United States v. Derick Bennett A/K/A Jamaican Derick

JOHNSON, Circuit Judge:

Derick Bennett appeals his conviction on charges of cocaine distribution and retaliation against a government informant.

I. BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

In the spring of 1989, Derick Bennett was involved in cocaine distribution in Jacksonville, Florida. He gave some crack cocaine to a friend named Carolyn Taylor. Taylor then took the drugs to Alexander Gardner and asked him to sell the drugs for her. Gardner, however, was a government informant. Working with law enforcement officers, Gardner gathered information on Taylor, Bennett, and others.

In the fall of 1989, after finding…