United States v. Mothersill

As part of an elaborate multistate cocaine-distribution operation, codefendants Patrick Howell and Michael Morgan shot and killed a rival drug dealer, and fellow operation leader Paul Howell later built a pipe bomb disguised as a microwave, intending to kill Morgan's girlfriend to prevent her from reporting the killing; while the bomb was being transported, a state trooper stopped the car for an unrelated traffic violation, obtained consent to search, and was killed when the bomb detonated as he unwrapped it. Norris Mothersill (defendant) and the other conspirators were charged with the trooper's murder under Pinkerton co-conspirator liability, convicted after an eight-week trial, and appealed the imposition of that vicarious liability theory.