United States v. Naranjo

309 F. App'x 859
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 9, 2009
Docket07-50822
StatusUnpublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 309 F. App'x 859 (United States v. Naranjo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Naranjo, 309 F. App'x 859 (5th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

PER CURIAM: *

A jury convicted Rudy Naranjo of four counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine and cocaine base, and one count of using a semi-automatic weapon in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Naranjo appeals his conviction. He contends that the district court erred in denying: his motion to suppress; his request that the Government produce debriefing notes from its interviews with cooperating witnesses; his request for a jury instruction on third-party guilt; and his motion for a mistrial after a witness referred to his prior incarceration. He further argues that the Government used perjured testimony against him and impermissibly commented on his failure to testify. For the reasons stated below, we find no error and therefore affirm all convictions.

I.

The facts of this case necessarily begin with Frank Mora, the Government’s informant. In January 2005, Mora was a state fugitive. On January 28, he called DEA Agent Nancy Sanford, whom he knew, and told her that a black truck traveling from San Antonio to Houston was carrying cocaine and marijuana. Agent Sanford informed officers in Welder, Texas, who identified the black truck and, because it was speeding, stopped it. They arrested the driver, Robert Torres, because he had no liability insurance. A search of the truck turned up 11 kilograms of cocaine and more than 68 pounds of marijuana.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Robert Perez of the San Antonio Police Department received a call from a confidential informant who told him where Mora was hiding. Officers then located and arrested Mora, who told them he wanted to talk. Sergeant Perez and Detective Val Lopez interviewed Mora, and he repeated the information he had previously given Agent Sanford. He also told them that Rudy Naranjo and Juan Losoya were trafficking large amounts of narcotics, and that he had seen bundles of narcotics at their apartments at the Enclaves apartment complex in San Antonio.

Sergeant Perez knew from his own experience that Naranjo and Losoya were involved in drug trafficking and, because Mora’s information was so detailed, he believed it to be credible. He confirmed that one of the apartments was leased to Donna Hull, Naranjo’s common-law wife. On the basis of his prior knowledge and Mora’s information, Sergeant Perez prepared an affidavit and obtained a warrant to search apartments 905 and 1601 and a garage.

In apartment 1601, officers found cocaine, clear plastic wrappings with cocaine residue, a money-counting machine, loose marijuana, a safe with $5,000 cash, and an SKS assault rifle with thirty live rounds in it. They also found evidence establishing that Naranjo lived there with Donna Hull, their baby daughter, and Jason Martinez, his nephew. Officers found a hotel receipt and a prescription pill bottle with Naran *862 jo’s name on it, documents related to Bad Boy Audio, Naranjo’s business, and an application for Medicaid for Naranjo’s daughter.

In apartment 905, officers found cocaine and a money-counting machine, as well as a security badge, handcuffs, a hat labeled “narcotics officer,” and a bullet-proof vest. Evidence established that Losoya lived in apartment 905.

In the garage, officers found 7.6 kilograms of bundled cocaine and 728 grams of bagged cocaine base, also known as crack. There was also a one-gallon plastic bucket holding approximately 1,010 grams of loose cocaine, and a plastic bag holding a brick of cocaine weighing 1,048 grams. Fingerprints lifted from the bucket matched Lo-soya’s. Documents found in the garage bore Naranjo’s and Bad Boy Audio’s names.

A title search of the black truck eventually linked it to Naranjo. A man identified as Naranjo’s nephew later visited Torres, the truck’s driver, while he was in jail. That man drove a sedan that was registered to Donna Hull.

Naranjo was indicted in March 2005 on four counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine and cocaine base, and one count of using, carrying, and possessing a semi-automatic assault weapon in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. 1

At trial, the Government offered the testimony of four cooperating witnesses. Israel Soto testified that he had purchased cocaine from Naranjo on two separate occasions, and that Naranjo had showed him his AK 47 assault rifle. Mario Fuentes, who was present when Naranjo showed Soto his gun, corroborated Soto’s testimony. Pedro Ramos testified that he once lent $20,000 to Naranjo, who paid him back in cocaine. Ramos said that in 2004 Naranjo sent cocaine to Louisiana and Mississippi on a weekly basis; he identified Torres as Naranjo’s drug courier. Finally, Chris Barron testified that while he and Naranjo were in jail together, Naranjo told him about his case and asked for Barron’s help in having Mora killed so that he could not testify at trial.

Naranjo called his own witnesses. Nate Nichols testified that Mora called him on January 27, 2005, to ask him to steal cocaine from the Enclave apartments. That call, which was recorded, was introduced into evidence. Robert Torres testified that Mora recruited him to drive the black truck to Houston, and that Mora helped him load the drugs into the truck. He testified that Mora was working with Lo-soya and Martinez, and that Naranjo was not involved in that transaction. Robert Fernandez testified that he once purchased an assault rifle from Mora, and that the assault rifle found in apartment 1601 looked like a rifle he had seen in Mora’s possession.

A jury found Naranjo guilty on all five counts. He was sentenced to 360 months *863 of imprisonment for each of the first four counts, to run concurrently, and 120 months of imprisonment for the fifth count, to run consecutively. Naranjo now appeals his conviction, arguing that the district court erred in denying: his motion to suppress the evidence seized from his apartment; his request for debriefing notes from the Government’s interviews with cooperating witnesses; his request for a jury instruction on third-party guilt; and his motion for mistrial after a witness referred to his prior incarceration. He also insists that the Government used perjured testimony against him and impermissibly commented on his failure to testify. We address each alleged error in turn.

II.

We first consider the argument that the affidavit supporting the warrant to search Naranjo’s apartment was misleading because it omitted material information. Specifically, Naranjo complains that Sergeant Perez did not tell the issuing magistrate that Mora was a known con man with a criminal record who had previously acted as an informant. Naranjo argued at a suppression hearing, as he does here, that in the light of those omissions officers could not have relied on the warrant in good faith, and that any evidence seized under the warrant should have been suppressed. The district court denied his motion to suppress. For the reasons stated, we find no error in the denial.

When reviewing a district court’s denial of a motion to suppress, this court reviews factual findings for clear error and legal conclusions de novo. United States v. Cherna, 184 F.3d 403, 406 (5th Cir.1999).

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Bluebook (online)
309 F. App'x 859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-naranjo-ca5-2009.