United States v. Jamie Ceja , 543 F. App'x 948 ( 2013 )


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  •            Case: 13-10456   Date Filed: 11/04/2013   Page: 1 of 20
    [DO NOT PUBLISH]
    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
    ________________________
    No. 13-10456
    Non-Argument Calendar
    ________________________
    D.C. Docket No. 1:11-cr-00359-JRH-WLB-1
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    versus
    JAMIE CEJA,
    Defendant-Appellant.
    ________________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Southern District of Georgia
    ________________________
    (November 4, 2013)
    Before CARNES, Chief Judge, TJOFLAT and DUBINA, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM:
    Case: 13-10456     Date Filed: 11/04/2013     Page: 2 of 20
    Jamie Ceja appeals his convictions for (1) conspiracy to distribute and
    possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and less than 100
    kilograms of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and (2) possession with
    intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C.
    § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. He challenges the district court’s: (1) refusal to
    dismiss the indictment for lack of personal jurisdiction, (2) denial of his motion to
    compel discovery, (3) admission of evidence regarding his prior conviction for
    marijuana trafficking, (4) denial of his motion to acquit on the conspiracy charge,
    and (5) instruction to the jury on flight as evidence of guilt.
    I.
    The defendant in this case was born “Sergio Vasquez Torres” in Baja
    California, Mexico. He has served prison time in the United States under four
    other names: Sergio Toledo Velasquez, Sergio Velasquez-Toledo, John Belmarez,
    and Jamie Ceja. When officers arrested him in North Augusta in August 2011, he
    identified himself as “Jamie Ceja.” For purposes of this appeal, so will we.
    Ceja was arrested outside an apartment complex in North Augusta after
    officers observed him and another suspect sell cocaine to Jerome Greene, a
    cooperating witness. The arresting officers were part of a joint investigation, made
    up of DEA agents and law enforcement from Georgia and South Carolina, that had
    been monitoring Ceja for several months. The investigation included both Georgia
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    and South Carolina law enforcement because Ceja’s operation straddled the border
    of those two states, working in Augusta, Georgia, as well as North Augusta, which
    is in South Carolina. The investigators initially took Ceja to the North Augusta
    Department of Public Safety office. Detective Phillip Turner of that department
    ran a criminal history search on Ceja while he was being booked. The resulting
    report accurately reflected Ceja’s criminal history under the alias “Jamie Ceja,”
    including a 2007 conviction in Cobb County, Georgia, for trafficking marijuana.
    Detective Turner did not share that report with Investigator Joel Danko, a member
    of both the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and the DEA task force in Augusta,
    Georgia.
    Both Turner and Danko interviewed Ceja in North Augusta. He admitted
    that he had supplied the cocaine used in the sale to the cooperating witness, that he
    had ties to the infamous Mexican drug cartel “La Familia,” and that he had
    received hundreds of pounds of marijuana from the cartel in the past. Ceja agreed
    to help the investigators locate drugs in the area and to cooperate with authorities
    investigating La Familia. That day he led the investigators to two storage units
    across the state line in Richmond County that held approximately 4.5 kilograms of
    cocaine and 288 grams of methamphetamine.                Because Ceja had been so
    cooperative, the investigators decided to release him and allow him to return the
    next week to begin cooperating with the investigation of the cartel.
    3
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    That was a mistake. Ceja promptly fled to Tijuana, Mexico, and called the
    investigators to tell them he was no longer willing to cooperate. Soon after the
    State of Georgia issued a warrant for his arrest. The Georgia authorities asked for
    assistance from one of the U.S. Marshals in Savannah, who provided them with a
    criminal history report that was different from the one Detective Turner produced
    in South Carolina. It was a criminal history report for the real Jamie Ceja, the
    American citizen whose identity Ceja was using. The real Jamie Ceja had a far
    more serious criminal history, including convictions for rape and attempted
    murder. Ceja claims that this report is the one the United States gave to the
    Mexican government when it sought to have Ceja extradited.
    In September 2011 Mexican military intelligence agents arrested Ceja in
    Tijuana, blindfolded him, pushed him into an SUV, and beat him. They drove him
    to a location thirty-five to forty minutes away where they interrogated him. During
    the interrogation they bound his hands and feet, kept him blindfolded, and placed a
    high-powered rifle to his head. Ceja told them that his real name was Sergio
    Vasquez Torres, he was a Mexican citizen, and he had bought the papers
    identifying him as Jamie Ceja so that he could work in the United States. After
    about thirty hours they released him. According to Ceja the agents told him “the
    extradition papers were incorrect and had [his] identity under a false name.”
    4
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    Two weeks later the agents arrested Ceja again. They pointed rifles in his
    face, beat him, and took his wallet, watch, laptop, and three cell phones. The
    agents then took him to the office for the National Institution of Mexican
    Immigration. Ceja overheard officials there discussing “problems with the papers
    from the United States” and whether he should be turned over given that he was a
    Mexican citizen. Eventually he was taken to the Mexican-American border and
    turned over to an American immigration officer. That officer took Ceja to the
    federal district court in San Diego, California, where he was extradited to Georgia
    based on the outstanding arrest warrant.
    A federal grand jury indicted Ceja shortly after he returned to Georgia. He
    was tried in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia,
    and ultimately convicted on Count One, which charged him with conspiracy to
    distribute and possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and
    less than 100 kilograms of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846,1 and on
    Count Two, which charged him with possession with intent to distribute more than
    5 kilograms or more of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18
    U.S.C. § 2.
    1
    Count One of the indictment actually charged Ceja with conspiracy “to distribute and
    possess with intent to distribute i. 5 kilograms or more of cocaine hydrochloride, a Schedule II
    controlled substance; ii. 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (actual), a Schedule II controlled
    substance, and iii. an amount of marijuana, a Schedule I controlled substance . . . .” The jury
    found, however, that Ceja was guilty of only the first and third subcharges of Count One. Its
    verdict found that the conspiracy involved “5 kilograms or more” of cocaine and “less than 100
    kilograms” of marijuana, but not any amount of methamphetamine.
    5
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    II.
    Ceja contends that the district court had no personal jurisdiction over him
    because of the manner in which he was brought to the United States. He bases that
    contention on his assertions that the United States withheld his true identity from
    the Mexican authorities and the Mexican military intelligence agents physically
    abused him. We review the district court’s denial of Ceja’s motion to dismiss the
    indictment only for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Davis, 
    708 F.3d 1216
    ,
    1221 (11th Cir. 2013).
    Under the Ker-Frisbie doctrine, criminal defendants generally cannot defeat
    personal jurisdiction by asserting that they were brought under the district court’s
    jurisdiction through illegal means. See United States v. Arbane, 
    446 F.3d 1223
    ,
    1225 (11th Cir. 2006); see also United States v. Darby, 
    744 F.2d 1508
    , 1530–31
    (11th Cir. 1984) (explaining the doctrine’s origins in Ker v. Illinois, 
    119 U.S. 436
    ,
    
