People v. Mamari

2009 WL 1177057 (2009)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ds and Taneshia Carter jointly schemed to sell rock cocaine. Stanford (D) devised the scheme to raise money for his prison account. Mamaril (D), an old friend, and Carter, a street-level dealer, were to sell drugs obtained from other Stanford (D) associates, put a share of the proceeds on his books, and keep the rest. The conspirators discussed and implemented the scheme through coded conversations, which Carter and an investigating officer would translate for the jury. Mamaril (D) and Carter obtained and sold drugs in furtherance of the conspiracy. Carter was arrested for conspiracy to sell rock cocaine on October 5, 2006. In return for pleading guilty and testifying truthfully, she had been promised a maximum sentence of one year in county jail and five years of probation. Carter met Stanford (D) in September 2006 while selling rock cocaine on Nina Way in Sacramento County. Stanford (D) called Carter from jail. She visited him there three times, and they spoke on the telephone more than five times. they often used coded language. Carter did not know Mamaril (D) well before September 23. Since then they spoke often in person and on the telephone. She called him to relay messages from Stanford (D) or to get drugs. Sometimes she would simultaneously speak to Stanford on her cell phone and Mamaril (D) on her home phone. Mamaril (D) twice delivered uncut chunks of rock cocaine to Carter's home without charge, which she cut up and sold. She thought it was Stanford's (D). Mamaril (D) also wrote a note for her to take to Stanford (D), asking the others to call him 'Relative' in conversations. Carter copied the note as it was too large and but she forgot to dispose of the original, which was found at her apartment after her arrest. About 11 total recordings of prison phone conversations were played for the jury. The calls revealed the different defendants participating in the conspiracy and their use of code words in an attempt to cover up the conspiracy. An undercover narcotics investigator, called Carter on October 5, 2006, to arrange a drug deal, saying 'Sneak' had given him her name. Using common street terms, he asked for a 'zip' of 'work' -- i.e., an ounce of rock cocaine. She referred him to Latoya Brown, with whom he set up a meeting. After Brown's arrest, he searched Carter's apartment, finding contraband and a handwritten note with a piece torn off (evidently the note left by Mamaril). Carter was then arrested. Officers testified as to the meaning of the code words and that the conversations were about drug deals. Ds contend that the conversations were ambiguous, and Carter's explanations could not be believed because she had progressively changed her story and was generally not credible. Ds did not attempt to explain what the conversations were about if not drugs. Ds were convicted and appealed.