UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
United States of America
v. Criminal No. 11-cr-084–04-JL Opinion No. 2015 DNH 226P
Rafael Humberto Celaya Valenzuela
ORDER
Before the court is defendant Rafael Humberto Celaya
Valenzuela’s (“Celaya”) post-verdict motion for reconsideration
of this court's denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal.
Fed. R. Crim. P. 29. Celaya’s motion implicates two issues: 1)
whether the motion is properly before the court; and 2) if so,
the evidentiary requirements to prove a drug conspiracy under 21
U.S.C. § 846.
In July 2012, a superseding indictment charged Celaya and
several others with conspiracy to distribute and possess with
intent to distribute cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a). His trial began in
October 2014. After the government rested its case Celaya filed
a motion for acquittal, pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 29(a). This
court denied the motion. Celaya was subsequently convicted.
In April 2015, on the eve of sentencing that had been twice
continued, Celaya filed a motion for reconsideration of the acquittal motion, to which the prosecution objected. After a
conference with the court, and adhering to an agreed-upon
briefing schedule, each side filed supplemental memoranda. Upon
review of the motion for reconsideration, objection thereto and
supplementation, and after oral argument, the motion is denied
both procedurally, and in the alternative, in substance.
I. Procedural History
Celaya’s mid-trial motion for acquittal under Rule 29
posited two bases for acquittal. First, he asserted that the
prosecution failed to prove that Celaya joined the conspiracy
alleged in the operative indictment. Specifically, Celaya argued
that:
While there was substantial evidence introduced by the Government that could reasonably be understood by the jury to show that the Sinaloan cartel wanted to expand its drug trafficking network into Europe, and perhaps the United States, the evidence failed to demonstrate that the cartel actually agreed to include Celaya in that conspiracy. To the contrary, the evidence clearly shows that the cartel considered, and then rejected, the idea of having Celaya participate in whatever conspiracy it wanted to create.
(Doc. no. 185)(emphasis added). Celaya also argued that the
District of New Hampshire was not a permissible venue for his
trial. The court denied the motion by oral order.
After being granted a pair of sentencing continuances,
Celaya filed, roughly a week before his sentencing hearing was
2 scheduled, a motion for reconsideration of the Rule 29 motion the
court denied approximately six months earlier. In addition to
reiterating the previously rejected venue argument, Celaya
asserted for the first time that the conspiracy that formed the
basis of his conviction had no nexus to the United States, and
therefore the government could not prosecute him within the
bounds of due process. The prosecution objected, first arguing
that the motion was barred because it was, in effect, an untimely
filed motion for acquittal. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 29(c)(1) (“A
defendant may move for a judgment of acquittal, or renew such a
motion, within 14 days after a guilty verdict or after the court
discharges the jury, whichever is later.”). The government
further argued that Celaya failed to satisfy the requirements of
a valid motion for reconsideration because he was merely raising
arguments that could have been presented in his original motion.
Finally, the government asserted that Celaya’s nexus and venue
arguments fail substantively.
After a conference with the court, transcripts were made
available to the parties, who agreed on a schedule to supplement
their submissions.
II. Analysis
In addressing a motion for judgment of acquittal under Rule
29(c), the court must determine whether, “after assaying all the
3 evidence in the light most amiable to the government, and taking
all reasonable inferences in its favor, a rational factfinder
could find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the prosecution
successfully proved the essential elements of the crime.” United
States v. Thomas, 467 F.3d 49, 53 (1st Cir. 2006) (quoting United
States v. Carucci, 364 F.3d 339, 343 (1st Cir. 2004)). Because
it is the jury's responsibility to assess the credibility of
witnesses, “[c]redibility issues must be resolved in favor of the
verdict.” United States v. Pérez–Ruiz, 353 F.3d 1, 7 (1st Cir.