    7 S. Ct. 225
    (1886) and Frisbie v. Collins, 
    342 U.S. 519
    , 
    72 S. Ct. 509
    (1952)). Ceja
    argues that his case falls under the two exceptions to the Ker-Frisbie doctrine that
    other circuits have recognized. See, e.g., United States v. Struckman, 
    611 F.3d 560
    , 571 (9th Cir. 2010).     While this circuit has implicitly adopted the first
    exception, see 
    Arbane, 446 F.3d at 1225
    , we have explicitly withheld adoption of
    the second, see, e.g., United States v. Noriega, 
    117 F.3d 1206
    , 1214 (11th Cir.
    1997).
    6
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    The first Ker-Frisbie exception applies where “the transfer of the defendant
    violated the applicable extradition treaty.” 
    Struckman, 611 F.3d at 571
    (quotation
    marks omitted). Because Ceja’s transfer did not violate the extadition treaty, the
    exception cannot apply. The Supreme Court has held that “our treaty with Mexico
    [does] not expressly forbid abductions to secure a defendant’s presence.” 
    Arbane, 446 F.3d at 1225
    (citing United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 
    504 U.S. 655
    , 664, 
    112 S. Ct. 2188
    , 2194 (1992)). The treaty thus “does not attempt to establish a rule that
    would in any way curtail the effect of Ker.” 
    Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. at 665
    ,
    112 S.Ct. at 2194. So as long as Ceja was not extradited pursuant to the treaty,
    whether his transfer to the United States violated provisions of the treaty is of no
    consequence under the Ker-Frisbie doctrine. See 
    Arbane, 446 F.3d at 1225
    .
    That is precisely what the district court held. It credited documentation the
    government provided from the Department of Justice’s Office of International
    Affairs showing that no extradition request for Ceja was made. The court therefore
    concluded that he was not extradited under the treaty and the Ker-Frisbie doctrine
    applied. Ceja points to no evidence contradicting the district court’s findings.
    Ceja’s transfer to the United States was thus an “extra-treaty seizure” that is
    permissible under the Ker-Frisbie doctrine. 
    Arbane, 446 F.3d at 1225
    . 2
    2
    In the alternative, Ceja asks us to “revisit” the Supreme Court’s holding in Alvarez-
    
