United States v. Villarreal

2012 WL 401051 (2012)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

D and his sister, co-defendant Belinda, arrived at the Falfurrias, Texas Border Patrol Checkpoint. Border Patrol officials had received an anonymous tip that they were carrying illegal drugs. Agents searched their car and found ten bundles wrapped in brown postal tape in the trunk of the car. The bundles contained a white powdery substance that the agents believed was methamphetamine. D and Belinda were arrested, and both confessed that they were transporting what they believed to be cocaine to Houston, Texas. The packages contained cocaine and had a net weight of 8.4 kilograms. The laboratory separated the ten bundles into two groups. The first group, consisting of two bundles containing wet white powder and 1 bundle containing wet pink powder, had a net weight of 2.5 kilograms and a purity of .41%. The second group, consisting of 7 bundles of compressed white powder, had a net weight of 5.9 kilograms and a purity of 3.2%. The laboratory analysis confirmed that each individual bundle contained the controlled substance cocaine. Section 841 makes it an offense to knowingly possess with intent to distribute a substance that contains a detectable amount of cocaine. If that amount is '5 kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of' cocaine, the defendant is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life for a first offense. If the amount of the mixture or substance containing cocaine is less than 500 grams, then there is no mandatory minimum and the maximum penalty is up to 20 years in prison for a first offense. D claims that he should not be held responsible for 8.4 kilograms of cocaine at sentencing because the substance he possessed was so diluted that it was essentially unmarketable 'garbage.' D asks the Court to instruct the jury as follows: If you find that the Government has proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant possessed with intent to distribute a controlled substance, then you must determine whether the Government has proven the amount and type of controlled substance beyond a reasonable doubt. In this case, the Government has alleged that the defendants possessed, with intent to distribute, more than 5 kilograms of a mixture or substance containing a detectable quantity of cocaine. It is not necessary that the Government establish that the substance possessed by the defendants was 100% pure cocaine. However, the Government must show that the mixture or substance was 'marketable' as cocaine, that is, that a consumer of cocaine or a distributor of cocaine would have willingly consumed or purchased the mixture or substance if they were aware of the purity of the cocaine established by the Government.