United States v. Vasquez

871 F. Supp. 846, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 315, 1995 WL 10694
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedJanuary 10, 1995
DocketCr. No. 2:93-267
StatusPublished

This text of 871 F. Supp. 846 (United States v. Vasquez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Vasquez, 871 F. Supp. 846, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 315, 1995 WL 10694 (D.S.C. 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

BLATT, Senior District Judge.

The above named defendants are charged in a six-count indictment with various crimes arising out of an unsuccessful attempt, on or about February 15, 1990, to free the defendant, Jorge Samuel Cruz, from the Charleston County Jail, where he was being held awaiting sentencing for an earlier drug-related conviction. All three defendants were charged in Count 1 with conspiring to assist in the escape attempt, conspiring to impede the due administration of justice, and conspiring to aid four other parties to travel in interstate commerce from Florida to Charleston, South Carolina, to effect the jailbreak and to promote an international business enterprise engaged in distributing drugs from South America to the United States1. [848]*848Count 2 of the indictment charged the defendants, Vasquez and Carmen Cruz, with the substantive offense of aiding in the aforesaid attempted escape of Jorge Cruz. Count 3 of the indictment charged Jorge Cruz with the substantive offense of attempting to escape. In Count 4 of the indictment, all three defendants were charged with the substantive offense of impeding the due administration of justice. Count 5 of the indictment charged the three defendants with procuring four other parties to travel in interstate commerce to promote an international drug enterprise in smuggling and distributing drugs in the United States and performing acts to facilitate the escape of the defendant, Jorge Cruz. Finally, Count 6 of the indictment charged all three of the defendants with possessing, with intent to distribute, Lorazepam, a controlled substance.

After a lengthy trial, the court directed a verdict of acquittal as to Count 6 of the indictment. Counts 1, 4 and 5 were submitted to the jury as to all three defendants, Count 2 was submitted as to the defendants Vasquez and Carmen Cruz only, and Count 3 was submitted only as to the defendant, Jorge Cruz. The jury returned a verdict of guilty as to Count 1 against all three defendants. The defendants, Vasquez and Carmen Cruz, were also found guilty as to Counts 2 and 5, and not guilty as to Count 4, and the defendant, Jorge Cruz, was found guilty as to Count 3 and not guilty as to Counts 4 and 5.2 After their trial and conviction as aforesaid, the defendants moved for a judgment of acquittal and/or new trial on all Counts of which they were convicted, and the court, for the reasons expressed orally at the hearing of those motions, denied the same. The case is now before the court on a legal issue regarding the application of the Sentencing Guidelines. This requires a decision by this court as to the meaning of the verdict returned by the jury on the question of whether these three defendants conspired to impede the due administration of justice. As heretofore indicated, the jury found these three defendants guilty as to Count 1 without specifying, because of an objection raised by counsel for the defendants, whether the conviction in Count 1 was applicable to all three of the objects of the conspiracy, one object being to impede the due administration of justice. The jury found all three of the defendants not guilty of the substantive offense of endeavoring to impede the due administration of justice, and aiding and abetting in such endeavor. Having found all three defendants guilty of the substantive count of aiding in the attempted escape, and the defendants, Vasquez and Carmen Cruz guilty of the substantive count of violating the Travel Act as charged in Count 5 of the indictment, the defendants contend that it is clear from the jury’s verdict that the jury determined that the three defendants were not guilty of conspiring to impede the due administration of justice.

On the other hand, the Government contends that the verdict of the jury does not establish that the obstruction of justice charge was not one of the objects of the conspiracy. All parties agree that the main issue before the court is whether § 1B1.2(d) of the Sentencing Guidelines is applicable here. That Section reads as follows:

(d) A conviction on a count charging a conspiracy to commit more than one offense shall be treated as if the defendant had been convicted on a separate count of conspiracy for each offense that the defendant conspired to commit.

Of particular concern here is Application Note 5 which follows the above Section, and which reads as follows:

(5) Particular care must be taken in applying subsection (d) because there are cases in which the verdict or plea does [849]*849not establish which offense(s) was the object of the conspiracy.3 In such cases, subsection (d) should only be applied with respect to an object offense alleged in the conspiracy count if the court, were it sitting as a trier of fact, would convict the defendant of conspiring to commit that object offense. (Last sentence omitted).4

The first issue to be determined is whether § lB1.2(d) is applicable. The defendants argue that the circumstances of this ease indicate that the jury, in fact, “decided the issue” because the jury was fully and correctly instructed on the requirements of the obstruction of justice offense, intelligently debated whether or not the elements of the crime were proven, and acquitted the defendants on the obstruction of justice substantive count. The defendants assert that the course of proceedings, the arguments of the attorneys, the comments of the court, and the instructions to the jury provide a clear and distinct roadmap to the jury’s findings.

During oral arguments on the issues herein raised, the defendants contended that the conspiracy and substantive obstruction of justice charges were basically the same. The defendants focused on the fact that the word “conspiracy” was actually used in the substantive count. This caused the court concern because of possible double jeopardy or collateral estoppel implications; therefore, the court thoroughly reviewed the indictment and its charge. Upon review, this court finds that, although the indictment may have been defectively worded, any possible defects were cured by this court’s general instructions, and, particularly, by its charge in response to a question from the jury indicating that the jury, too, was confused about the apparent conspiracy charge in a substantive count.

In its review, the court focused on the jury’s second question, which was read by the court at Tr., Vol. 9, p. 1556:

Can we have a copy of the judge’s instructions? ... [BJecause we are somewhat confused about the similarities of Count 1, paragraph 1, section B. That’s the obstruction of justice part of the conspiracy charge ... and Count 4, which is the obstruction of justice substantive charge.

Instead of giving the jury its written instructions, this court attempted to answer the jury’s question. The court stated Tr., Vol. 9, pp. 1558-1560:

... [I]n the conspiracy, the first count involves the planning or conspiracy or the scheme to obstruct justice ... [T]he fourth count, is the actual performance of the acts that impede justice or aiding and abetting therein____ Now let me see if I can explain it to you. Mr. Foreman, if you and I met up in my office and we planned, made plans to rob a bank, and we made all of these plans, we conspired, we decided what we were going to do and how we were going to do it, that would be the conspiracy part of bank robbery.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
871 F. Supp. 846, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 315, 1995 WL 10694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-vasquez-scd-1995.