    Machain, 504 U.S. at 664
    –65, 112 S.Ct. at 2194. As a court of appeals we have no such
    authority. See Evans v. Sec’y, Florida Dep’t of Corr., 
    699 F.3d 1249
    , 1263 (11th Cir. 2012).
    7
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    The second Ker-Frisbie exception, if we recognized it, would apply where
    “the United States government engaged in ‘misconduct of the most shocking and
    outrageous kind’ to obtain [the defendant’s] presence.” 
    Struckman, 611 F.3d at 571
    (citation omitted). We have found this exception “questionable” given the
    Supreme Court’s decision in Gerstein v. Pugh. 
    Darby, 744 F.2d at 1531
    (citing
    Gerstein, 
    420 U.S. 103
    , 
    95 S. Ct. 854
    (1975)). We have thus required defendants to
    allege that they suffered “cruel, inhuman and outrageous treatment” during their
    transfer before we will even consider recognizing the exception. 
    Id. (quotation marks
    omitted). Ceja’s allegations do not reach that level. We consider only
    Ceja’s claims regarding his second arrest because it was that arrest which led to his
    transfer to the United States. Cf. United States v. Toscanino, 
    500 F.2d 267
    , 275
    (2d Cir. 1974) (explaining that the second Ker-Frisbie exception suppresses “the
    fruits” of the government’s misconduct).
    Ceja claims that the Mexican agents pointed rifles at his face, hit him, and
    stole his personal property when they arrested him the second time.           Those
    allegations do not assert the kind of cruelty and inhumane treatment necessary to
    prompt this Court to consider carving out an exception to the Ker-Frisbie doctrine.
    See 
    Darby, 744 F.2d at 1530
    –31 (refusing to recognize an exception to the Ker-
    Frisbie doctrine where the defendant alleged he was forcefully abducted,
    transported at gunpoint, and wrestled onto a plane bound for the United States).
    8
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    What’s more, Ceja does not point to any evidence that the United States
    government was involved in his mistreatment during the arrest, which would be
    necessary for the exception to apply. See 
    Struckman, 611 F.3d at 571
    .
    Ceja argues that this second exception should apply because the United
    States lied to the Mexican government about his citizenship. Misleading another
    government about a suspect’s identity does not strike us as “cruel, inhuman and
    outrageous treatment.” 
    Darby, 744 F.2d at 1531
    (quotation marks omitted). In any
    event, we need not reach the question. The district court found there was no
    misrepresentation by the United States that induced the Mexican government to
    transfer Ceja, and he points to no evidence contradicting that finding.
    III.
    Ceja filed a pretrial motion requesting all the documents the government had
    regarding his removal from Mexico. The government informed the district court
    that it had produced all the relevant documents in its possession. It also presented
    the court with a letter from the Office of International Affairs stating that no
    extradition request for Ceja had been made, which meant that there were no
    extradition documents to produce. The district court credited the government’s
    representations and denied Ceja’s motion to compel further disclosure.          Ceja
    claims that decision was error. He insists that “[t]he government has access to
    national and international records regarding extradition or rendition” and that those
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    documents could have allowed him to challenge the scope of the government’s
    prosecution under the doctrine of “specialty.” See generally United States v.
    Marquez, 
    594 F.3d 855
    , 858–59 (11th Cir. 2010) (explaining the “rule of
    specialty”). But Ceja produced no evidence showing that the government withheld
    any relevant documents from him. We therefore cannot say that the district court
    abused its discretion in denying his motion. See United States v. Hastamorir, 
    881 F.2d 1551
    , 1559 (11th Cir. 1989).
    IV.
    At trial the government introduced evidence of Ceja’s 2007 conviction in
    Cobb County, Georgia, for marijuana trafficking. It did so to prove his criminal
    intent in both the conspiracy and possession charges. Ceja raises two challenges to
