United States v. Lennon

155 F. App'x 383
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedOctober 26, 2005
Docket04-2059
StatusUnpublished

This text of 155 F. App'x 383 (United States v. Lennon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Lennon, 155 F. App'x 383 (10th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

O’BRIEN, Circuit Judge.

Rupert Lennon, Jr., a commercial truck driver, was convicted by a jury of possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms and more of marijuana. He appeals, arguing the Government presented insufficient evidence that he knew he was transporting a controlled substance. Relying on United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), he also contends his sentence should be vacated and his case remanded for resentencing because he was sentenced under the mandatory federal sentencing guideline scheme. Lennon further claims the judgment erroneously indicates he pled guilty. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), we affirm Lennon’s conviction and sentence but remand this matter to the district court to correct the judgment.

I. Background

Lennon has been a commercial truck driver since 1998. In 2002, he started his own business, Lennon & Sons Trucking, LLC, based in Tamarac, Florida. Lennon drives a refrigerated tractor-trailer rig and travels throughout the forty-eight states and Canada. Lennon obtains business from various brokers, who book his loads. When booking a load, he deals solely with the broker, not the customer.

On Monday morning, June 23, 2003, Lennon was in Phoenix, Arizona, when he received a call from a broker informing him that a load of mangoes needed to be picked up in Nogales, Arizona. Lennon agreed to haul the mangoes. At approximately 1:00 PM, Lennon arrived at Farmer’s Best in Nogales, where 20 pallets containing a total of 3,840 boxes of mangoes were loaded into Lennon’s truck. While Lennon did not participate in the loading, he did ensure that none of the boxes were damaged. The bill of lading states the mangoes were loaded at 1:20 PM, were to be maintained at a temperature of forty-eight degrees and were to be transported to Wakefern Food Corporation in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Thereafter, Lennon drove north to a truck station in Rio Rico, Arizona, to weigh his truck. It took him approximately an hour to shift the weight in his truck to comply with the applicable state weight regulations. Lennon then drove to a TTT truck stop in Tucson, Arizona, arriving at approximately 5:00 PM. On the way to Tucson, he received a call from another broker who asked Lennon whether he could transport 3-4 pallets weighing over 1,000 pounds. Lennon informed the broker he could only transport 500-600 pounds because he was near the maximum allowable weight. The broker informed him he would talk to the customer to see if it would accommodate Lennon’s weight restrictions.

*385 Lennon waited at the truck stop for the broker’s call. At about 9:00 PM, the broker called and informed Lennon the customer was willing to reduce the load. Lennon agreed to the transaction and the broker provided him with directions. Lennon got lost. Eventually, an individual met Lennon and led him to a loading dock. 1 Another man was waiting there with a forklift. This man, who Lennon testified was “definitely drunk” and “talking a lot of garbage,” had nine boxes on a pallet. (R. Vol. Ill at 154, 181.) Pursuant to Lennon’s direction, the man first removed two pallets of mangoes from Lennon’s truck, added the pallet with the nine boxes and then replaced the two pallets of mangoes. Lennon testified he told the man to load the truck in this manner so the trailer’s doors would support the boxes of mangoes, which were top heavy. The nine boxes were sealed together and labeled. The label indicated the boxes were being shipped by “AM Frozen Food Specialty, Inc.” in Tucson to “Omega Produce Co., Lehigh Valley Produce Market” in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. (Appellant’s Addendum, Ex. 8.) According to the bill of lading, which Lennon signed, the boxes contained “fronzen [sic] exotic Japanese turtle tempura.” (Id. at Ex. 12.) Although Lennon counted the boxes, he apparently did not open them, stating it was his practice and industry custom not to open his cargo. 2 He testified he was going to be paid $1,200 to transport the tempura. Lieutenant Charles Cox (Lt.Cox) with the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, Motor Transportation Division, and a former truck driver, testified this amount was “quite expensive.” (R. Vol. Ill at 206.)

Once the nine boxes were loaded, Lennon locked the trailer, sealed its doors with a plastic seal 3 and drove back to the TTT truck stop in Tucson to weigh his truck. At approximately 10:30 PM, he left Tucson and drove into New Mexico. He arrived at a weigh station in Lordsburg, New Mexico, between 1-2:00 AM, where he slept. The next morning, he refueled, ate and completed his logbook for the previous day. 4 He did not fill it out accurately. The logbook shows Lennon was driving to Tucson when in fact he was weighing his truck in Rio Rico. It also fails to indicate he picked up the second load. Moreover, the logbook states he arrived in Las Cruces at 11:00 PM, when in fact he had left Tucson at 10:30 PM and arrived in Lordsburg between 1-2:00 AM.

After completing his logbook, Lennon began driving east until he arrived at an inspection checkpoint near Alamogordo, New Mexico. At the checkpoint, he was greeted by Agent Ricardo Sanchez, Jr., of the United States Border Patrol. During this initial encounter, Agent Sanchez asked him about his citizenship, what he was hauling, where he was coming from and where he was going. Lennon, who is a *386 legal resident but not a United States citizen, 5 stated he was a United States citizen and was hauling mangoes from Nogales, Arizona, to New Jersey. 6 Lennon provided Agent Sanchez with the bill of lading for the mango load. Agent Sanchez testified Lennon “became increasingly nervous, kind of shaking when he was handing me the [bill of lading], began to stutter a little bit and [ ] began speaking very rapidly.” 7 (Id. at 25.) Agent Sanchez then asked Lennon if the load was locked or sealed; Lennon responded it was locked and sealed. Agent Sanchez testified this raised his suspicions because in his experience, trucks hauling produce are normally not sealed. The bill of lading did not indicate that the load was sealed.

Agent Sanchez then obtained Lennon’s permission to search the truck and to perform a dog sniff on the vehicle. The dog alerted to the rear of the trailer. Agent Sanchez informed Lennon that agents would be inspecting the inside of the trailer and directed him to unlock the trailer. Agent Sanchez testified Lennon appeared “puzzled and confused” but proceeded to unlock the trailer. (Id. at 30.) Agent Sanchez noticed Lennon’s hand was shaking and “it took him awhile to get the key inside the lock to unlock it.” (Id.

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155 F. App'x 383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lennon-ca10-2005.