United States v. Kenneth Joe Whitten, John Elmer Gaiefsky, Jack Wayne Gish, Richard Lawrence Shimel

Caution

706 F.2d 1000·13 Fed. R. Serv. 384·1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 27369

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitMay 25, 198382-1315, 82-1293, 82-1294 and 82-1303California9,711 words

Opinion

Schwarzer, J.

Kenneth Whitten and twenty-three codefendants were charged in a twenty-four count indictment with making and selling methamphetamine. The trial court severed the case against four defendants, Whitten, Shimel, Gaiefsky, and Gish, who now appeal from their convictions of various narcotics offenses in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a)(1), 846, 843(b), and 848.

Appellants were charged with operating illegal methamphetamine laboratories in Texas and California and with marketing the drug in a number of states. A key point of distribution was Las Vegas, where Debra Howard was arrested, on unrelated charges, on April 2, 1980. . Howard agreed to cooperate with federal drug enforcement officials. Based on her information, the police in California and Texas made a number of arrests and searched a number of different locations. Appellants challenge the legality of these searches and seizures. They also contest the sufficiency of the evidence supporting their convictions and challenge various evidentiary rulings of the trial court. We will consider the claims raised by each appellant in turn.

WHITTEN’S APPEAL

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

A. Money Order Counts

Appellant Whitten was…

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Parties

UNITED STATES of America-
Plaintiff
Kenneth Joe WHITTEN, John Elmer Gaiefsky, Jack Wayne Gish, Richard Lawrence Shimel-
Defendant

Judges

Farris
Alarcon
Schwarzer

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