United States v. Canedo ( 2000 )

F I L E D
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
JAN 3 2000
TENTH CIRCUIT
PATRICK FISHER
Clerk
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v. No. 99-3057
(D.C. No. 98-CR-10079-3)
CARLOS L. CANEDO, (District of Kansas)
Defendant-Appellant.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
Before TACHA, Circuit Judge, KELLY, Circuit Judge, and McWILLIAMS, Senior
Circuit Judge.
In a second superceding indictment, Carlos L. Canedo, the appellant, Isidro M.
Zazueta and Daniel N. Cantu were charged in eight counts with various drug and drug
related crimes. Canedo was named as a defendant in four of the eight counts. In Count 1
Canedo was charged with conspiring from a date unknown to July 14, 1998 with Zazueta
and Cantu and with others, both known and unknown, to distribute controlled substances,
namely methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). In Count 5 Canedo and
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of
law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the
citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under
the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
Cantu were charged with distributing methamphetamine in June 1998 in violation of 21
U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. In Count 7 all three defendants were charged with
distributing a pound of methamphetamine on July 14, 1998, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §
841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. In Count 8 Canedo and Cantu were charged with carrying a
firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2,
924(c).
In a joint trial with Cantu, Canedo was convicted on all of the four counts in which
he was a defendant. He was later sentenced to imprisonment for 181 months to be
followed by five years of supervised release. He now appeals his conviction and
sentence.1
On appeal, Canedo contends that the district court committed reversible error in
three particulars: (1) the district court erred when it allowed the government to introduce
evidence of prior criminal acts by his co-defendant Cantu, in violation of Federal Rule of
Evidence 404(b); (2) the government in its closing argument to the jury commented, over
objections, on Canedo’s failure to testify, thereby depriving him of his constitutional right
not to testify; and (3) the evidence was legally insufficient to sustain any of his several
convictions. We disagree and therefore affirm.
Cantu appealed his conviction to this court. United States v. Cantu, No. 99-3056.
1
That appeal was dismissed for lack of prosecution pursuant to 10th Cir. R. 42.1 on June 9,
1999.
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I. Other Crimes
David Zimmerman was a government witness at the joint trial of Canedo and
Cantu. His testimony formed the basis for Count 5 of the second superceding indictment
which charged Canedo and Cantu with distributing methamphetamine in June, 1998. In
this regard, Zimmerman testified that in June, 1998, he made two purchases of
methamphetamine from Canedo and Cantu. By way of some background, Zimmerman
stated that he did not meet Canedo until early June, 1998, but that he first met Cantu in
1991 and had drug dealings with Cantu from that time on. Counsel for Canedo objected
to such testimony on the grounds that Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) had not been
followed. Counsel for Cantu then joined in that objection, which was overruled. On
appeal, Canedo argues that he is entitled to a new trial because Zimmerman testified that
he had known Cantu since 1991 and had drug dealings with him in the ensuing years. We
disagree.
The government argues here, as it did in the district court, that such evidence was
not 404(b) evidence of other crimes or “bad acts,” but, on the contrary, was “direct
evidence” tying Cantu into a long standing conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in
the Wichita, Kansas area. Count 1 of the second superceding indictment charged Cantu,
Canedo and Zazueta of conspiracy with others “known and unknown” from an unknown
date in the past to July 14, 1998 to distribute methamphetamine. Zimmerman’s testimony
constituted direct evidence tying Cantu into such conspiracy at its very inception. The
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fact that Canedo did not become a part of that conspiracy until later, does not render
testimony that Cantu became a conspirator much earlier, inadmissible. It should be
remembered that this was a joint trial of Cantu and Canedo. There was no error in
allowing Zimmerman to testify as to when he first met Cantu, and the general nature of
their relationship in the years preceding June and July, 1998. Such was clearly admissible
as tending to show that Cantu was a part of this on-going conspiracy. It should be noted
that Zimmerman did not testify in any detail whatsoever concerning events occurring
between 1991 and June, 1998, though he was examined, and cross-examined, in detail
concerning his contacts with Cantu and Canedo in June, 1998.
II. Prosecutorial Misconduct
Canedo argues that the government prosecutor in his final closing argument to the
jury indirectly commented on the fact that Canedo did not testify in his own behalf.
Objection was made and the district court advised the jury that counsel’s argument was
not evidence, and that the jury should decide the case on the basis of the evidence
adduced at trial. We find no reversible error. The statements were made to counter
arguments made by counsel for Cantu and Canedo in their argument to the jury. There, of
course, was no statement by the prosecutor that since neither Canedo nor Cantu had
testified in their own defense, they must be guilty. Rather, in one instance the prosecutor
made reference to the closing argument of Cantu’s attorney which did not really relate to
Canedo. The prosecutor did state that they had not searched Canedo’s residence because
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he had given the authorities more than one home address. And he did argue that on July
14, 1998, Canedo and Cantu had followed Zazueta to the parking lot in order to
“monitor” Zazueta’s delivery of the methamphetamine to the undercover agent, none of
which was improper under the circumstances. Any alleged improper comment made by
the prosecutor must be viewed in the context of the entire case. United States v. Begay,
144 F.3d 1336, 1339 (10th Cir. 1998). The present case is distinguishable from United
States v. Barton, 731 F.2d 669 (10th Cir. 1984), relied on by Canedo. In Barton, counsel
indirectly commented on the defendant’s failure to testify and directly commented on the
defendant’s post arrest silence. Additionally, the trial court did not give a limiting
instruction on the defendant’s post arrest silence.
III. Insufficient Evidence
Canedo contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. His
argument is confined to the sufficiency of the evidence as it relates to the July 14, 1998
delivery of methamphetamine by Zazueta to an undercover agent in the latter’s
automobile in the parking lot of a Food 4 Less Market. (Counts 7 and 8). There is no
challenge, as we understand it, to his conviction on Courts 1 and 5, i.e., conspiracy and
the deliveries in June, 1998 to Zimmerman. In this regard, certainly Zimmerman’s
testimony, if believed by the jury, which it apparently was, is sufficient to sustain
Canedo’s conviction on those counts. Zimmerman testified that Canedo “carried” the
methamphetamine involved in the June activities.
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As concerns the delivery on July 14, 1998, (Counts 7 and 8), we believe there is
sufficient evidence, some direct and some circumstantial, to show that Cantu and Canedo
were the “source” of the methamphetamine which Zazueta delivered to the undercover
agent. The “surveillance” testimony supports such. Further, Cantu and Canedo followed
the vehicle that Zazueta drove to the parking lot where the delivery occurred and they
parked a short distance from the scene of the delivery. The obvious inference is that they
were “monitoring” the delivery, no doubt wanting to make certain that they would get
paid from the money which the undercover agent was to give Zazueta. And when
searched, a firearm was found in Canedo’s boot. In short, the record supports Canedo’s
conviction on Counts 7 and 8, as well as Counts 1 and 5.
Judgment affirmed.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT.
Robert H. McWilliams
Senior Circuit Judge
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