United States v. Henderson, No. 14-2297 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseCruse, McClain, Henderson, and eight others were indicted for involvement in a long-running conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in Milwaukee. The indictment centered on two street gangs that controlled the crack-cocaine trade in adjacent neighborhoods on the city’s northwest side. The eight co-conspirators pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government. Henderson agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy but only with respect to crack and marijuana, not powder cocaine. In exchange the government would recommend the mandatory minimum sentence. Henderson pleaded guilty, but the government neglected to file an information narrowing the charged drug types as contemplated by the agreement. A jury found Cruse and McClain guilty. The Seventh Circuit affirmed as to Henderson and McClain. Henderson understood the charge against him and the possible penalty, and the judgment conforms precisely to the terms of the agreement. The court rejected claims that the trial was contaminated by two Batson violations, improperly admitted hearsay, and faulty jury instructions (about the scope of coconspirator liability). The court vacated Cruse’s conviction based the absence of a jury instruction distinguishing the buyer-seller relationship from a conspiracy.
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