Filed: Feb. 11, 2015
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Case: 14-11887 Date Filed: 02/11/2015 Page: 1 of 10 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 14-11887 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 1:13-cr-20110-MGC-2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus JESSE ANDRE, a.k.a. “J”, a.k.a. “J-Cash”, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (February 11, 2015) Before ED CARNES, Chief Judge, MARCUS and WILLIAM PRYOR, Circuit Judges
Summary: Case: 14-11887 Date Filed: 02/11/2015 Page: 1 of 10 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 14-11887 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 1:13-cr-20110-MGC-2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus JESSE ANDRE, a.k.a. “J”, a.k.a. “J-Cash”, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (February 11, 2015) Before ED CARNES, Chief Judge, MARCUS and WILLIAM PRYOR, Circuit Judges...
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Case: 14-11887 Date Filed: 02/11/2015 Page: 1 of 10
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 14-11887
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 1:13-cr-20110-MGC-2
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
JESSE ANDRE,
a.k.a. “J”,
a.k.a. “J-Cash”,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
________________________
(February 11, 2015)
Before ED CARNES, Chief Judge, MARCUS and WILLIAM PRYOR, Circuit
Judges.
PER CURIAM:
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Jesse Andre challenges his convictions for conspiracy to possess cocaine
with intent to distribute and for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. He
contends that the district court erred by denying his motion to dismiss the
indictment and by refusing to permit Andre to call as a witness at trial Special
Agent William Reinckens of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
I.
In September 2011, the DEA received two separate tips. A confidential
source told an agent that Andre was involved in money laundering and drug
trafficking in the Miami area, and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office alerted the
DEA that Jamal Peterson was selling large amounts of crack cocaine in the
northern part of Broward County. Based on those two reports, the DEA began two
separate investigations, one of Andre and one of Peterson. The DEA monitored
Peterson and those working for him through a number of investigative techniques,
including surveillance, use of a pen register, trash pulls, a cell site order, analysis
of telephone records, and wiretaps. The investigators discovered that Andre was
supplying cocaine to Peterson, which Peterson used to make crack cocaine for his
operation. They also managed to identify the individuals working for Peterson,
including Peterson’s girlfriend, Judith Martinez.
The government presented this case to a grand jury in February 2013. It
sought a multi-count indictment against Andre, Peterson, Martinez, and several
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others who worked for Peterson. At that time, the government sought only one
charge against Andre: conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 280 grams or
more of crack cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(iii) and
846.
To support the charge against Andre, the government presented testimony
from Agent Reinckens. He testified that the DEA’s wiretap of Peterson’s phone
had recorded conversations in which Peterson and Andre discussed their plan to
acquire cocaine from a source in Houston, Texas. The exchange between the
prosecutor and Agent Reinckens was as follows:
Q. Okay. So, let’s talk about first the Texas link. What were the
substance of the calls and the information you received about
them obtaining cocaine from Texas?
A. One of the — the outset of the Title 3 intercept of Mr.
Peterson’s cellular telephone, calls were intercepted between
Mr. Andre and another individual . . . . During the course of the
discussion, Mr. Andre stated that he was attempting to purchase
two kilograms of cocaine in Houston, Texas.
Q. Okay. And, Mr. Andre was attempting to purchase those two
kilograms; were both the kilograms for Mr. Andre?
A. No, one kilogram was for Mr. Andre and one was for Mr.
Peterson. They actually specifically stated that during one call.
The same day that Agent Reinckens testified, the grand jury issued a fifteen-count
indictment that included the conspiracy-to-possess charge against Andre. The
fourteen other counts were against Peterson, Martinez, and four other defendants.
By August 2013, all of Andre’s codefendants had pleaded guilty, and the
government filed a superseding indictment. Count One charged Andre with
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conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine.
Count Two charged him with possession with intent to distribute more than 500
grams of cocaine.1
Andre went to trial and on the second day moved to dismiss the indictment.
