United States v. Hilda Escobar Debright

Hilda Escobar DeBright was convicted of conspiring to import heroin (Count One), illegally importing heroin (Count Two), conspiring to possess heroin with intent to distribute (Count Three), and illegally possessing heroin with intent to distribute (Count Four). She received concurrent six-year sentences on all four counts. She takes no exception to her convictions on Counts Two through Four. She challenges only her conviction on Count One, contending that the refusal of the district judge to accept a proposed jury instruction on the issue of conspiracy was reversible error. She also contests the propriety of the length of her sentences.

Since three of the convictions are uncontested and the sentence on the remaining count runs concurrently, under the concurrent sentence doctrine we need not reach the merits of DeBright’s claims. When invoking the doctrine, we have in most cases simply affirmed the conviction on the unreviewed count, with or without noting the absence of “collateral consequences.” Although our circuit has utilized the concurrent sentence doctrine for many years, we have not, in any opinion, closely examined what consequence should flow from it. A careful…