United States v. Alexander Egbuniwe, Celestine Emere Anyanwu

Alexander Egbuniwe and Celestine Any-anwu appeal from the judgments entered upon their convictions for violations of federal narcotics laws. They assert that the district court abused its discretion in excusing a juror and allowing an eleven-person jury to return a verdict. In addition, Eg-buniwe asserts the district court erred in calculating his sentence based on the amount of heroin possessed by the other members of the conspiracy. We affirm because we conclude that the district court acted within its discretion in proceeding with eleven jurors pursuant to Rule 23(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. We also hold that the district court correctly calculated Egbuniwe’s sentence based on his involvement in the conspiracy.

Pertinent Factual Background

Onyedi Lawrence Irokameje, Richard 0. Arum, Okwudiri Remi Arishi, and Celestine Emere Anyanwu were arrested for narcotics offenses after arriving in Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Lagos, Nigeria. Irokameje, Arum, and Any-anwu had transported heroin from Nigeria by carrying it in their digestive tracts. The record demonstrated that Alexander Eg-buniwe and Ijemba Alexander Ifeanyi (Ijemba) were involved…