Defense counsel, who had only recently received a transcript of the grand jury
proceeding, argued that the indictment should be dismissed based on prosecutorial
misconduct during the grand jury proceeding. He pointed to Agent Reinckens’
testimony (1) that “Mr. Andre stated that he was attempting to purchase two
kilograms of cocaine in Houston, Texas”; and (2) that Andre had “actually
specifically stated” that “one kilogram was for Mr. Andre and one was for Mr.
Peterson.” Andre and Peterson had used code when discussing drugs, so neither
had used the literal words “cocaine” or “kilogram” during the call. Defense
counsel used that fact to argue that Agent Reinckens’ testimony about what Andre
had “actually specifically stated” amounted to perjury, or was at least highly
misleading. The government responded that the prosecutor’s question to Agent
Reinckens, which asked him to relay “the substance of the calls” between Andre
and Peterson, had made it clear that his testimony was summarizing the calls. The
government also pointed to a line in the wiretap transcript in which Andre told
1
That was actually the second superseding indictment. Before settling on those two counts,
the government had filed a first superseding indictment naming Andre as the sole defendant and
charging him with just one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more
kilograms of cocaine.
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Peterson “one is yours, one is mine,” and explained that Agent Reinckens’
testimony was based on that statement. The district court found that the testimony
was not perjurious or intentionally misleading and denied the motion to dismiss.
The government then finished presenting its case in chief, which included
testimony from Peterson and Martinez, both of whom had agreed to testify against
Andre as part of their plea bargains.
At the close of the government’s case, Andre again moved to dismiss the
indictment, which the district court denied. Defense counsel then requested
permission to call Agent Reinckens to the stand. His reason for doing so was “to
make my record for appeal” regarding his motion to dismiss the indictment. He
first asked that he be allowed to examine Agent Reinckens “in front of the jury to
question him” so that the jury could “make their factual determination” as to
whether Agent Reinckens had committed perjury. The district court pointed out
that it had already decided that Agent Reinckens’ testimony was not perjurious and
the issue was to be decided by the court and not the jury. So defense counsel
pivoted and asked “to be allowed to call the witness for five minutes outside the
presence of the jury to make my record for an appellate court, to question the agent
as to what I believe were misrepresentations in front of the grand jury.” Defense
counsel never suggested that he wanted to call Agent Reinckens in order to create
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fodder for impeaching the government’s other witnesses, such as Peterson and
Martinez.
Andre also made a motion for a judgment of acquittal on Count Two,
arguing that the government had offered no evidence that he had possessed more
than 500 grams of cocaine. The government conceded that it had failed to offer
such evidence, and the court granted a judgment of acquittal on Count Two as to
the amount of cocaine. It instructed the jurors that they should find Andre guilty
on the remainder of the charge in that count if he “possessed, with intent to
distribute, an amount of cocaine weighing less than 500 grams.”
The jury found Andre guilty on both counts. The district court sentenced
Andre to serve concurrent sentences of 180 and 190 months respectively on Counts
One and Two.
II.
Andre contends that the district court erred by denying his motion to dismiss
the second superseding indictment and by refusing to permit him to call Agent
Reinckens as a witness at trial. We review both decisions for an abuse of
discretion. See United States v. Steed, 548 F.3d 961, 975 (11th Cir. 2008); United
States v. Bobo,
344 F.3d 1076, 1082 (11th Cir. 2003). But where a defendant
sought to admit evidence under one theory at trial and on appeal presents a
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different theory for admitting that evidence, we review only for plain error. See
United States v. Edwards, 696 F.2d 1277, 1281 (11th Cir. 1983).
Andre first challenges his conviction on the ground that the district court
should have granted his motion to dismiss the second superseding indictment. He
argues that Agent Reinckens gave false testimony in support of the allegation that
Andre engaged in a conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, and that
without the false testimony, the grand jury would not have included him as a
defendant in the indictment it issued. Agent Reinckens did not testify at trial, yet
the jury found Andre guilty. So even if we assume that Agent Reinckens’
testimony to the grand jury was false — and we seriously doubt that it was — the
fact that the petit jury did not hear that testimony and still found Andre guilty on
the conspiracy-to-possess charge means that he was not prejudiced by the grand
jury testimony in question. See United States v. Flanders, 752 F.3d 1317, 1333
(11th Cir. 2014). Any prosecutorial misconduct (or other error due to false
testimony) before the grand jury was harmless and therefore is not grounds for
reversing his conviction. See id.; see also United States v. Mechanik,
475 U.S. 66,
70,
106 S. Ct. 938, 942 (1986) (“Measured by the petit jury’s verdict, then, any
error in the grand jury proceeding connected with the charging decision was
harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”).