    the admission of the evidence. First, he claims that the evidence was improperly
    admitted under Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b). Second, he asserts that the
    government did not establish at trial a foundation for admitting the evidence of that
    conviction. Neither argument has merit.
    A.
    On December 12, 2011, Ceja filed a motion requesting that the government
    file notice of its intent to introduce any evidence under Rule 404(b). That same
    day Ceja filed another motion requesting disclosure of all documents the
    government had relating to his true identity and aliases. Sixteen days later the
    10
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    government responded to Ceja’s request for Rule 404(b) notice, stating that at the
    time it did not intend to present any such evidence. The government changed its
    position on March 5, 2012, filing notice of its intent to introduce Rule 404(b)
    evidence of Ceja’s Cobb County conviction. Ceja’s trial began four months later
    on July 9, 2012. He contends that the district court should have granted his motion
    to exclude the evidence of his Cobb County conviction — not because the
    evidence was substantively improper under Rule 404(b), but because the
    government took so long to file its notice. We review the district court’s decision
    under an abuse of discretion standard. United States v. Perez-Tosta, 
    36 F.3d 1552
    ,
    1560 (11th Cir. 1994).
    Because Ceja requested notice under the rule, the government had to
    “provide reasonable notice” before trial of its intent to introduce evidence of the
    Cobb County conviction. Fed. R. Evid. 404(b)(2). Courts determine whether the
    government’s notice was reasonable by considering three factors: “(1) When the
    Government, through timely preparation for trial, could have learned of the
    availability of the [evidence]; (2) The extent of prejudice to the opponent of the
    evidence from a lack of time to prepare; and (3) How significant the evidence is to
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    the prosecution’s case.” 
    Perez-Tosta, 36 F.3d at 1562
    . Ceja makes an argument
    under the first factor, but not the second or the third.3
    Ceja claims that the government’s notice was unreasonably late because it
    knew about his Cobb County conviction in August 2011 when Detective Turner
    ran a criminal report on Ceja at the North Augusta Department of Public Safety.
    The district court found, however, that the government was not aware of Ceja’s
    Cobb County conviction until after Ceja filed his pretrial motion on December 12,
    2011, seeking disclosure of information about his identity and aliases. At trial
    Investigator Danko explained that Detective Phillips had not shared the August
    2011 criminal report with him until February 2012, and that the investigators in
    Georgia (relying on Ceja’s representation that his name was Jamie Ceja) had not
    been aware that they had the wrong criminal report for Ceja until he filed his
    December 12 motion. Ceja points to no evidence to contradict Danko’s testimony.
    We therefore cannot say that the district court erred by crediting Investigator
    Danko’s testimony, and in finding that the government did not discover the Cobb
    County conviction until after Ceja’s December 12 motion, and in concluding that
    the government’s investigation and notice were reasonable.
    3
    Ceja does assert, in a single conclusory sentence, that “[t]he government’s late revelation of
    Ceja’s actual criminal history, and its use of that history to locate the criminal conviction
    introduced at trial did work a prejudice against Ceja.” But a bald assertion is not a valid
    argument. See United States v. Sarras, 
    575 F.3d 1191
    , 1216 n.35 (11th Cir. 2009) (rejecting a
    defendant’s argument where he “offers no facts to support [his] bare allegation, other than the
    blanket assertion”).
    12
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    Even if we were to fully credit Ceja’s argument under the first factor, it
    would not be enough to establish an abuse of discretion under the three-factor test
    laid out in Perez-Tosta. At most Ceja shows that the government was negligent
    under the first factor, not that it had an improper motive for delay. See Perez-
    
