United States v. Haire, No. 14-2998 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDefendants Lee and Haire appealed their convictions for drug-related and weapons-related crimes. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting wiretapped phone conversations; the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting a DEA agent's testimony about the meaning of drug related terms used by Lee and his coconspirators on the recordings; the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting portions of Lee's wiretapped statements about "drug cartels and Colombians;" the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting portions of the wiretapped conversations between Lee and a coconspirator and portions of the DEA agent's testimony regarding the conspiracy; the district court did not abuse its discretion by giving a willful blindness instruction; and the government presented sufficient evidence to convict Haire of conspiracy to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Murphy, Author, with Melloy and Smith, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. Wiretapped phone conversations were properly authenticated and the district court did not err in admitting them; no error in allowing a special agent to testify as to the meaning of certain drug-related terms used in the recordings; no error in admitting recordings where defendant Lee referred to his connections to cartels; statements made by co-conspirators were properly admitted against defendant Haire; no error in giving a willful blindness instruction against Haire; evidence was sufficient to support Haire's conviction for conspiracy to launder drug proceeds.
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