United States v. Lewellen

Chicago officer Lewellen arrested drug dealer Rodriguez in 1996 and turned him into an informant. They developed a more lucrative arrangement. Rodriguez would collect information about drug dealers; during seemingly legitimate detentions, Lewellen would rob the dealers of drugs and money. Over several years, they brought in more participants. Robbery escalated into kidnapping or even murdering dealers for money and drugs. In 2009 the DEA filmed an attempted robbery of 600 kilograms of cocaine from a warehouse. Multiple defendants were charged with racketeering conspiracy to commit murders, kidnappings, robberies, drug trafficking, and obstruction of justice; conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of narcotics; and individual participation in those substantive offenses. Several arranged plea agreements, six were tried, and five were convicted. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the convictions, but remanded for resentencing in light of the Supreme Court’s 2013 “Alleyne” decision. The court rejected a challenge to dismissal of a juror who had nine convictions; upheld the trial court’s decision to reread the Silvern instruction instead of declaring a mistrial after the jury indicated that it was unsure if it could reach a verdict and failure to hold a hearing concerning a crying juror; rejected a claim that the government knowingly introduced false testimony; held that any error in allowing witnesses to look through the courtroom window to identify defendants was not prejudicial; and upheld denial of Lewellen’s motion to sever and various evidentiary rulings. View "United States v. Lewellen" on Justia Law