United States v. Walter Douglas Emmert, United States of America v. Richard Gail Arriaga

Walter Douglas Emmert and Richard Gail Arriaga appeal their convictions arising out of a cocaine transaction which involved government informants and agents. Emmert was convicted on two counts of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute ( 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1)), one count of conspiracy ( 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1)), and four counts of using a telephone to further a narcotics transaction ( 21 U.S.C. § 843 (b)). Arriaga was convicted of possession and conspiracy. Both defendants claimed that the trial court erroneously excluded certain testimony of a co-conspirator as hearsay or as irrelevant to their entrapment defense. They also argue that the government’s conduct in the investigation of this case constitutes a violation of their due process rights. We reject these claims and affirm the convictions.

BACKGROUND

Walter Douglas (“Doug”) Emmert was 28 years old, an undergraduate at the University of California, San Diego, pursuing a double major in biology and psychology. He became involved in the drug transaction after his friend and roommate Thomas Powell told him about a $200,000 finder’s fee offered by Martin Mosteller, a confidential government informant, for…