2003) (citing United States v. Alicea, 205 F.3d 480, 483 (1st
Cir. 2000)). Although the prosecution has the burden of proof at
trial, on a Rule 29 motion, the defendant “bear[s] the heavy
burden of demonstrating that no reasonable jury could have found
[him] guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Munoz,
36 F.3d 1229, 1234 (1st Cir. 1994) (citing United States v.
Innamorati, 996 F.2d 456, 459 (1st Cir. 1993)).
Before turning to the motion at issue, the court notes that
it initially discounted the prosecution’s timeliness argument
because it viewed Celaya’s motion as one challenging the court’s
jurisdiction to hear the case, a matter which can be raised at
any time. However, as the government correctly points out,
Celaya’s nexus argument goes to the merits of the prosecution,
not the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case. See United
4 States v. Yousef, 750 F.3d 254, 259-60 (2d Cir. 2014) (citing
Morrison v. Nat'l Australia Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247, 253-54
(2010)). Celaya concedes this point in his reply brief. Doc.
no. 265 at 3. Accordingly, the court first addresses the
procedural issues.
A. Procedural compliance
1. Nexus to the United States
Celaya is correct that the strict time limits of Rule 29 do
not apply to his motion to reconsider. While the First Circuit
Court of Appeals has recognized that motions for reconsideration
in criminal cases “are not specifically authorized by statute or
rule,”1 their putative viability relies on the “traditional and
virtually unquestioned practice of district courts exercising
their inherent authority to revisit their own orders.” United
States v. Ortiz,
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
United States of America
v. Criminal No. 11-cr-084–04-JL Opinion No. 2015 DNH 226P
Rafael Humberto Celaya Valenzuela
ORDER
Before the court is defendant Rafael Humberto Celaya
Valenzuela’s (“Celaya”) post-verdict motion for reconsideration
of this court's denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal.
Fed. R. Crim. P. 29. Celaya’s motion implicates two issues: 1)
whether the motion is properly before the court; and 2) if so,
the evidentiary requirements to prove a drug conspiracy under 21
U.S.C. § 846.
In July 2012, a superseding indictment charged Celaya and
several others with conspiracy to distribute and possess with
intent to distribute cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a). His trial began in
October 2014. After the government rested its case Celaya filed
a motion for acquittal, pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 29(a). This
court denied the motion. Celaya was subsequently convicted.
In April 2015, on the eve of sentencing that had been twice
continued, Celaya filed a motion for reconsideration of the acquittal motion, to which the prosecution objected. After a
conference with the court, and adhering to an agreed-upon
briefing schedule, each side filed supplemental memoranda. Upon
review of the motion for reconsideration, objection thereto and
supplementation, and after oral argument, the motion is denied
both procedurally, and in the alternative, in substance.
I. Procedural History
Celaya’s mid-trial motion for acquittal under Rule 29
posited two bases for acquittal. First, he asserted that the
prosecution failed to prove that Celaya joined the conspiracy
alleged in the operative indictment. Specifically, Celaya argued
that:
While there was substantial evidence introduced by the Government that could reasonably be understood by the jury to show that the Sinaloan cartel wanted to expand its drug trafficking network into Europe, and perhaps the United States, the evidence failed to demonstrate that the cartel actually agreed to include Celaya in that conspiracy. To the contrary, the evidence clearly shows that the cartel considered, and then rejected, the idea of having Celaya participate in whatever conspiracy it wanted to create.
(Doc. no. 185)(emphasis added). Celaya also argued that the
District of New Hampshire was not a permissible venue for his
trial. The court denied the motion by oral order.
After being granted a pair of sentencing continuances,
Celaya filed, roughly a week before his sentencing hearing was
2 scheduled, a motion for reconsideration of the Rule 29 motion the
court denied approximately six months earlier. In addition to
reiterating the previously rejected venue argument, Celaya
asserted for the first time that the conspiracy that formed the
basis of his conviction had no nexus to the United States, and
therefore the government could not prosecute him within the
bounds of due process. The prosecution objected, first arguing
that the motion was barred because it was, in effect, an untimely
filed motion for acquittal. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 29(c)(1) (“A
defendant may move for a judgment of acquittal, or renew such a
motion, within 14 days after a guilty verdict or after the court
discharges the jury, whichever is later.”). The government
further argued that Celaya failed to satisfy the requirements of
a valid motion for reconsideration because he was merely raising
arguments that could have been presented in his original motion.
