Leslie Werth v. United States

493 F. App'x 361
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedAugust 2, 2012
Docket11-4181, 11-4444, 11-4445, 11-4446, 11-4448
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 493 F. App'x 361 (Leslie Werth v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leslie Werth v. United States, 493 F. App'x 361 (4th Cir. 2012).

Opinion

*364 Affirmed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:

In 2010, over twenty members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang (“Outlaws”) were indicted for conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) and several other offenses. Five of the Outlaws members who were convicted appeal their convictions and sentences on various grounds. Finding no error, we affirm.

I.

A.

The Outlaws is a “one-percenter” motorcycle gang, meaning that its members are part of the one percent of motorcyclists who decline to abide by societal rules and laws. Central to the organization is the culture of violence that it fosters. As relayed through trial testimony, frequent territorial disputes, particularly with the Outlaws’ main rival, the Hell’s Angels, involved the use of force or threatened force as the Outlaws sought to expand and maintain its territories for the sake of notoriety and financial gain. Within the organization, violence and the threat of violence were also used to maintain compliance with internal rules.

The organization has a multi-level, well-organized chain of command. All Outlaws members belong to a specific chapter, the chapters are grouped into several color-coded regions, and the regions all fall under the authority of the national president. Each chapter has a clubhouse, within which weekly chapter meetings, called “church,” take place. Higher level meetings between regional bosses or the national leadership of the organization also occur on a consistent basis. Appellant Jake Rosga was a member of the Gold Region (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, chapter) and, at all times relevant, served as the national president of the organization. The other appellants — Leslie Werth, Christopher Timbers, Harry Rhyne McCall, and Mark Jason Fiel — were all members of chapters within the Copper Region, which covers North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Werth was the president of the Copper Region.

In September 2008, Special Agents Jeffrey Grabman and Daniel Ozbolt of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (“ATF”) began infiltrating the Outlaws in the Richmond, Virginia area. The agents posed as members of a separate motorcycle club called the Mongols. At that time, the Outlaws did not have a chapter in Richmond, so conversations between the Outlaws and the undercover agents focused initially on the Outlaws developing a relationship with the Mongols as a support club in the area. 1 The Hell’s Angels were beginning to develop a foothold in Richmond, so the Outlaws were eager to build a network in the area by establishing support clubs, with hopes of ultimately recruiting members from the support clubs and moving into the area themselves.

By late October, Outlaws members expressed interest in the undercover agents joining the Outlaws and starting a chapter in the Richmond area. The agents were voted into the club in January 2009 as prospective members and ultimately started an Outlaws chapter in Petersburg, Virginia. By May 2009, the undercover agents had set up a clubhouse in the Pe- *365 tersburg area. Unbeknownst to the other Outlaws members, the undercover agents had wired the clubhouse for video and audio recording. During their time undercover, the agents participated in numerous Outlaws activities in a number of different states.

B.

Search warrants for multiple Outlaws clubhouses were executed on June 15, 2010, yielding, among other things, firearms and illegal drugs. Many Outlaws members were subsequently arrested and charged with various offenses. During the subsequent trials, 2 the government, with the aid of testimony from the undercover agents and recordings from the Peters-burg clubhouse, presented extensive evidence about the Outlaws’ activities, which included murder, attempted murder, robbery, assault, extortion, arson, witness intimidation, narcotics violations, illegal gambling, and weapons violations. Each of the defendants in this consolidated appeal was convicted of conspiracy to violate RICO (“Count 1”), see 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); and conspiracy to commit violence in aid of racketeering (“Count 2”), see 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(6). Timbers and McCall were also convicted of violence in aid of racketeering (“Count 8”), see 18 U.S.C. §§ 1959 and 2. McCall was additionally convicted of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence (“Count 4”), see 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c) and 2.

II.

We first address related claims made by multiple defendants concerning the disclosure of evidence and the scope of cross-examination. Pursuant to its obligations under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and its progeny, the government disclosed certain information to the defense about the undercover ATF agents. Specifically, the government disclosed that Grabman had been suspended by ATF in 1991 when his training officer lied about the circumstances surrounding a speeding incident and Grabman falsely corroborated the story. The government also disclosed that Ozbolt, during the course of his investigation into the instant matter, received a DUI citation, a reckless driving citation, and a speeding ticket.

Rosga and Fiel filed a motion seeking disclosure of supporting documents and other evidence related to these incidents. The government thereafter filed motions seeking to preclude the defense from cross-examining the agents about the incidents at trial and objecting to the document request. As to the document request, the government explained that the documents relating to Agent Grabman had long ago been purged by ATF as part of its standard procedures and were no longer available. With regard to Agent Ozbolt, the government submitted the supporting documents to the court for in camera review, arguing that the documents contained no impeachment material that had not already been disclosed. The district court ordered the government to disclose documents relating to Agent Ozbolt’s apparent failure to advise his superiors about one of the citations, but the court otherwise agreed with the government and held that the remaining documents did not contain “exculpatory, relevant, or admissible” information. J.A. 2050. The district court also granted the government’s motion to *366 limit the cross-examination of the agents about these incidents.

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Related

United States v. Kacey Hicks
64 F.4th 546 (Fourth Circuit, 2023)
United States v. Fiel
89 F. Supp. 3d 835 (E.D. Virginia, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
493 F. App'x 361, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leslie-werth-v-united-states-ca4-2012.