USA v. Medina et al

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
v.
EDGAR MEDINA; and ALIJAH
PARSONS,
Defendants.
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No. 21-cr-62-JJM-PAS
ORDER
There 	are 	three 	written 	posttrial 	motions 	pending 	before 	the 	Court 	–
Defendant Alijah Parsons’ “Renewed Motion for Judgment of Acquittal” (ECF
No. 401) and “Motion for a New Trial” (ECF No. 402); and Defendant Edgar Medina’s
“Motion for a New Trial” 	(ECF No. 403). 	The Government has filed a collective
objection. ECF No. 406.
Rule 29 provides that “the court on the defendant’s motion must enter a
judgment of acquittal of any offense for which the evidence is insufficient to sustain
a conviction.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 29(a). The “relevant question is whether, after viewing
the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact
could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979).
Rule 33 permits a district court to grant a defendant a new trial “if the interest
of justice so requires.” 	Fed. R. Crim. P. 33(a). 	The remedy of a new trial is used
sparingly and only where there would be a “miscarriage of justice” and the “evidence
preponderates heavily against the verdict.”
	United States v. Merlino, 592 F.3d 22,
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32 (1st Cir. 2010). 	When considering a motion for a new trial, a district court may
“weigh the evidence and evaluate the credibility of witnesses,” but should defer to a
jury’s credibility assessment absent “exceptional circumstances.”
Id. at 32-33.
1. 	Alijah Parsons’ Motions for Judgment of Acquittal – Fed. R. Crim. P. 29 1 and
New Trial – Fed. R. Crim. P. 33.
Under either of these rules and standards, Ms. Parsons’ motions fail because
the evidence presented at trial supports the convictions determined by the jury.
Ms. Parsons claims that the Government did not produce sufficient evidence
concerning her knowledge of the presence of cocaine in the mailed packages. 	She
asserts in part:
The Government’s proof of knowledge was entirely circumstantial. 	It
relied upon mailing activity, transmission of USPS receipts, fingerprint
evidence on exterior and limited interior packaging and games material,
limited call data reflecting brief contact with a Puerto Rico number
characterized by the Government as associated with a supplier, and her
relationship with Edgar Medina the father of two of her children. There
was no direct evidence that Ms. Parsons handled cocaine, opened brick
wrappings, observed narcotics, discussed drugs, or received narcotics
proceeds.
ECF No. 402 at 2.
The Government responds by first asserting that circumstantial evidence is
appropriate for a jury to consider, and that the evidence taken as a whole, including
reasonable inferences, can suffice to find guilt.
[T]he government offered evidence of her association with various
phases of the drug distribution: “packaging evidence,” “mailing activity,”
and “telephone evidence.” 	*** 	Taking the evidence in the light most
1 All Defendants also made Rule 29 motions after the prosecution rested and
at the close of all the evidence. The Court took those motions under advisement. The
Court now rules on those motions as well as the written motions for acquittal.
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favorable to the government, a rational jury could easily have found
Parsons’ and Medina’s implicit agreement in the conspiracy.
The jury was entitled to infer Parsons’ implicit agreement from various
facts, including that Parsons flew down to Puerto Rico, the drug source
of supply location, twice in a two-month period during the conspiracy
timeframe (April – June 2021), one of those times together with Medina.
Leading up to the first trip in May 2021, a co-conspirator told her to call
the Puerto Rican supplier (the same supplier that Medina texted when
the missing cocaine was delivered), and while she was down in Puerto
Rico, she did in fact contact the supplier more than 20 times within a
24-hour period. Just 3 days after she left Puerto Rico in May 2021, two
drug packages were mailed from two separate Puerto Rican post offices
to two different addresses in Rhode Island and were retrieved by co-
conspirator Garay.
On the second trip in June 2021, Parsons flew down to Puerto Rico with
Medina, and personally mailed three kilograms of cocaine concealed
within Dominoes game boxes. 	Multiple of Parsons’ fingerprints were
located on the adhesive side of the packaging tape that sealed shut the
Dominoes 	game 	boxes 	containing 	the 	three 	kilograms 	of 	cocaine,
indicating she had knowledge of the package’s contents. 	Parsons and
Medina shipped those three parcels from three different USPS post
office locations within a two-hour timeframe, a tactic USPIS Inspectors
testified is used by drug traffickers to evade law enforcement detection.
