United States v. Lavell Ray Hegwood Fred Wilson, Jr.

Defendants Lavell Hegwood and Fred Wilson appeal their convictions for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) and 21 U.S.C. § 846 , and use of the mails to facilitate the possession of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843 (b). On appeal, defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on each of the counts, the adequacy of the court’s opening and closing instructions to the jury, and the court’s admission of evidence of other crimes committed by the defendants. We affirm.

I. The Conspiracy Instruction

In its opening charge to the jury, the district court defined “conspiracy” as requiring “an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime, of which either or both Defendants become a mem ber, knowing at least one of its objects, and at least one member performs at least one overt act to carry out the conspiracy.” The government concedes that this statement of the law was inaccurate because it omitted intent to commit the substantive crime as an element of conspiracy. See United States v. Indelicate, 800 F.2d 1482, 1483 (9th Cir.1986). However, the government contends that any…