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Andre’s second challenge asserts that he should have been permitted to call
Agent Reinckens as a witness at the trial. The theory that Andre offers for why he
should have been permitted to do so is different from the one he offered at trial.
As we already recounted, at trial defense counsel’s justification for calling Agent
Reinckens to the stand was to build a record to support an appeal based on the
denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment. Now, however, Andre argues that
he should have been permitted to examine Agent Reinckens in order to provide
evidence for impeaching two other government witnesses: Peterson and Martinez.
His argument relies on this chain of inferences: (1) when Andre cross-examined
Peterson and Martinez about their plea agreements, the government rehabilitated
them on redirect by pointing to the provisions in their plea agreements specifying
that they would be prosecuted for perjury if they gave false testimony; (2) if Andre
had been permitted to examine Agent Reinckens about his testimony to the grand
jury, he could have shown the jury that Agent Reinckens testified falsely without
being prosecuted; and (3) if the jury had seen that Agent Reinckens gave false
testimony without any negative consequences, they would have discredited
Peterson’s and Martinez’s testimony. That is a different rationale (if a theory that
strained can be called a rationale) from the one defense counsel gave when he tried
to call Agent Reinckens to testify. We therefore review this challenge for plain
error. See Edwards, 696 F.2d at 1281. Under that standard, we may not reverse
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Andre’s conviction unless there is: “(1) error, (2) that is plain, and (3) that affects
substantial rights.” United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 631,
122 S. Ct. 1781,
1785 (2002) (alterations and quotation marks omitted). And even if Andre’s
challenge satisfies those three criteria, we have discretion to reverse “only if (4) the
error seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial
proceedings.”
Id. (quotation marks omitted).
Even if we assume, as we should not, that Andre satisfies the first two
prongs of the plain-error test, he falters on the third. His argument that cross-
examining Agent Reinckens would have led the jurors to discredit Peterson’s and
Martinez’s testimony is not just speculative but also far-fetched. See United States
v. Rodriguez, 398 F.3d 1291, 1301 (11th Cir. 2005) (holding that an appellant “has
not met his burden of showing that his substantial rights have been affected” if we
“have to speculate” about the effect the district court’s error had on the outcome of
the trial). So Andre’s second challenge fails.
III.
Though neither party raises the issue, our own review of the record reveals
several discrepancies between the jury’s verdict and the judgment that the district
court entered. See United States v. Massey, 443 F.3d 814, 822 (11th Cir. 2006)
(“We may sua sponte raise the issue of clerical errors in the judgment and remand
with instructions that the district court correct the errors.”). We raise and address
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those discrepancies because “[i]t is fundamental error for a court to enter a
judgment of conviction against a defendant who has not been charged, tried or
found guilty of the crime recited in the judgment.” United States v. Diaz, 190 F.3d
1247, 1252 (11th Cir. 1999). Regarding Count One, the written judgment’s
description lists only 21 U.S.C. § 846 as the statute of conviction for that count.
The judgment should be amended to reflect that Andre was convicted of
conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 or more kilograms of cocaine, in
violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(ii) and 846. Regarding Count Two,
the written judgment’s description lists the wrong offense and the wrong statute of
conviction for that count. It lists “[c]onspiracy to possess with intent to distribute
less than 500 grams of cocaine,” when the offense was possession with intent to
distribute. Furthermore, it lists 21 U.S.C. § 846 as the statute of conviction, when
Andre was charged and found guilty under two other provisions. The judgment
should be amended to reflect that Andre was convicted of possession with intent to
distribute less than 500 grams of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and
18 U.S.C. § 2. Correcting those clerical errors will not prejudice Andre. See
Diaz,
190 F.3d at 1252.
AFFIRMED; and REMANDED in part.
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