United States v. Raul Topete

361 F. App'x 78
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit·Decided January 14, 2010·No. 08-16249·Unpublished·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Raul Topete appeals his convictions and 324 month total sentence for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A), and *79 846, and money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(A)®.

I.

In January 2004 the Houston Police Department intercepted a Federal Express package addressed to a house in Florence, Alabama containing approximately three kilograms of cocaine. The Houston Police Department notified the Drug Enforcement Administration. Agent Gasbarro, the DEA agent assigned to investigate the matter, planted a monitoring device in the package, removed the cocaine, replaced it with sugar, and then delivered the package to the house in Florence. The monitoring device failed, but the controlled delivery was a success. The DEA arrested the owner of the house and the person who signed for the package.

The intercepted cocaine was part of a large conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine in North Alabama. In August 2005 a grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Raul Topete and 20 co-defendants with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana. According to the superseding indictment, the conspiracy began in January 1999 and continued through June 2005. Topete, along with Connie Garth, was also charged with money laundering.

After a jury trial, Topete was convicted of both charges. The district court sentenced him to concurrent prison terms of 324 months for the conspiracy conviction and 240 months for the money laundering conviction. Topete now challenges his convictions and sentence.

II.

Topete contends that the government failed to present sufficient evidence that he was a member of the conspiracy that was charged in the superseding indictment. He argues that the evidence only established that he was in a buyer-seller relationship with Connie Garth. He asserts that he had no knowledge of or interaction with the other members of the conspiracy.

“We review the sufficiency of the evidence de novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government.” United States v. Garcia, 405 F.3d 1260, 1269 (11th Cir.2005) (citation omitted). We also make all reasonable inferences and credibility choices in favor of the government and the jury’s verdict. Id. We must affirm “unless, under no reasonable construction of the evidence, could the jury have found the [defendant] guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. “The evidence need not exclude every hypothesis of innocence or be completely inconsistent with every conclusion other than guilt because a jury may select among constructions of the evidence.” United States v. Bailey, 123 F.3d 1381, 1391 (11th Cir.1997).

To obtain a conspiracy conviction under 21 U.S.C. § 846, “the government must prove that there is an agreement by two or more persons to violate the narcotics laws.” United States v. Panudo, 911 F.2d 1567, 1570 (11th Cir.1990). Thus, “the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that: (1) a conspiracy existed; (2) [the defendant] knew of the essential objectives of the conspiracy; and (3) [the defendant] knowingly and voluntarily participated in the conspiracy.” United States v. Calderon, 127 F.3d 1314, 1326 (11th Cir.1997) (“Calderon /”), modified on other grounds by United States v. Toler, 144 F.3d 1423, 1427 (11th Cir.1998). “[0]nce the government establishes the existence of the underlying conspiracy, it only needs to come forward with slight evidence to connect a particular defendant to the conspiracy.” Id. (alteration omitted). The government does not need to *80 prove that the defendant knew of all the details or participated in every aspect of the conspiracy, United States v. Miranda, 425 F.3d 953, 959 (11th Cir.2005), nor must it show that each conspirator was aware of his co-conspirators’ existence or activities, United States v. Edouard, 485 F.3d 1324, 1347 (11th Cir.2007). “While the existence of a simple buyer-seller relationship alone does not furnish the requisite evidence of a conspiratorial agreement, an agreement to distribute drugs may be inferred when the evidence shows a continuing relationship that results in the repeated transfer of illegal drugs to a purchaser.” United States v. Thompson, 422 F.3d 1285, 1292 (11th Cir.2005) (quotations, citation, and alteration omitted).

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United States v. Raul Topete, 361 F. App'x 78 (11th Cir. 2010).

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