Finally, the government asserted that Celaya’s nexus and venue
arguments fail substantively.
After a conference with the court, transcripts were made
available to the parties, who agreed on a schedule to supplement
their submissions.
II. Analysis
In addressing a motion for judgment of acquittal under Rule
29(c), the court must determine whether, “after assaying all the
3 evidence in the light most amiable to the government, and taking
all reasonable inferences in its favor, a rational factfinder
could find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the prosecution
successfully proved the essential elements of the crime.” United
States v. Thomas, 467 F.3d 49, 53 (1st Cir. 2006) (quoting United
States v. Carucci, 364 F.3d 339, 343 (1st Cir. 2004)). Because
it is the jury's responsibility to assess the credibility of
witnesses, “[c]redibility issues must be resolved in favor of the
verdict.” United States v. Pérez–Ruiz, 353 F.3d 1, 7 (1st Cir.
2003) (citing United States v. Alicea, 205 F.3d 480, 483 (1st
Cir. 2000)). Although the prosecution has the burden of proof at
trial, on a Rule 29 motion, the defendant “bear[s] the heavy
burden of demonstrating that no reasonable jury could have found
[him] guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Munoz,
36 F.3d 1229, 1234 (1st Cir. 1994) (citing United States v.
Innamorati, 996 F.2d 456, 459 (1st Cir. 1993)).
Before turning to the motion at issue, the court notes that
it initially discounted the prosecution’s timeliness argument
because it viewed Celaya’s motion as one challenging the court’s
jurisdiction to hear the case, a matter which can be raised at
any time. However, as the government correctly points out,
Celaya’s nexus argument goes to the merits of the prosecution,
not the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case. See United
4 States v. Yousef, 750 F.3d 254, 259-60 (2d Cir. 2014) (citing
Morrison v. Nat'l Australia Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247, 253-54
(2010)). Celaya concedes this point in his reply brief. Doc.
no. 265 at 3. Accordingly, the court first addresses the
procedural issues.
A. Procedural compliance
1. Nexus to the United States
Celaya is correct that the strict time limits of Rule 29 do
not apply to his motion to reconsider. While the First Circuit
Court of Appeals has recognized that motions for reconsideration
in criminal cases “are not specifically authorized by statute or
rule,”1 their putative viability relies on the “traditional and
virtually unquestioned practice of district courts exercising
their inherent authority to revisit their own orders.” United
States v. Ortiz, 741 F.3d 288, 293 n.2 (1st Cir. 2014) (quoting
United States v. Dieter, 429 U.S. 6, 8 N.3 (1976) (per curiam)
(citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). This
court’s authority is not unbounded, however. Reconsideration is
“an extraordinary remedy which must be used sparingly.” Palmer
v. Champion Mtg., 465 F.3d 24, 30 (1st Cir. 2006) (quoting 11
Charles Alan Wright et al., 11 Federal Practice and Procedure
1 But see LR 7.2; LCrR 1.1(d).
5 § 2810.1 (2d ed. 1995)). It is “appropriate only in a limited
number of circumstances: if the moving party presents newly
discovered evidence, if there has been an intervening change in
the law, or if the movant can demonstrate that the original
decision was based on a manifest error of law or was clearly
unjust.” United States v. Allen, 573 F.3d 42, 53 (1st Cir.
2009). Moreover, and especially relevant here, reconsideration
is not “a vehicle for a party to undo its own procedural failures
[or] allow a party to advance arguments that could and should
have been presented to the district court prior to judgment.”
Id. (quoting Iverson v. City of Boston, 452 F.3d 94, 104 (1st
Cir. 2006)). This final caveat is Celaya’s undoing.
In his motion for acquittal, Celaya explicitly argued that
the evidence was insufficient to tie him to a conspiracy “to
expand its drug trafficking network into Europe, and perhaps the
United States,” even though the jury could reasonably conclude
that such a conspiracy existed. (Doc. no. 185). By contrast,
Celaya’s motion for reconsideration all but abandons this tack
and argues that the conspiracy itself did not involve drug
distribution in the United States. Therefore, the argument goes,
Celaya must be acquitted because the statutes of conviction do
not reach extraterritorial conduct.
6 In an effort to satisfy the Court of Appeals’s “manifest
error of law” standard, Celaya argues that this court did not
consider “controlling law . . . that section 841(a) does not
apply to the distribution of, or the possession of with intent to
distribute, controlled substances outside the borders of the
United States.” (Doc. no. 226-1 at 3). However, Celaya did not
make this argument in his motion for judgment of acquittal.
Indeed, in the sentence immediately preceding the one quoted
above, Celaya notes that in his original motion he “argued that
the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that he participated in the conspiracy charged in the
indictment, which was to distribute or possess with intent to
distribute heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine within the United
States.” (Emphasis added).
Ultimately, Celaya’s submission relative to the sufficiency
of the evidence “is a series of arguments that could and should
have been previously presented to the district court.” United
States v. Iacoboni, 667 F. Supp. 2d 215, 217 (D. Mass. 2009)
(citing Allen, 573 F.3d at 53). To the extent the motion attacks
the “jurisdictional nexus” of the conspiracy to the United
States, it is therefore denied.
7 2. Venue
Although Celaya argued that venue in New Hampshire was
improper in both his original Rule 29 motion and his motion for
reconsideration, he did not raise this challenge prior to trial,
as required by Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(3)(A)(I). Under the version
of the Federal Rules applicable at the time, such a failure
constitutes a waiver. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(e) (2014 ed.;
repealed Dec. 1, 2014); United States v. Lyons, 740 F.3d 702, 730
(1st Cir. 2014). While the current version of the Rules simply
refers to such motions as "untimely," Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(c)(3),
both provisions allow the court to consider the motion for “good
cause,” a factor Celaya has not addressed. Against this
backdrop, the court will not consider the venue argument.
B. Substance of Celaya’s Arguments
Although the court finds that Celaya’s motion for
reconsideration is procedurally barred, the court has also
considered the parties’ submissions with respect to the substance
of his arguments. Assuming that Celaya’s most recent plaint is
operative – that the conspiracy of which Celaya was convicted did
not have a nexus to the United States – the court finds
sufficient contrary evidence to support the jury’s verdict. The
court first observes that Celaya himself, in his original Rule 29
motion, conceded that a jury could find that the conspiracy
8 included drug trafficking “perhaps into the United States.”
(Doc. no. 185 at 3). Beyond that, however, the jurisdictional
nexus argument fails on the merits.
To begin with, Celaya grossly overstates the reach of cases
upon which he relies. He cites United States v. Hayes, 653 F.2d
8 (1st Cir. 1981), for the proposition that the government must
prove that the intent of the conspiracy must be to distribute
controlled substances in the United States. But the holding in
Hayes, a case involving a drug-carrying vessel seized in
international waters, is not nearly so broad. By its own terms,
Hayes limited the “intent to distribute in the United States”
requirement to vessels on the high seas. Id. at 15. Celaya
further relies on United States v. Bravo, 489 F.3d 1 (1st Cir.
2007)2 for having restated the proposition allegedly set out in
Hayes. Celaya correctly observes that Bravo did recognize that
Hayes found a “jurisdictional nexus requirement” for the
application of the predecessor to the Controlled Substances Act.
Id. at 7 (Doc. no. 262 at 9 n.4). However, Celaya truncated the
Bravo court’s recognition that Hayes’s nexus finding applied to a
“vessel apprehended in international waters.” Id.
2 In fact Celaya cited to a version of Bravo that was withdrawn and superseded. 480 F.3d 88. The cited portion of the withdrawn case was unchanged, however.
