United States v. Russell

468 F. Supp. 322, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13521
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedMarch 24, 1979
DocketCrim. No. B-78-542
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 468 F. Supp. 322 (United States v. Russell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Russell, 468 F. Supp. 322, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13521 (S.D. Tex. 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GARZA, Chief Judge.

On October 10, 1978, a Grand Jury delivered a three-count indictment against the Defendant Greg H. Russell. Count 1 charges that the Defendant had knowingly and unlawfully possessed a firearm, more specifically a destructive device, which was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d). Count 2 alleges that the Defendant had knowingly and unlawfully possessed a destructive device which was not identified by serial number as required by 26 U.S.C. § 5861(i). The third count charges that the Defendant knowingly and unlawfully transferred the destructive device, failed to pay the transfer tax as required by 26 U.S.C. § 5811 and failed to file a written application form with the Secretary of the Treasury for the transfer and registration of the firearm to the transferee as required by 26 U.S.C. § 5812, all in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(e). The Defendant, accompanied by his court-appointed , counsel, appeared before United States Magistrate William M. Mallet on October 20, 1978 and entered a plea of not guilty. Shortly thereafter, the Defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss accompanied by a Supporting Memorandum.1 This Motion to Dismiss was subsequently answered by the Government in a Memorandum of Law. The Defendant Russell appeared before the Court on January 15, [324]*3241979, for final pre-trial. He waived his right to a jury trial, and a trial before the Court was scheduled for March 2, 1979. This trial was then postponed until March 7, 1979. The Defendant appeared for trial on that date. At the trial, the Defendant, through his counsel, presented and argued his Motion to Dismiss which had been carried along with the case. After the presentation of five government witnesses, cross-examination by the Defendant and further oral argument by the attorneys representing the Defendant and the Government, this Court denied the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Immediately after this ruling, the Court found the Defendant guilty on all three counts. The Court ordered that a pre-sentence investigation be conducted and that sentencing be imposed on April 5, 1979. The purpose of this Memorandum and Order is to present the findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I. THE FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Government presented five witnesses from whose testimony the facts in this Memorandum and Order have been taken. The witnesses included Robert Valadez, James Wheeler and James L. Sudberry, all of whom are Special Agents of the Department of the Treasury, specifically, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms [hereinafter the “ATF”]. The fourth witness was Walter Mitchell, an employee of the ATF, who qualified as an expert in explosives and chemical analysis. The final Government witness was Ralph E. Cooper who is Explosive Enforcement Officer within the Explosive Technology Branch of the ATF and was qualified as an expert witness at the trial.

In June, 1978, Agent Valadez, stationed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, traveled to the South Texas area to conduct undercover activities in regard to this case. At approximately 6:80 p. m. on June 21, 1978, Agent Valadez followed a confidential informant to a post office parking lot in San Juan, Texas. Valadez remained at the parking lot while the informant departed to find the Defendant. When they returned, Agent Valadez remained in the driver’s seat of his car, the Defendant got into the front passenger’s seat, and the informant sat in the back seat. The agent introduced himself as Bob Hernandez. The Defendant then removed a plastic bag containing a brown sticky substance which he said was C-4. C-4 is a white play-doh-like plastic explosive used by the armed services for demolitionary purposes. Like C-4, the brown sticky substance was a moldable material. Agent Valadez remarked that he had worked with C-4 in Vietnam and that the explosive had always been white in color. The Defendant stated that the brown substance was a new type of C-4 being used by the U.S. Navy. Agent Valadez asked if he could have a small piece of the substance for the purpose of a test. At this point, the informant told the other two that he did not want to be present if they were going to test the explosive, and he departed in his own car.

The agent, after pinching off a piece of the “C-4,” alighted from the car and touched the sample with the burning end of his cigarette. The substance burned. Agent Valadez then returned to the car whereupon the Defendant told him he could obtain as much “C-4” as Valadez desired. The Defendant said he had a supplier-friend who was in the Navy. The Defendant informed Valadez that he possessed three or three and one-half pounds which were available immediately, but a delivery of fifty pounds or more would require five to seven days. Valadez inquired of the price, and the Defendant told him that he had sold the same type of explosive for $2500 per pound in Reynosa, Mexico. The agent related that such a price was exorbitant and said he would give him $800 for the entire three and one-half pounds. The Defendant asserted that he would suffer a loss of $75 at that price, but he stated that he would accept $1000. Valadez responded that $950 was his top price at which point the Defendant acquiesced.

The Defendant then told Valadez to drive him to a little grocery store across the street so that the former could call a friend [325]*325who was keeping the explosives. Valadez obeyed the Defendant’s instructions and waited in the car while Russell went into the store. After a minute or two, the informant drove up in front of the store. The Defendant walked out of the store, saw the informant and hollered at him. The Defendant then spoke with the informant and told Valadez that he would return in a few minutes. The Defendant and the informant left together while Valadez returned to the post office parking lot, having retained the “C-4.” The informant returned alone in two or three minutes explaining that he had left the Defendant at his house. The Defendant arrived a few minutes later in a 1975 Pontiac. Valadez then sat in the front passenger seat of the Defendant’s car. The Defendant handed him a brown paper sack containing five half-pound plastic bags. Inside those plastic bags was the same type of substance as found in the first bag. Realizing the total amounted to only three pounds, Valadez inquired about the other half pound to which the Defendant had earlier referred. Russell informed him that his “buddy” had sold it.

Valadez then took the paper sack and placed it in the trunk of his car. Realizing that he had received no blasting caps, Valadez inquired about them. Russell told him that he had forgotten to bring them and returned to his house. Five minutes later, the Defendant returned with an electric blasting cap equipped with a length of leg-wire. Valadez then asked Russell how to use the “C-4.” Russell told him to mold the substance around the blasting cap. Russell explained that Valadez’ next step would be to attach the legwire to a car battery or any other object which Valadez desired to demolish.2

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
468 F. Supp. 322, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13521, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-russell-txsd-1979.