USCA1 Opinion

March 12, 1993

[NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

[NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

No. 92-2284
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
v.
VICENTE JOAQUIN GONZALEZ,
Defendant, Appellant.
_________________________
No. 92-2285
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
v.
HECTOR BERRIOS COLON,
Defendant, Appellant.
_________________________
APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Juan M. Perez-Gimenez, U.S. District Judge]
___________________

_________________________
Before
Torruella, Selya and Cyr, Circuit Judges.
______________
_________________________

J. C. Codias for appellants.

____________
Jose A. Quiles Espinosa, Senior Litigation Counsel, with
_________________________
whom Daniel F. Lopez-Romo, United States Attorney, and Warren
_____________________
______
Vazquez, Assistant United States Attorney, were on brief, for
_______
appellee.
_________________________

_________________________

Per
Per

Curiam.
Curiam.

Vicente

Joaquin

Gonzalez

and

Hector

___________
Berrios Colon
to

import a

possessing
customs

appeal their convictions on

controlled

a controlled

waters of the

the contraband.

substance into
substance

charges of conspiracy
the

United States

and

aboard a

vessel within

the

United States, with

intent to distribute

They argue primarily that the evidence presented

to the jury was too flimsy to support the guilty

argue

secondarily

that

the

trial

judge

verdicts.

improperly

They

excluded

certain evidence and, moreover, exhibited a bias against them.

We

start with

sufficiency challenges
the light

bedrock.

"The

is whether

most amicable to

the prosecution,

inferences favorable

to it,

factfinder

to

defendant

beyond

to

a test

of

doubt

United States
_____________

evidentiary

say

that

by canvassing anew

See id. at 881-83.

___ ___

we found

Nueva's conviction

those facts

a rational
that

the

We have recently applied this

sufficiency

States v. Nueva, 979 F.2d 880 (1st Cir. 1992).

______
_____

out therein.

all

v. Maraj, 947
_____

in an

prosecuted by appellants' codefendant, Alfredo Nueva.

would be served

taken in

together with

would allow

reasonable

was guilty as charged."

F.2d 520, 522-23 (1st Cir. 1991).

standard

review for

the total evidence,

reasonable

conclude

standard of

appeal

See United
___ ______

No useful purpose

the full range of

facts set

It suffices at this juncture to

more

on both charges.

than adequate
Id. at 883-85.
___

to support

Most of the

same evidence applies with equal force to the present appellants.

We do not propose

to reinvent the wheel.

Instead, we

add only a few brief comments regarding the events at

the

main question

with conflicting
Puerto
that

evidentiary sufficiency
accounts of what

simply in

transpired off

the wrong

during

a pre-purchase test drive of

night,

they

precisely

experienced engine

the

spot chosen

the coast

of

Appellants argued

place at

the wrong

time;

a speedboat, in the dark of

trouble

by drug

On

the jury was faced

Rico on the night of December 5, 1990.

they were

issue.

and

dealers

were stranded
for an

in

airdrop of

several bales of cocaine worth an enormous amount of money.

The prosecution, however, did not believe that the long

arm

of co(ke)incidence stretched quite

so far.

It presented a

wealth of surveillance evidence from which a rational

jury could

conclude

navigation

that

lights, signalled
and

then

objects

small

the

by

prearrangement to

with chemical

hauled from the sea.

close,

with

no

appellants' boat (also running without lights)

proceeded
(marked

airplane, running

three men

lights)

drop

which

several

large

the boat's

crew

When, thereafter, the capture trap began to

aboard

the

boat hastily

discarded

the

objects

and

avail).

attempted to

When

boarded,

evade
the

apprehension

boat's

engine

(although to
was

still

no

warm,

indicating recent use and undermining appellants' stranded-at-sea

account.

Several

bales of cocaine,

with chemical lights

still

attached, were found floating in the area where the speedboat had
been.

There were

no other

vessels in

the vicinity (save

for

official watercraft).
We

think

that

the

cumulative

evidence

permitted a

series of logical inferences:

that appellants knowingly set

out

to rendezvous with the aircraft; that, being the only individuals

in the

area, appellants were

smuggle; that,

the designated

by design, appellants retrieved

receptors for

the

the cocaine from

the water; and that appellants, knowing that their newly acquired
cargo

comprised

illegal

contraband,

enforcement personnel

drew near.

recently

culpability

wrote, "the

hinges upon whether the

involvement."

No
of

jettisoned

it

when

more was exigible.

[a] defendant's

law

As we

presence

circumstances fairly imply participatory

United States v. Echeverri, No. 92-1426, slip

_____________
_________

op.

at

(1st Cir.

Jan. 5,

1993).

drawing plausible inferences as

Here, a

suggested above, could well have

discerned participatory involvement.

Morales-Cartagena, Nos.
_________________
Cir.

rational factfinder,

See, e.g., United States v.

___ ____ _____________

91-2079, 91-2080,

slip op. at

4-6 (1st

Feb. 23, 1993); Nueva, 979 F.2d at 883-85; United States v.

_____
_____________

Lopez,
_____

944 F.2d

33,

Hernandez-Bermudez,
__________________
States
______

40

(1st

857

Cir.

F.2d 50,

1991);

54

v. Flores Perez, 849 F.2d

_____________

United States
______________

(1st

Cir. 1988);

l, 3 (1st

v.

United
______

Cir. 1988); United

______

States v. Alvarez, 626 F.2d 208, 210 (1st Cir. 1980).

______
_______
In

sum,

figuratively, in
judge,

and

converging

seem to

boat as Nueva.

panel

convict on

government's case
could

appellants

the same

the Nueva
_____

sufficient to

record,

the

believed

all counts, as

be,

The jury,

that

the

do we.

was largely circumstantial, the

certainly

have

chosen

to

circumstances pointed persuasively

5

literally

and

the trial

evidence

was

Although

the

jury, on this

believe

that

the

toward a sinister

truth and

been convinced thereby beyond any

reasonable doubt of

appellants' complicity and guilt.

The law, as we have said, "is

not

criminal jury

so struthious as

to compel a

which is perfectly obvious."

United States v. Ingraham, 832 F.2d

_____________
________

229, 240

(1st Cir. 1987), cert.

_____

see also
___ ____

United States v.
_____________

1982)

("Neither

themselves
which

juries

of common

they

justified

find
in the

inclinations

denied, 486 U.S.

______

Smith, 680
_____
nor

judges

sense, but

proven

such

light of

of human

to ignore that

F.2d 255,
are

rather

260 (1st

required

to

should apply

reasonable

as to

cert. denied,
_____ ______

Cir.

divorce

to facts

inferences

their experience

beings."),

1009 (1988);

as

are

the natural

459 U.S.

1110

(1983).
The other
comment.

The

tracklog was

issues raised

district

court's

this evidence.

a proper foundation

shooting from the

lip.

of

the

scant

so-called

We need go no
that

In

gross

of

amounts to no

any event, the

very same

rejected.

We

See Nueva, 979 F.2d at 885.

___ _____

further.

appellants'
and

for the admission

to the Nueva panel and soundly

_____

adopt that panel's assessment.

distortions

exclusion

Lastly, the claim of judicial bias

claim was advanced

reveals

appellants deserve

well within its discretion; the record reveals that

appellants never laid

more than

by

Our examination of

counsel

has

exaggerations as

the papers

been

using

weapons

of

devious

appellate

advocacy.

They are easily belied

by the record and

do not aid

his clients' cause.

For essentially the same reasons as were set

out

opinion, the

in

the

Nueva
_____

muster.

Affirmed.
Affirmed.
________

appellants'

convictions

pass