9 In contrast to Celaya’s incomplete representation, Hayes
specifically recognized that “[t]he Ninth Circuit had held in a
case where possession of the drug was in the United States that
it was immaterial whether the offender intended to distribute it
elsewhere.” 653 F.2d at 16 n.7. Hayes also reiterated the First
Circuit Court of Appeals’s limiting principle: “This may well be
so, but we think that where possession occurs on the high seas,
an intent to distribute in the United States is required.” Id.
(emphasis added). The Court of Appeals put this issue to rest in
United States v. McKenzie, 818 F.2d 115 (1st Cir. 1987), in which
it reviewed a conviction for violating section 841(a)(1), where
the conviction “requir[ed] proof of possession with intent to
distribute.” Id. at 118. Although the court noted that
“appellant did not, apparently, intend to distribute the
narcotics in the United States,” the court concluded that “the
place of intended distribution is not important so long as such
intent is established together with the fact of possession within
the United States.” Id. (citing United States v. Gomez-Tostado,
597 F.2d 170 (9th Cir. 1979)); see also United States v. Muench,
694 F.2d 28 (2d Cir. 1982) (applying statute to airplane
passengers carrying drugs en route from Colombia to West Germany
with scheduled stopover in United States but plans to distribute
the drugs in West Germany).
10 Here, the government has provided evidence – in the form of
conversations between conspirators and law enforcement agents --
of plans to use United States ports as part of the drug
distribution scheme. Such evidence is sufficient to demonstrate
that the conspiracy included possession of controlled substances
in the United States. The prosecution further argues that while
the seized multi-kilo cocaine shipment originated in South
America and terminated in Europe, the objective of the conspiracy
was to ship multiple loads over an extended period of time, with
multiple distribution destinations that included the United
States. (TR 10/8/14 AM 14-15, 16, 24-25, 28-29, 38; TR 10/8/14
PM 47; Govt’s Exh. 24 (code sheet); Govt’s Exh 21, p. 87; TR
10/9/14 PM 76-86; TR 10/9/14 AM 41, 42, 43, 47-48, 50-54, 56, 62-
63, 65-66, 89-90; Govt’ Exh. 19, 32, 33, 48). But even accepting
Celaya’s disputed premise that the ultimate object of the
conspiracy was solely to distribute controlled substances abroad,
the agreement to use United States ports is sufficient to support
the conspiracy conviction. While Celaya claims that various
conversations were only preliminary discussions in which he was
explaining to co-conspirators what an undercover agent had
represented to him about United States ports, the jury could have
concluded that a conversation, for example, in which Celaya said,
inter alia, “we prefer the port which is safest for you” (that
11 is, undercover personnel posing whom he believed were drug
distributors), was indicative of an agreement that, at the very
least, contemplated the potential routing of cocaine through
United States ports.3
Against this legal and factual backdrop, even if the court
were to entertain the substance of Celaya’s motion to reconsider,
it would find that its original decision was neither based on a
manifest error of law nor was clearly unjust.
III. Conclusion
Defendant's motion for reconsideration4 is DENIED.
SO ORDERED.
Joseph N. Laplante United States District Judge Dated: December 9, 2015 cc: Donald A. Feith, AUSA Andrew S. Feldman, Esq. Jeffrey E. Feiler, Esq. Julie K. Connolly, Esq.
3 Celaya’s claim that conversations with law enforcement personnel about the use of United States ports cannot form the basis of the conviction is unavailing. While the existence of a conspiracy must involve more than just one individual and a government agent, United States v. Portela, 167 F.3d 687, 700 (1st Cir. 1999), here the government produced evidence that there were conspirators other than law enforcement. That the agents proposed the use of United States ports does not undermine the conviction. See United States v. Giry, 818 F.2d 120, 128-130 (1st Cir. 1987) (affirming drug conspiracy conviction where conspiracy members agreed with agents' drug distribution plans). 4 Doc. no. 226.