United States of America v. Servando V. Urias

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 23-2626
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United States of America
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Servando V. Urias
Defendant - Appellant
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the District of Nebraska - Omaha
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Submitted: April 12, 2024
Filed: June 13, 2024
[Unpublished]
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Before GRUENDER, KELLY, and ERICKSON, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
A jury convicted Servando Urias of conspiracy to distribute and possess with
intent to distribute cocaine and heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1),

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841(b)(1)(B), and 846.1 The district court2 sentenced him to a term of imprisonment
of 90 months to be followed by four years of supervised release. Urias appeals,
claiming the evidence deduced at trial is insufficient to sustain his conviction. We
affirm.
On August 28, 2019, Lancaster County, Nebraska Deputy Jason Mayo began
following a black Jeep with California plates closely tailing on I-80 a Dodge rental
pickup with Arizona plates. Another officer, Lancaster Deputy Jason Henkel,
stopped the Jeep for speeding. After the Dodge pickup drove on the shoulder of the
off ramp while exiting the interstate, Deputy Mayo conducted a traffic stop. The
driver told Deputy Mayo her name was Veronica Sandoval and that she was traveling
with the passengers in the Jeep to visit a relative. Sandoval consented to a search of
the Dodge pickup, which yielded three kilograms of cocaine and one kilogram of
heroin. No luggage was in the vehicle. Sandoval also consented to a search of her
phone, which showed text messages from Preciliano Lopez, the owner of the Jeep.
In the Jeep, Alejandro Valencia was identified as the driver, Urias was the
front passenger, and Lopez was seated in the back seat. Valencia told Deputy Henkel
that they were traveling to Nashville, Tennessee, for a construction job. Deputy
Henkel obtained Lopez’s consent to search the vehicle. Five cell phones were
recovered, but no work clothes or boots.
Urias, Valencia, Lopez, and Sandoval were charged with conspiracy to
distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin. An initial trial
resulted in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked. At the second trial, Urias was
convicted.
1 He pled guilty to a charge of illegal reentry by a previously deported alien in
violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 and was sentenced to a concurrent 12-month term of
imprisonment on this count. This conviction is not on appeal.
2 The Honorable John M. Gerrard, United States District Court for the District
of Nebraska.

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We review the sufficiency of the evidence de novo, viewing it in the light most
favorable to the verdict. United States v. Loomis, 954 F.3d 1184, 1189 (8th Cir.
2020). We will uphold the verdict if any reasonable juror could have found the
defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.
To convict Urias, the government was required to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that (1) there was an agreement to distribute drugs; (2) Urias knew of the
conspiracy; and (3) he intentionally joined the conspiracy. See United States v.
Moore, 71 F.4th 678, 688-89 (8th Cir. 2023). A defendant’s agreement to join the
conspiracy may be inferred from the facts of the case. United States v. Myers, 965
F.3d 933, 937 (8th Cir. 2020).
We have previously held that a defendant may be convicted on evidence that
consists primarily of the testimony of co-conspirators. United States v. Conway,
754 F.3d 580, 587 (8th Cir. 2014). Here, the co-conspirators each testified that the
purpose of the trip was to transport drugs by vehicle from California out of state,
satisfying the first element. At trial, Lopez testified that three or four weeks before
the trip, he informed Urias he was planning to go to Kentucky to sell drugs. Hearing
this, Urias expressed an interest in selling a kilogram of heroin. Lopez agreed to
investigate potential purchasers, and Urias agreed to accompany Lopez on the trip
to secure his payment. According to Lopez, on the day of the trip, he received a
kilogram of heroin from Urias and placed it in the Dodge truck. Sandoval drove the
truck while Urias rode in the Jeep with Lopez and Valencia. Viewed in a light most
favorable to the verdict, this testimony is sufficient to uphold Urias’s conviction. Id.
at 587-88 (finding the defendant’s presence in the same vehicle while on a trip
furthering the conspiracy demonstrates cooperation and agreement).
Urias contends that inconsistencies in the co-conspirators’ testimony about
the inception of the trip and the payments they were to receive for participation
weaken any claim that he was involved in the conspiracy. But none of the co-
conspirators’ testimony pointed to by Urias refuted Lopez’s testimony regarding the
existence of the conspiracy and Urias’s knowledge and involvement. While Urias

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contends that no physical or forensic evidence corroborated Lopez’s testimony, the
record contained evidence of the quantities of heroin and cocaine seized during the
traffic stop.
We affirm the judgment of the district court.
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