United States Seventh Circuit

Defendant's drug conspiracy convictions are affirmed in part where: 1) it was not error for the district court to utilize a jury form asking the jury to find that each defendant was responsible for more than a specific amount of drugs; 2) life sentences for participation in a drug conspiracy did not violate the Eighth Amendment; 3) a clerical error in the warrant affidavit for the wiretaps that formed the basis of this prosecution did not prejudice the defendants; 4) defendant's confession, which he gave after asking to speak to a detective and without being subjected to an interrogation, was voluntary and admissible; 5) the district court was within its discretion to exclude the testimony of an officer whom defendants wanted to question regarding statements that a co-defendant made during his guilty plea colloquy, because it was hearsay; 6) the district court correctly refused to grant defendant's request for a jury instruction on a lesser included charge because the proposed lesser charge contained elements distinct from the drug conspiracy charge, and so it did not meet the legal definition for "lesser included charge"; and 7) the government's comment, made during closing arguments, on the defendants' failure to offer testimony to contradict the government's evidence did not violate their Fifth Amendment rights because it was not a direct comment on their failure to testify. However, one defendant's conviction is vacated where the district court erred by admitting a detective's testimony concerning a wiretapped conversation between defendant and his counsel.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/07/2010
• Published 04/07/2010

Judges

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel