United States v. Otha C. Bailey, Sr., United States of America v. Major Moss, United States of America v. Jimmie Lee Whitney

Otha C. Bailey, Sr., Jimmie Lee Whitney, and Major Moss appeal from judgments of conviction following a jury trial with six co-defendants, not parties to this appeal. The jury found Bailey, Whitney, Moss and four other defendants guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine. In addition to conspiracy, Whitney was convicted of two counts of possession with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine and four counts of knowingly and intentionally using a communications device to facilitate the conspiracy. Besides conspiracy, Bailey was convicted of five counts of knowingly and intentionally distributing heroin, and thirty-eight communications counts, and Moss was convicted of eleven counts of using a communication device to facilitate the conspiracy. We affirm the convictions of Bailey and Whitney, and reverse the conviction of Moss.

Over a period of one and a half years, commencing in 1976, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted an investigation centered on Otha C. Bailey, Sr., who was suspected of being the hub of a narcotics distribution system in the Seattle area. In April 1976, a search of Seafair Moving and Transfer, a business…