    Tosta, 36 F.3d at 1561
    . That showing under the first factor is outweighed by the
    second and third factors, which both favor the government.          The purpose of
    404(b)’s notice requirement is “[t]o protect defendants from ‘trial by ambush,’”
    and thus the focus of the Perez-Tosta factors is “the prejudice suffered by the
    defendant because of the lack of notice.” 
    Id. Ceja makes
    no prejudice showing
    here. That is, he never identifies any preparations that his defense counsel could
    not make because of the timing of the government’s notice, and it is hard to
    imagine how he could make such a showing. Ceja received the government’s
    notice more than four months before his trial. See 
    id. at 1562
    (finding no prejudice
    where the defendant received six days notice); United States v. Valenti, 
    60 F.3d 941
    , 945 (2d Cir. 1995) (finding no prejudice where the defendant received four
    days notice and did not seek a continuance). Given the clear lack of prejudice, and
    the district court’s uncontested finding that the Cobb County conviction evidence
    was significant to the government’s case, the Perez-Tosta factors ultimately weigh
    in favor of finding that the government’s pretrial notice was reasonable. See
    
    Perez-Tosta, 36 F.3d at 1562
    –63. The district court did not abuse its discretion.
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    B.
    Ceja also claims that the government did not lay a proper foundation at trial
    for admitting a certified copy of his Cobb County conviction. The district court
    admitted the certified copy over defense counsel’s objection. It did so based on
    Investigator Danko’s testimony that he had confirmed, through photographs on the
    Georgia Department of Corrections website, that the individual convicted of
    marijuana trafficking in Cobb County was the same Jamie Ceja on trial. Ceja did
    not object to that testimony at trial and points to nothing suggesting that he was not
    convicted of marijuana trafficking in Cobb County in 2007. In fact, the affidavit
    that Ceja submitted in support of his motion to dismiss the indictment attested that
    he had been convicted in Cobb County. The court’s decision to credit Investigator
    Danko’s testimony was not clearly erroneous, and its decision to admit the
    evidence was not an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Siddiqui, 
    235 F.3d 1318
    , 1322 (11th Cir. 2000) (requiring affirmance of a district court’s decision to
    admit evidence absent “a showing that there is no competent evidence in the record
    to support it”).
    V.
    The first count of the indictment charged Ceja with conspiracy in violation
    of 21 U.S.C. § 846. It alleged that, from about April 2010 until October 2011,
    Ceja knowingly and intentionally conspired with others to distribute and possess
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    with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and an amount of
    marijuana. 4 Ceja claims that the district court erred in denying his motion for a
    directed verdict on that count. He argues there was insufficient evidence to prove
    that (1) he conspired with Jerome Greene or others, and (2) the conspiracy
    involved the amounts of drugs alleged in the indictment. “We review de novo the
    sufficiency of the evidence presented at trial, and we will not disturb a guilty
    verdict unless, given the evidence in the record, no trier of fact could have found
    guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. White, 
    663 F.3d 1207
    , 1213
    (11th Cir. 2011) (quotation marks omitted).
    To prove conspiracy the government had to establish at trial, through either
    direct or circumstantial evidence, that (1) there was an agreement between Ceja
    and at least one other person, and (2) the object of that agreement was to distribute
    and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana. See United States v.
    Baker, 
    432 F.3d 1189
    , 1232 (11th Cir. 2005); United States v. Grant, 
    256 F.3d 1146
    , 1152 (11th Cir. 2001).          Our review of the record confirms there was
    sufficient evidence to establish both. Jerome Greene testified that Ceja regularly
    “fronted” him drugs, giving them to Greene with no upfront payment so that
    Greene could sell them and then pay Ceja back with part of his earnings. Greene
    4
    Count One also alleged that the conspiracy involved 50 grams or more of
    methamphetamine, but we need not discuss that aspect of Count One because the jury found that
    the conspiracy did not involve methamphetamine.
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    told the jurors that Ceja gave him: eighteen-ounce quantities of cocaine four times,
    four ounces of cocaine once, and ten-pound quantities of marijuana two or three
    times. He also testified that Ceja always gave him the drugs “on the front,” and
    that Ceja did so knowing Greene would be selling them. Investigator Danko
    bolstered Greene’s testimony. He testified that, during Ceja’s interview with the
    investigators, Ceja admitted to knowing Greene before August 2011 and to
    working for the La Familia cartel distributing drugs in Augusta. Both Greene and
    Investigator Danko testified that, after Greene was arrested in June 2013, he took
    the investigators to a storage locker holding more than five pounds of marijuana.
    Greene’s testimony also confirmed that Ceja was the source of that marijuana.
    That evidence was sufficient for a reasonable factfinder to conclude beyond
    a reasonable doubt that Ceja and Greene had an agreement to distribute and
    possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana. Ceja argues that the
    evidence showed only a buyer-seller relationship between him and Greene, which
    is not enough to establish conspiracy. See United States v. Beasley, 
    2 F.3d 1551
    ,
