Controlled Substances — sufficiency of the evidence

Listen to this article

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Criminal

Controlled Substances — sufficiency of the evidence

The evidence was sufficient for a jury to have rationally inferred that the defendant knowingly and actively participated in the conspiracy to possess crack cocaine with intent to distribute.

“In this case, Goree admitted that he drove with Woods from St. Louis to Chicago on April 29, 2008, and May 6, 2008. Though he initially lied to an ATF agent about the purpose of their trips to Chicago, Goree eventually admitted that he and Woods were going to Chicago to purchase crack cocaine. He acknowledged that he went along to provide security and that he and Woods bought ‘a lot’ of crack cocaine on April 29, 2008, and ‘a half kilo of crack’ on May 6, 2008. Goree also volunteered that when police attempted to pull Woods over after the May 6, 2008, drug deal, he encouraged her to keep driving, and threw the crack cocaine out the window so that police would not recover it.”

Affirmed.

13-2669 U.S. v. Goree

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Dow, J., Bauer, J.