Alvaro Echavarria-Olarte v. Janet Reno, Attorney General for the United States of America

Alvaro Julio Echavarria-Olarte appeals the dismissal of his federal habeas corpus petition. 28 U.S.C. § 2255 . He challenges the sufficiency of his indictment, arguing that the indictment failed (1) to cite the substantive drug statutes which he conspired to violate, (2) to state that the cocaine was to be unlawfully imported, and (3) to state that the drugs were to be imported into the United States. In addition, he argues (4) that the trial court’s jury instructions constructively amended the indictment. We affirm.

I.

A federal jury convicted Echavarria-Olarte of conspiracy to import cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 963 , conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it, 21 U.S.C. § 846 , and six counts of transportation in aid of racke teering, 18 U.S.C. § 1952 . The district court sentenced him to two concurrent life sentences for each of the conspiracy convictions and six concurrent five-year sentences for each of the § 1952 convictions. After this court affirmed his conviction, United States v. Echavarria-Olarte, 904 F.2d 1391 (9th Cir. 1990), and the district court denied his Rule 35 petition to reduce his sentence, Echavarria-Olarte filed the instant 28 U.S.C. § 2255…