the motorcycle because Roberts could not produce proper registration, Nevada patrolmen discovered $23,800 in cash, including the marked $100 bill, in ziplock bags stowed in the saddlebags.

In July 1990, Robert Tanner, a police officer in North Las Vegas, Nevada, working with a confidential informant, met Jackie Wood and Lee Roberts at a North Las Vegas sports bar and purchased 2 ounces of methamphetamine. As the money and drugs were exchanged, Tanner signalled, and police arrested Roberts and Wood.

Finally, on August 18, 1990, Jackie Wood and Lee Roberts were involved in an auto accident in Arizona. Although Roberts offloaded his motorcycle and drove away with Wood, he first discarded a black shaving kit in the desert brush. Retrieved, the bag contained a small pipe and baggies of powdery substance later tested to be methamphetamine.

Subsequent surveillance and authorizations for a pen register and wiretap on Roberts’ Casper telephone wove the intricate web connecting these four events to other players and their roles in what emerged as Lee Roberts’ extensive business procuring and distributing methamphetamine in the Casper area. Routinely, for example,' it appeared Roberts obtained methamphetamine in Las Vegas, where he owned a trailer home. He then ordered Jackie Wood, who often stayed there, to mail packaged quantities of the drugs to his ex-wife, Carolynn Roberts, in baggies designated for particular sellers, his “customers,” in and around Casper. Caro-lynn Roberts then called Lee’s salespeople to pick up their “product.” Alternatively, Lee Roberts would drive to Casper and distribute the drugs himself. Most transactions involved eight-ball quantities which were “fronted,” that is, sellers received the drugs in advance of payment. Sellers who promptly and regularly paid their bills often received larger, 1 to 2 ounce packages.

In fact, Roberts’ Casper employees were like an extended family. Billy Joe Wood, who was involved in the initial Casper buy, is Carolynn Roberts’ brother, Lee Roberts’ nephew, and Jackie Wood’s ex-husband. Jackie Wood and Lee Roberts were lovers. Most sellers were users, and most users strained Roberts’ business when they were unable to promptly satisfy their “fronts.” 5

On February 6, 1991, 6 police executed a search warrant on Roberts’ Las Vegas trailer, and Kevin Hughes, an agent with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) interviewed Roberts, who was then incarcerated in Nevada. At the same time, Jackie Wood, also serving a Nevada sentence for her prior conviction, gave a statement to Wyoming DCI investigator Tony Young. Si *509 multaneously, in Casper, police executed search warrants on Lee Roberts’ 1010 West 20th Street residence and Susan Byers’ home.

A subsequent multi-count indictment charged Lee Roberts, Jackie Wood, Billy Joe Wood, Susan Byers, and Carolynn Roberts 7 with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A). Count I catalogued 51 overt acts to achieve the conspiratorial objective. Count II charged Lee Roberts with possession of the handgun stolen in the March 7, 1990 robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). Count III charged Lee Roberts with possession of two weapons seized in the search of his Nevada trailer in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). Lee Roberts and Jackie Wood were named in Count IV, aiding and abetting the possession of methamphetamine. In Count V, Susan Byers was charged with using a telephone to facilitate the conspiracy in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843(b).

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United States v. Lee W. Roberts, Also Known as Kurlee Roberts, Also Known as Dr. Lee Susan Byers and Jackie Wood, 14 F.3d 502, 39 Fed. R. Serv. 1434, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 32764 (10th Cir. 1993).

14 F.3d 502 (United States v. Lee W. Roberts, Also Known as Kurlee Roberts, Also Known as Dr. Lee Susan Byers and Jackie Wood) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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