    1560 (11th Cir. 1993). But the evidence allowed the jury to reasonably infer a
    closer and deeper relationship. The jurors could infer that there was a conspiracy
    based on the evidence that Ceja and Greene had an ongoing relationship in which
    Ceja repeatedly transferred cocaine and marijuana to Greene. See United States v.
    Mercer, 
    165 F.3d 1331
    , 1335 (11th Cir. 1999) (allowing jurors to infer a
    16
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    conspiracy from “a continuing relationship that result[ed] in the repeated transfer
    of illegal drugs to the purchaser”). The jurors also could have inferred there was a
    conspiracy based on the evidence that Ceja supplied Greene — at no upfront cost
    — with such large quantities of drugs. See United States v. Brazel, 
    102 F.3d 1120
    ,
    1136 (11th Cir. 1997). For these reasons, there was sufficient evidence for the jury
    to find a conspiracy as charged in Count One.
    There was also sufficient evidence for the jury to find that the conspiracy
    involved the drug quantities charged in Count One. The testimony of Investigator
    Danko and cooperating co-conspirator Greene showed that more than 5 kilograms
    of cocaine was involved in the conspiracy. 5 Their testimony also showed that there
    was five pounds of marijuana in Greene’s storage locker, which was enough to
    establish that averment of Count One.               A reasonable factfinder could have
    concluded beyond a reasonable doubt, as the jury did, that the conspiracy involved
    more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and less than 100 kilograms marijuana.
    VI.
    The district court instructed the jurors, over Ceja’s objection, that they could
    consider his flight to Mexico as evidence of his guilt. The court told the jury that:
    You are instructed that the flight of the defendant is a circumstance
    which may be taken into consideration with all other facts and
    5
    There are 35.274 ounces in a kilogram, and Greene testified that Ceja fronted him at least
    76 ounces of cocaine. So Greene’s testimony established another 2.15 kilograms on top of the
    4.5 that Investigator Danko’s testimony established.
    17
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    circumstances in the evidence. And if you believe and find from the
    evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant fled for the
    purpose of avoiding arrest and trial under the charges set out in the
    indictment, you may take this fact into consideration in determining
    guilt or innocence.
    Ceja claims that this instruction was both “highly prejudicial” and “incomplete.”
    We review the court’s flight instruction only for an abuse of discretion. United
    States v. Cunningham, 
    194 F.3d 1186
    , 1199 (11th Cir. 1999).
    Ceja first argues that the flight instruction was “highly prejudicial” because
    it was not fair to infer that he fled because of the drug charges. He points out that
    he had not been charged with any drug crimes when he fled, and that his status as
    an illegal immigrant gave him an “alternative motive” to return to Mexico. That
    may be so, but an alternative explanation for a defendant’s flight does not mean a
    flight instruction is improper. See, e.g., United States v. Williams, 
    541 F.3d 1087
    ,
    1089 (11th Cir. 2008) (concluding that a flight instruction was proper even though
    the defendant’s flight from police could have been due to his fear of arrest on
    outstanding warrants for other crimes).
    A flight instruction is proper so long as (1) the jury is instructed to consider
    the evidence of the defendant’s flight only if it finds, beyond a reasonable doubt,
    that the defendant fled to avoid the charged crime; and (2) there is evidence from
    which a reasonable jury could find that he did. 
    Id. The jury
    instruction in this case
    clearly included the proper limitation, and the evidence at trial was sufficient to
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    support it. Investigator Danko testified that Richmond County police first made
    contact with Ceja in September 2010 when Ceja confronted an investigator about
    why that investigator was following him. Danko also testified that Ceja did not
    flee to Mexico until August 2011, several days after he: was caught selling
    cocaine to a cooperating witness, told investigators that he was a La Familia
    lieutenant, and showed those investigators that he was in possession of 4.5
    kilograms of cocaine and more than 200 grams of methamphetamine.                            That
    evidence was enough to prove that Ceja fled to avoid the impending drug
    trafficking charges.
    Ceja also argues that the jury instruction was “incomplete” because it did not
    direct the jury to follow the four-step inferential chain outlined in United States v.
    Myers, 
    550 F.2d 1036
    , 1049 (5th Cir. 1977). 6 We have never held that jurors must
    be instructed to follow Myers’ four-step chain. In fact, we have already affirmed
    the use of the exact instruction that the district court gave here. See Bundy v.
    Dugger, 
    850 F.2d 1402
    , 1422 (11th Cir. 1988).
    We therefore conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in
    giving the flight instruction.
    6
    In Myers our predecessor court explained that “flight is an admission by conduct,” that
    provides “circumstantial evidence of 
    guilt.” 550 F.2d at 1049
    . Jurors considering such evidence
    infer “(1) from the defendant’s behavior to flight; (2) from flight to consciousness of guilt; (3)
    from consciousness of guilt to consciousness of guilt concerning the crime charged; and (4) from
    consciousness of guilt concerning the crime charged to actual guilt of the crime charged.” 
    Id. 19 Case:
    13-10456   Date Filed: 11/04/2013   Page: 20 of 20
    AFFIRMED.
    20
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 13-10456