Various versions of the name “Parsons” were listed as purported senders
of the parcels, another tactic designed to thwart law enforcement
detection. 	Parsons then texted the USPS receipt for all three drug
packages to Medina after mailing them. 	She also followed up with
Medina about the packages on the morning all three parcels were to be
delivered, inquiring whether “[e]verything is looking good for today?”
After Medina responded, “Yea,” Parsons replied, “That’s good to hear.”
All in all, a rational jury could easily find that Parsons knew that the
boxes she packaged and sent from Puerto Rico contained drugs, and that
she had a stake in the conspiracy based on her relationship with Edgar
Medina. Viewed in the light most favorable to the government, her text
messages demonstrate her knowledge and comprehension of the “risks”
associated with drug trafficking, and her willingness to participate in
the conspiracy are reflected in her actions, like consoling Medina after
tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of cocaine went missing, and her
traveling with him to Puerto Rico to personally ensure three kilograms
of cocaine would be mailed to Rhode Island. A rational jury could
reasonably have concluded that Medina and Parsons knew the contents
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of the packages, especially given that their fingerprints were located on
items within the parcels that they shipped – not merely on the outside
of the boxes.
The 	government 	offered 	evidence 	of 	Parsons’ 	role 	as 	the 	trusted
confidant of Edgar Medina who physically joined co-conspirators during
key dates in the conspiracy beyond just the June 2021 trip to Puerto
Rico. Not only did she join Edgar Medina and Andres Garay on May 24,
2021, when the missing cocaine package arrived, but she was also with
co-conspirators on May 26-28, 2021, when Edgar Medina, Andres Garay,
and Irving Medina conducted surveillance around post offices and the
mailman’s home in Pawtucket, RI, and on June 1, 2021, when Edgar
Medina 	and 	Ronald 	Hall 	kidnapped 	a 	mailman. 	That 	she 	had
photographs of mail trucks and mailmen on her phone that she deleted
those very photographs on the date of the kidnapping, and that her
fingerprints were on the back of the rear license plate of the kidnapping
vehicle, all support the jury’s conclusion that she was a knowing, willful
participant to the drug trafficking conspiracy.
Considering all of the evidence introduced at trial, both direct and
circumstantial, 	that 	established 	the 	nature 	of 	the 	conspiracy, 	the
defendants’ prolonged involvement in it, their close association with one
another, and their conversations and actions, a reasonable jury could
conclude that the defendants knowingly joined a conspiracy to possess
with intent to distribute cocaine.
ECF No. 406 at 9-12 (citations omitted).
Considering all the evidence, a jury could reasonably have concluded that Ms.
Parsons knowingly joined a drug conspiracy and had sufficient actual and inferred
knowledge of the drugs involved. 	Thus, the Court DENIES her requests for a
judgment of acquittal and/or a new trial. ECF Nos. 401, 402.
2. 	Edgar Medina’s Motion for a New Trial – Fed. R. Crim. P. 33
Mr. Medina bases his new trial request on insufficiency of the evidence to
sustain a conviction for conspiracy and kidnapping and errors of law, including jury
instructions 	on 	both 	possession 	and 	attempted 	possession, 	severance, 	illegal
warrants, and inadmissible text messages.
