Date: 09-30-2021

Case Style:

United States of America v. John Doe

Case Number: 21-CR-XXXX

Judge: John F. Heil, III

Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma ( County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office

Defendant's Attorney: Martin Hart and Kent Morlan

Description: Tulsa, OK: Criminal defense lawyers represented defendants charged with conspiracy to use the United States Postal Service to distribute drugs.

The United States Government indicted four individuals, including three postal service employees claiming that they conspired with with the fourth individual to deliver packages addressed to a vacant house to him. The packages contained drug which the dealer sold to the public.

One of the postal employees was the regular carrier for the route where the vacant house was located. Every carrier assigned to a regular route has a substitute who covers that route two days a week. If a carrier calls in sick, the substitute runs the route if it is the day the substitute is supposed to run the route. If it is not the day the substitute is supposed to run the route a carrier designated a CCA is assigned to run the route. On October 20, 2020, the regular carrier was off work due to being infected with the COVID-19 virus. It was not a day when the substitute was supposed to run the route so the branch manager assigned John Doe, a CCA, to run the route. Shortly after getting the assignment, he received a call from the regular carrier who asked him to check to see if there was a packaged addressed wot a particular house on the route (the vacant house). John Doe checks and, sure enough, there was a package addressed to that address. John Doe called the regular carrier and told him that there was a package and the regular carrier asked him to meet him and turn the package over to him, which he did. Unbeknownst to John Doe the Postal Inspectors were on to the conspiracy between the regular carrier and the drug dealer to use the Postal Service to ship drugs into Tulsa from the West Coast.

Months later, John Doe was arrested and charged with engaging in the drug conspiracy in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846.

John Doe pled not guilty and asserted the he was not guilty and would not plead guilty. It was suggested that Defendant John Doe and his attorneys participate in a Rule 11 conference with the Assistant United States Attorneys assigned to the case. Any one charged with having committed a violation of the law who participates in a Rule 11 conference must tell the truth. John Doe was forthcoming about how it was on that particular day, he delivered the package in question to the regular route carrier for the address where the package was supposed to be delivered.

21 U.S.C. 846 provides:

Any person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this subchapter shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy.

21 U.S.C. 841 provides, in part:

§841. Prohibited acts A
(a) Unlawful acts

Except as authorized by this subchapter, it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally—

(1) to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled substance; or

(2) to create, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to distribute or dispense, a counterfeit substance.
(b) Penalties

Except as otherwise provided in section 849, 859, 860, or 861 of this title, any person who violates subsection (a) of this section shall be sentenced as follows:

(1)(A) In the case of a violation of subsection (a) of this section involving—

(i) 1 kilogram or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of heroin;

(ii) 5 kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of—

(I) coca leaves, except coca leaves and extracts of coca leaves from which cocaine, ecgonine, and derivatives of ecgonine or their salts have been removed;

(II) cocaine, its salts, optical and geometric isomers, and salts of isomers;

(III) ecgonine, its derivatives, their salts, isomers, and salts of isomers; or

(IV) any compound, mixture, or preparation which contains any quantity of any of the substances referred to in subclauses (I) through (III);

(iii) 280 grams or more of a mixture or substance described in clause (ii) which contains cocaine base;

(iv) 100 grams or more of phencyclidine (PCP) or 1 kilogram or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of phencyclidine (PCP);

(v) 10 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD);

(vi) 400 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of N-phenyl-N- [ 1- ( 2-phenylethyl ) -4-piperidinyl ] propanamide or 100 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of any analogue of N-phenyl-N-[1-(2-phenylethyl)-4-piperidinyl] propanamide;

(vii) 1000 kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marihuana, or 1,000 or more marihuana plants regardless of weight; or

(viii) 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, its salts, isomers, and salts of its isomers or 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, its salts, isomers, or salts of its isomers;

such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 10 years or more than life and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be not less than 20 years or more than life, a fine not to exceed the greater of that authorized in accordance with the provisions of title 18 or $10,000,000 if the defendant is an individual or $50,000,000 if the defendant is other than an individual, or both. If any person commits such a violation after a prior conviction for a felony drug offense has become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 20 years and not more than life imprisonment and if death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance shall be sentenced to life imprisonment, a fine not to exceed the greater of twice that authorized in accordance with the provisions of title 18 or $20,000,000 if the defendant is an individual or $75,000,000 if the defendant is other than an individual, or both. If any person commits a violation of this subparagraph or of section 849, 859, 860, or 861 of this title after two or more prior convictions for a felony drug offense have become final, such person shall be sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment without release and fined in accordance with the preceding sentence. Notwithstanding section 3583 of title 18, any sentence under this subparagraph shall, in the absence of such a prior conviction, impose a term of supervised release of at least 5 years in addition to such term of imprisonment and shall, if there was such a prior conviction, impose a term of supervised release of at least 10 years in addition to such term of imprisonment. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court shall not place on probation or suspend the sentence of any person sentenced under this subparagraph. No person sentenced under this subparagraph shall be eligible for parole during the term of imprisonment imposed therein.

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Outcome: The Government dismissed without prejudice as to John Doe and another CCA carrier. The charges asserted against the other defendants are pending.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: