United States v. Lopez

100 F. App'x 32
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided June 9, 2004·No. No. 02-1746(L), 02-1748(CON)·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Carlos and Rafael Lopez, brothers and co-defendants, are both serving life sentences for their leadership roles in a violent and lucrative crack distribution ring (“the Flowershop Enterprise”). The conspiracy operated in the vicinity of a flower shop in Brooklyn, New York, and, at times, in the Eastern District of Virginia, and engaged in a wide variety of crimes, including murder, assault, and the sale of cocaine base. After a two-week jury trial, both defendants were convicted of one count of racketeering conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), and one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base, 21 U.S.C. § 846. Carlos Lopez was also convicted of obstruction of justice murder of Edward Montalvo, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(C). They were sentenced [34]*34principally to concurrent terms of life imprisonment, as well as supervised release and special assessments. Defendants now bring a host of challenges to their convictions and sentences. Because all but one of their claims are without merit, we AFFIRM the judgment below, with the exception of Carlos Lopez’s conviction on Count III, charging him with murder to prevent communications to a federal officer in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(C), which we REVERSE for the reasons stated in a separate opinion issued today.

Carlos Lopez claims, first, that the government did not produce sufficient evidence for a rational jury to find that the racketeering and narcotics conspiracies, or his participation in them, continued into the five-year statute of limitations period. See 18 U.S.C. § 3282. The defendant bears a heavy burden in bringing a sufficiency challenge: We view all evidence in the light most favorable to the government and credit every inference that the jury might have drawn to the government. See United States v. Walker, 191 F.3d 326, 333 (2d Cir.1999). Applying this standard, we find that the evidence in this case adequately supported the jury’s conclusion that the conspiracy did not end more than five years before the date of the indictment. Carlos Lopez did not contend at trial that he withdrew from the conspiracy before the statutory period began, and applying plain error review, we conclude that he cannot prevail on such a theory on appeal. See United States v. Flaharty, 295 F.3d 182, 192 (2d Cir.2002).

Carlos Lopez also contends that the indictment was fatally flawed with respect to the obstruction of justice murder of Montalvo charged in Count III because it charged him with intent to prevent the deceased from communicating with a “law enforcement officer,” rather than with intent to prevent the deceased from communicating with a “law enforcement officer ... of the United States, ” as the statute requires. 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(C) (emphasis added).1 But this objection was not lodged until sentencing, and absent a “clear showing of substantial prejudice,” we must construe the indictment liberally in favor of sufficiency. See United States v. Wydermyer, 51 F.3d 319, 324 (2d Cir.1995). No such substantial prejudice has been shown, and we find that, liberally construed, the indictment adequately set forth the charges to the Grand Jury and put the defendant on notice of the essential elements of the crime. See, e.g., id.; United States v. Goodwin, 141 F.3d 394, 401-02 (2d Cir.1997).

The third argument pressed by Carlos Lopez, that the racketeering count was constructively amended by the district court’s jury instructions, also fails. We apply the plain error standard, because the defendant raises this claim for the first time on appeal. See United States v. Vebeliunas, 76 F.3d 1283, 1291 (2d Cir.1996). Although the indictment was mildly ambiguous, a fair reading of the charge makes clear that it alleged a racketeering agreement between the two defendants and other members of the conspiracy. There was thus no plain error.

We also reject the claim that the government impermissibly vouched for the credibility of prosecution witnesses by suggesting that their cooperation agreements gave them an incentive to tell the truth. A prosecutor “may not properly vouch for the credibility of a witness,” United States v. Thai, 29 F.3d 785, 807 (2d Cir.1994), but when defense counsel has attacked “the [35]*35prosecutor’s credibility or the credibility of the government agents, the prosecutor is entitled to reply with ‘rebutting language suitable to the occasion.’ ” United, States v. Praetorius, 622 F.2d 1054, 1060-61 (2d Cir.1979) (citation omitted). Here, defense counsel vigorously attacked the witnesses’ credibility, including through the insinuation that they were lying in order to secure lesser sentences. Under the circumstances, the government’s statements in rebuttal were proper. The defendants’ contention that the district court impermissibly vouched for these witnesses is similarly without merit. Judge Gleeson properly asked the jury to consider whether these cooperation agreements were likely to induce credible testimony or to promote strategic falsehoods.

Carlos Lopez additionally contends that the admission of various hearsay statements violated his right to confront the witnesses against him. We disagree. First, Edward Montalvo’s hearsay statements were properly admitted, because Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6) excepts from the hearsay rule a “statement offered against a party that has engaged or acquiesced in wrongdoing that was intended to, and did, procure the unavailability of the declarant as a witness.” Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(6); see United States v. Dhinsa, 243 F.3d 635, 653 (2d Cir.2001) (“Rule 804(b)(6) places no limitation on the subject matter of the declarant’s statements that can be offered against the defendant at trial to prove that the defendant murdered the declarant.”). Second, while the hearsay statement offered by the witness Jose Salcedo may have been unfortunate, the judge issued a strong curative instruction.

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