United States v. Karlton Morgan, True Name Stephen Anthony Garcia

The defendant, Karlton Morgan, appeals from his conviction for conspiracy to import and possess heroin, and aiding and abetting the possession of heroin. We find no error justifying reversal and affirm his conviction.

At Morgan’s trial, the government introduced a tape recording (and transcript) of a telephone conversation between Morgan and Gregory Kouvelis. Kouvelis had been in the custody of the Thailand National Police for two days when he made the telephone call to Morgan. At the request of American DEA agents, Kouvelis was taken to a Bangkok (Thailand) hotel room where he placed the call to Morgan, who was then in Aspen, Colorado. One of the DEA agents who was present in the hotel room testified at trial to establish the evidentiary foundation for the admission of the tape and transcript.

On appeal, Morgan argues that the tape and transcript were improperly admitted since the government did not make an adequate showing that Kouvelis had consented to the taping of the conversation as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2511 (l)(c). We find that Morgan waived his right to raise this statutory consent issue on appeal because of his failure to make a pretrial motion for the exclusion of…