Cases

Case Date:
19-05-2020

Case Information:
The Circuit Court of Fayette County, West Virginia, certified the following questions to be answered by this Court: 1.For purposes of a crime under West Virginia Code § 60A-4-414(b), is an indictment specifically alleging a conspiracy involving a single defendant and only one other conspirator sufficient, under constitutional principles, to put the defendant on notice that he/she may be held responsible under section 4-414(f) for the quantity of drugs delivered or possessed with intent to deliver solely by the co-conspirator to other persons, who have also been charged in separate indictments alleging a single conspiracy involving the same co-conspirator, when those other persons are not named in the indictment? 2. For purposes of a crime under West Virginia Code § 60A-4-414(b), does section 4-414(f) incorporate the common law principle that overt acts have to be in furtherance of the conspiracy before the jury can attribute to the defendant “all of the controlled substances manufactured, delivered or possessed with intent to deliver or manufacture by other participants or members of the conspiracy”? 3. For purposes of the jury’s determination under West Virginia Code § 60A-4-414(f), is evidence of an unindicted co-conspirator’s drug transactions with others not named or identified in the indictment admissible for the jury’s consideration in determining the amount of controlled substance attributable to the defendant for purposes of West Virginia Code § 60A-4-414(b) subject to the knowing and foreseeable principles outlined in Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640 (1946) and its progeny? 4. For purposes of a crime under West Virginia Code § 60A-4-414(b), can the jury consider the volume of controlled substances distributed by the named, unindicted co-conspirator as part of his separate conspiracies with others not named or identified in the indictment for purposes of the jury’s determination under West Virginia Code § 60A-4-414(f), even when the State does not intend to introduce evidence to show that the defendant had any connection or dealings with any of the unindicted co-conspirator’s other alleged, separately indicted co-conspirators? 5. Where the indictment charges a conspiracy in violation of West Virginia Code § 60A-4-414(b) involving the defendant and only one other named, but unindicted co-conspirator, may counsel for the defendant continue to represent similarly situated, but separately indicted defendants who were not named in the defendant’s indictment but who are alleged to have had separate conspiracies with the same, named unindicted co-conspirator as identified in the defendant’s indictment, when the State seeks to offer evidence in the defendant’s trial of drug transactions between the named, unindicted co-conspirator and the other separately indicted individuals for the jury to consider in determining the quantity of controlled substance attributed to the defendant under West Virginia Code § 60A-4-414(f)?