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Gallardo: Upholding Cocaine Conspiracy Conviction Over Multiple Challenges

By Tim Cone

In United States v. Gallardo, No. 18-11812 (Oct. 9, 2020) (Hull, William Pryor, Tjoflat), the Court affirmed the defendant?s conviction and sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. First, the Court found no abuse of discretion in denying a mistrial based on an agent?s false rebuttal testimony because the defendant did not meet his burden to show prejudice.  The district court gave a curative instruction, and the agent?s testimony only hurt his own credibility. Second, there was no error in denying a motion for a new trial on the ground that the weight of the evidence established that the conspiracy involved only one kilogram of cocaine rather than five kilograms.  The Court found ample evidence that, although the confidential source was the one pushing for a five-to-seven kilogram deal, the defendant agreed to sell that amount, even though he was caught with only one kilogram of cocaine...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on October 09, 2020 (boomark / email).