United States v. Haddad

A federal jury convicted Fadi Haddad (defendant) of knowingly and intentionally attempting to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram of cocaine. Haddad and a friend, Ali Charri, were arrested in Milwaukee when Haddad attempted to take $28,000 from an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, Charles Unger, that Haddad planned to use to purchase a kilogram of cocaine for Unger. During nearly two months of negotiations, Haddad mentioned that Haddad had a cocaine supplier in Chicago and knew people who could quickly sell cocaine for Unger. After the arrest, Charri became an informant and agreed to place a recorded phone call to John Leydon, Haddad’s cocaine supplier, who had repeatedly paged Haddad’s beeper. Charri told Leydon that Charri and Haddad were unable to get to Chicago; Leydon responded that the cocaine suppliers in Chicago were angry about the delay and that the deal would be canceled. Meanwhile, Haddad led DEA officers to believe that Haddad’s cocaine supplier was a man named Tony in Milwaukee. Haddad appealed from his conviction, arguing in relevant part that the district court had erred by admitting the phone conversation between Leydon and Charri, because even if Haddad and Leydon were coconspirators, the conspiracy ended with Haddad’s and Charri’s arrest and Charri’s shift from coconspirator to informant secretly acting against the conspiracy.