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As to the legal challenges, the Court reaffirms its pretrial and trial rulings on
each of these matters and therefore denies Mr. Medina’s motion on those grounds
(i.e., severance, illegal warrants, and admission of text messages). 	As to the
sufficiency of the evidence for the drug conspiracy charge, the Court incorporates the
discussion on that topic from above.2
As to the sufficiency of the kidnapping charge, the governments asserts:
A reasonable jury could conclude, based on the facts, that Edgar Medina
and Ronald Hall’s hold of Mr. Darocha, a USPS employee engaged in his
official duties on June 1, 2021, was for an appreciable period. 	The
duration was approximately 14 minutes, which the qualitative aspects
establish was an appreciable amount of time. Edgar Medina and Ronald
Hall approached Mr. Darocha dressed in all black, with their faces
covered, and guns drawn. 	They accosted him—one from the front, one
from behind—pointed their guns directly at him, and shoved him into
the back of Medina’s Chrysler 300. Mr. Darocha went unwillingly into
the backseat of the car, was terrified, and feared for his life. The purpose
of the men’s holding Mr. Darocha was for information about their
2 	As 	to 	the 	drug 	conspiracy 	conviction 	of 	Mr. 	Medina 	specifically, 	the
Government added:
[C]ell phone conversations surrounding Garay, Hall, and Medina’s trip
to Puerto Rico in January 2021 indicate Medina’s arrangements of
flights 	for 	the co-conspirators 	and 	cryptic 	discussions 	surrounding
buying 	“carry-on” 	bags 	and 	things 	going 	“smooth” 	supported 	the
government’s 	theory 	about 	co-conspirators’ 	strengthening 	the 	drug
connection during that time. The evidence also established that Medina
relied 	on 	and 	communicated 	with 	numerous 	co-conspirators, 	like
Parsons, Garay, Magdalia Valentin, Robert Cruz, and the Puerto Rican
source of supply, to arrange for the shipment, tracking, and retrieval of
cocaine to various addresses in May and June 2021. Given the quantity
and content of correspondence between, and association among, co-
conspirators during key timeframes of the conspiracy when packages
were mailed, delivered, and picked up, as well as before, during, and
after the kidnapping, the evidence introduced at trial easily supports
the finding that Medina willfully joined an agreement to possess with
intent to distribute cocaine.
ECF No. 406 at 8-9 (citations omitted).
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missing cocaine package, the contents of the package itself, as well as
information about other USPS employees who they suspected had taken
their missing cocaine. The danger posed to Mr. Darocha was severe, as
Medina pointed his pistol directly at Mr. Darocha for the entire duration
of the ride, all the while questioning him. 	Medina and Hall held Mr.
Darocha captive such that Mr. Darocha was unable to yell out to his
neighbor or exit the car, for fear of being shot. 	The men isolated Mr.
Darocha, driving him at gunpoint down past a construction zone by the
bay and utilizing back roads, increasing the likelihood that he would be
harmed. 	The government’s presentation of evidence established that
Mr. Darocha was isolated from everyone except Medina and Hall inside
that car, was moved from the more populated area of Division Street to
the less populated residential area of his home, and interrogated at
gunpoint. From the evidence in this case, a rational jury could find that
the 14-minute hold was appreciable.
ECF No. 406 at 16-17 (citations omitted).
To prove the kidnapping charge, the Government had to show beyond a
reasonable doubt that: (1) Mr. Medina knowingly and unlawfully seized, confined,
inveigled, decoyed, kidnapped, abducted, or carried away Clint Darocha; (2) at the
time Clint Darocha was an employee of the United States Postal Service; (3) Mr.
Medina acted while Clint Darocha was engaged in, or on account of, the performance
of official duties; (4) Mr. Medina held or detained Clint Darocha against his will; and
(5) that the kidnapping occurred for the purpose of ransom, reward, or some other
benefit to Mr. Medina. 18 U.S.C. 1201(a)(5);
see also United States v. Coleman, 149
F.4th 1, 43-52 (1st Cir. 2025).
The evidence presented to the jury showed that Mr. Medina and an associate
knowingly kidnapped and held against his will for an appreciable time, Clint
Darocha, a United States Postal Service employee engaging in his official duties of
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delivering mail, to obtain illegal drugs. 	Each element of kidnapping was proven
beyond a reasonable doubt, supported by sufficient admissible evidence.
3. 	Conclusion
The Court finds that this jury was attentive, engaged, objective, and driven by
the evidence and the law. Their verdict was nuanced, factually supported, and smart.
It was consistent with the verdict the Court would have concluded had it been a juror.
The Court DENIES the Defendants Motions for New Trial and Judgment of Acquittal
(ECF Nos. 401, 402, and 403), as well as those motions made orally during trial.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
s/John J. McConnell, Jr.
_________________________________
John J. McConnell, Jr.
Chief Judge
United States District Court
April 6, 2026
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