Citation Numbers: 543 F. App'x 948

Judges: Carnes, Dubina, Per Curiam, Tjoflat

Filed Date: 11/4/2013

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 8/31/2023

Authorities (24)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Manuel ... , 117 F.3d 1206 ( 1997 )

United States v. Sarras , 575 F.3d 1191 ( 2009 )

United States v. Marvin Baker , 432 F.3d 1189 ( 2005 )

United States v. Noble C. Beasley, Andre Bruce White, ... , 2 F.3d 1551 ( 1993 )

United States v. Isaac Marquez , 594 F.3d 855 ( 2010 )

United States v. Williams , 541 F.3d 1087 ( 2008 )

United States v. Mohamed Siddiqui , 235 F.3d 1318 ( 2000 )

United States v. Hernan Francisco Perez-Tosta, Gustavo ... , 36 F.3d 1552 ( 1994 )

United States v. George Tom Darby, Constantine Yamanis, ... , 744 F.2d 1508 ( 1984 )

United States v. Cunningham , 194 F.3d 1186 ( 1999 )

United States v. Mehrzad Arbane , 446 F.3d 1223 ( 2006 )

United States v. White , 663 F.3d 1207 ( 2011 )

United States v. Mercer , 165 F.3d 1331 ( 1999 )

46-fed-r-evid-serv-240-10-fla-l-weekly-fed-c-621-united-states-of , 102 F.3d 1120 ( 1997 )

United States v. John Valenti , 60 F.3d 941 ( 1995 )

Theodore Robert Bundy v. Richard L. Dugger, Secretary, ... , 850 F.2d 1402 ( 1988 )

United States v. Alirio Hastamorir, Hernan Lopez, Antonio ... , 881 F.2d 1551 ( 1989 )

United States v. Francisco Toscanino , 500 F.2d 267 ( 1974 )

United States v. Struckman , 611 F.3d 560 ( 2010 )

United States v. Larry Allen Myers , 550 F.2d 1036 ( 1977 )

View All Authorities »