United States v. Richard Sobrilski, Christina Martin

127 F.3d 669
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedNovember 21, 1997
Docket96-3970, 96-3971
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 127 F.3d 669 (United States v. Richard Sobrilski, Christina Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Richard Sobrilski, Christina Martin, 127 F.3d 669 (8th Cir. 1997).

Opinion

FRIEDMAN, Circuit Judge.

In this consolidated appeal, the appellants Richard Sobrilski and Christina Martin challenge on various grounds their convictions for conspiracy to distribute and possess methamphetamine and amphetamine, and for an attempt to distribute amphetamine, and their sentences. We reject all of the appellants’ contentions and affirm their convictions and sentences.

*671 I

A. The jury could have found the following facts:

In October 1988, Sergeant Bickers, an undercover officer of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, posing as a drug dealer, purchased one ounce of amphetamine from Bobby Ellison for $1500. Ellison had obtained some of the substance from the appellant Sobrilski, with whom he shared his profits. Sergeant Bickers thereafter had numerous telephone conversations with Ellison regarding drug transactions. ' During one conversation, Ellison told Sergeant Bickers that if he needed to buy drugs when Ellison was unavailable, he should contact J.D. Richey or Patty Lowe (Ellison’s girlfriend and later wife).

On November 22, 1988, Sergeant Bickers went to Ellison’s home to purchase drugs. There he met Richey, who explained that Ellison was away because he and his partner “Richard” (Sobrilski), had left for Texas to make a large drug purchase. At that time, Sergeant Bickers purchased a small quantity of amphetamine from Richey. The drugs Richey sold Sergeant Bickers were drugs that Ellison and Sobrilski had purchased on a prior trip to Texas.

During one of their telephone conversations, Ellison gave Sergeant Bickers his partner’s telephone number, which was the trailer home in which Martin and Sobrilski lived. In late January 1989, Ellison introduced Sobrilski to Sergeant Bickers. The three discussed drug transactions. Sobrilski dominated the conversation, telling Sergeant Bickers that he had three drug sources, and that he could guarantee consistent amounts of drugs. No drugs were sold or purchased at that meeting, but the three discussed future transactions. After that initial meeting Sobrilski told Sergeant Bickers in a telephone conversation that “Cricket,” the nickname of the appellant Martin, could be trusted with messages should he be unreachable.

Between January 31 and February 3,1989, there were numerous telephone calls between Sergeant Bickers, Sobrilski and Martin to arrange the drug sale discussed at the initial meeting. On February 3, 1989, Sergeant Bickers went to meet Sobrilski. Martin told Sergeant Bickers to call her when he arrived at the “Pub and Deli” in Golden, Missouri. Anthony Grootens, a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent and Trooper (now Corporal) Joe Crump of the Missouri Highway Traffic Patrol, accompanied Sergeant Bickers to the Pub and Deli. Sergeant Bickers telephoned Sobrilski and Sobrilski sent Russell Sartin to meet him there.

Sartin and Terry Doss met the officers at the pub. Sartin told them that Sobrilski had just returned with two people from Arkansas and a large amount of suspected drugs. Sergeant Bickers and the other officers followed Sartin to Sobrilski and Martin’s trailer home, where Sergeant Bickers and Corporal Crump were introduced to Martin.

Martin, Sobrilski, Corporal Crump and Sergeant Bickers sat in the kitchen, where Sobrilski asked whether Corporal Crump worked for a law enforcement agency. He had already so asked Sergeant Bickers on an earlier occasion. Sobrilski asked Martin to bring him his “black box.” Mártin asked which black box, and Sobrilski replied “You know, the one with the switches on it, the bug detector.” Martin brought the detector and Sobrilski checked to see if either officer was “wired.” Although Corporal Crump wore a wire, he was able to turn off the transmitter for a short period to prevent Sobrilski from detecting it.

Sobrilski then showed the undercover officers a small sample of drugs that had a “100 percent hit.” He asked if the officers were interested in purchasing ten pounds of the substance. They indicated that they could not purchase such a large quantity, and Sobrilski directed the officers to the bedroom of the trailer. Sobrilski left the sample of drugs on the kitchen counter.

In the bedroom, the officers saw a broken flask with white residue, and measuring scales with a small quantity of a foul-smelling white powdery substance, which Sobrilski identified as 100 percent pure “crank.” “Crank” is the street name for either amphetamine or methamphetamine. Sobrilski offered to sell a quarter of a pound to Sergeant Bickers for $8000. Sobrilski and Sergeant Bickers had already agreed on a price *672 of $4250 for that quantity, but Sobrilski insisted that the quality of this crank warranted a higher price. Sergeant Bickers agreed to pay $8000. Sobrilski suggested to Sergeant Bickers that he dilute the crank, claiming that it was too strong and that people using such a pure form could harm themselves. Sobrilski told Sergeant Bickers that he had more of the same quality “warehoused” within 35 miles and that he could provide him with any quantity, including a pound and a half a week, on two-hours notice.

During the negotiations, Martin entered the bedroom. Sergeant Bickers asked her “opinion of the drug. She told [him] that she liked it and that it was free to her.” Sergeant Bickers, Corporal Crump and Sobrilski also discussed future purchases. Sergeant Bickers paid $8000 in cash for the drugs.

When the officers were about to leave, DEA Agent Grootens, who had been waiting outside, entered the trailer and arrested Sobrilski. Sobrilski stated “You got me. I’ll do whatever it takes” to gain leniency for himself and Martin. The officers arrested Martin, and found the drug sample that had been left in the kitchen in her pocket. Corporal Crump seized various drug related par-, aphernalia in the trailer, including part of a broken flask, a baking bowl, the black box wire detector, the scales and a revolver. About 250 yards from the trailer, the officers found behind a tree in a wooded area and seized a yellow bag containing one big chunk of the white powdery substance.

Soon after the officers had arrested Martin and Sobrilski, Ellison came to the door. Sobrilski attempted to warn him about the officers, but the officers quickly arrested Ellison. Ellison stopped at Sobrilski’s home on his way back from Texas, where he had gone to acquire drugs. Ellison returned because Sobrilski had called him explaining that the trip to Texas was no longer necessary because he had found a new drug source.

Immediately after his arrest, Sobrilski agreed to show the officers where he had obtained the drugs. The officers and Sobrilski drove to Arkansas. Because of bad weather, the trip lasted about five hours. At no point before, during or after the trip did Sobrilski say or do anything to indicate that he knew that the substance he sold to Sergeant Bickers was not drugs.

A couple of weeks after the arrest Sobrilski told Ellison that the police had overlooked one quarter pound of drugs in the trailer and that he intended to sell it himself to pay for lawyers. Martin told Patty Lowe that the police had overlooked “crank” in a Tupperware container in the kitchen and that she was trying to find someone to sell it to raise money for bond and attorney fees.

B.

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Bluebook (online)
127 F.3d 669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-richard-sobrilski-christina-martin-ca8-1997.