## Facts

- Police received information about marijuana plants behind a multi-occupant residence and obtained verbal and written consent from all residents to search the home.
- Officers searched other residents’ bedrooms first and found no illegal items there.
- In Erick Arias Campos’s bedroom, officers found a shoebox containing a plastic bag with 50.6 grams of methamphetamine, a .38 caliber Lorcin handgun, an ammunition clip and additional ammunition, and several forms of false identification.
- Officers also found a pen casing with methamphetamine residue and a butane lighter, consistent with drug use.
- Campos admitted the methamphetamine was his but testified it was for personal use, claiming he purchased a large quantity at a “bargain price.”
- A defense witness testified he had seen Campos arrange small doses in a pattern associated with ingestion, but did not observe actual ingestion.
- After a jury trial, Campos was convicted of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
- Campos filed a renewed Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal and a Rule 33 motion for a new trial.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, was sufficient for a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Campos possessed methamphetamine with intent to distribute (Rule 29).
2. Whether the verdict was against the weight of the evidence such that a new trial was required in the interest of justice (Rule 33).

## Decision

- The court denied Campos’s renewed motion for judgment of acquittal.
- The court denied Campos’s motion for a new trial.
- The conviction for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine remained in place.

## Legal Principles

- Under Rule 29, a court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether substantial evidence supports the conviction; credibility choices and reasonable inferences are for the jury.
- Intent to distribute may be proven by circumstantial evidence, including drug quantity and the presence of items associated with trafficking (such as firearms, ammunition, and false identification).
- Under Rule 33, a court may weigh evidence and assess credibility, but may grant a new trial only where the evidence preponderates heavily against the verdict; such relief is granted sparingly.
- A defendant’s personal-use explanation does not require acquittal or a new trial where the jury could reasonably reject it based on the totality of the circumstances.

## Conclusion

The court held that the combination of a distribution-level quantity of methamphetamine found in Campos’s bedroom, together with a firearm, ammunition, and false identification, provided sufficient circumstantial evidence for a rational jury to find intent to distribute and did not render the verdict so contrary to the weight of the evidence as to require a new trial.


United States v. Campos, 132 F. Supp. 2d 1181 (N.D. Iowa 2001)