United States v. Bates

799 F. Supp. 900, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14538, 1992 WL 236680
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 21, 1992
DocketNo. 89-CR-908
StatusPublished

This text of 799 F. Supp. 900 (United States v. Bates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Bates, 799 F. Supp. 900, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14538, 1992 WL 236680 (N.D. Ill. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

RICHARD MILLS, District Judge 1:

Where defendants are convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (“RICO Conspiracy”) on the basis of unspecified predicate acts, can those defendants be held accountable, for purposes of sentencing, for all the predicate acts charged in the indictment?

In this case, no.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

This case involved the jury trial and sentencing of six members of the El Rukns— an infamous Chicago street gang. All of the defendants held positions of leadership within the organization and were responsible for the supervision of the gang’s daily activities, consisting largely of illegal drug distribution.

The trial of these six defendants — commonly referred to as “El Rukn III” in this district — consumed 28 full trial days over a span of four months. The case was tried before an anonymous jury — even the Court knew the jurors only by their respective numbers. All six defendants were in custody and each defendant was represented by a separate attorney appointed under the Criminal Justice Act. The evidence consisted of testimony from 31'witnesses, and days of listening to tapes of telephonic overhears and wiretaps, amassing a total of 6,544 pages of transcript — excluding sentencing.

After deliberating four days, the sequestered jury returned its verdicts. And the Court subsequently imposed the following sentences:

BATES - Life

GREEN - Life

CROWDER - Mandatory Life

WILLIAMS - Life

HOOVER - 35 years

LEWIS - 40 years

Count I of the second superseding indictment charged all of the defendants with violating 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (“RICO Conspiracy”). In support of both the RICO Conspiracy charge (§ 1962(d)) alleged in Count I and the substantive RICO charge (18 U.S.C. § 1962(c)) alleged in Count II, the indictment listed 64 separate predicate acts alleging various acts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and drug of[902]*902fenses.2 All of the defendants — with the exception of Defendant Hoover — were subsequently found guilty of RICO Conspiracy.

At sentencing, the Government sought to hold the defendants accountable for the acts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder listed as predicate acts in the indictment pursuant to United States Sentencing Guideline 2El.l(a)(2). The defendants uniformly objected to the inclusion of those violent offenses for purposes of sentencing and this Court sustained that objection.

II. ANALYSIS

18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) provides “It shall be unlawful for any person to conspire to violate any of the provisions of subsection (a), (b), or (c) of this section.” Specifically, Defendants were charged with conspiring to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) which states:

It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.

To prove guilt with respect to RICO Conspiracy, the Government must show: (1) the existence of an enterprise; (2) that the defendant was associated with that enterprise; (3) that the defendant knowingly conspired to conduct or participate in the affairs of the enterprise directly or indirectly, through a pattern of racketeering activity; and (4) that the enterprise engaged in interstate commerce or that the enterprise’s activities affected interstate commerce. United States v. Neapolitan, 791 F.2d 489 (7th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 939, 107 S.Ct. 421, 93 L.Ed.2d 371 (1986). To establish a “pattern of racketeering activity” for purposes of RICO Conspiracy, the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant agreed that at least two of the predicate acts charged would be committed. United States v. Garner, 837 F.2d 1404 (7th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1035, 108 S.Ct. 2022, 100 L.Ed.2d 608 (1988).

United States Sentencing Guideline § 2E1.1 provides:

Unlawful Conduct Relating to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
(a) Base Offense Level (Apply the greater):
(1) 19; or
(2) the offense level applicable to the underlying racketeering activity.

Application Note 1 to § 2E1.1 states “[wjhere there is more than one underlying offense, treat each underlying offense as if contained in a separate count of conviction for the purposes of subsection (a)(2).”

A. Due Process Considerations

The original indictment in this cause consisted of a document some 305 pages in length, which named 38 defendants in 175 counts. Originally set for trial before United States District Judge Marvin E. Aspen, the 38 defendants named in the original indictment were severed into five trial groups. United States v. Andrews, 754 F.Supp. 1161 (N.D.Ill.1990). In a subsequent opinion, Judge Aspen reorganized the membership of each trial group, and ordered that:

Defendants Thomas Bates, Jerome Crowder, Louis Hoover, and Ronald [sic] Lewis will be tried together at Trial Three. Since the government has agreed to dismiss every violent racketeering act charged against these defendants, they will be tried solely for narcotics offenses, including the § 846 conspiracy charged in Count Three and alleged as Racketeering Act 31.3 (Emphasis added.)

[903]*903United States v. Andrews, 754 F.Supp. 1197, 1203 (N.D.Ill.1990).

On September 30, 1991, in response to defendants’ joint objection to the anticipated introduction of violent crimes evidenced by the Government and in light of the orders on severance, this Court entered an order limiting the introduction of such evidence at trial.

Yet, at sentencing, the Government argued that “because the murders were included in Count One and the jury based its verdict on them, they must be considered as part of the conduct proven against the defendants in the racketeering conspiracy and therefore must be taken into account for sentencing purposes under the Guidelines.” The Government maintained their position despite admitting that “[tjhese same murders and acts of violence, however, were not specifically charged against these defendants as part of their individual ‘patterns of racketeering activity’ in Count Two (Substantive Racketeering), which consisted entirely of narcotics based activity.” (Emphasis added.)

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Related

Baldwin v. Hale
68 U.S. 223 (Supreme Court, 1864)
Fuentes v. Shevin
407 U.S. 67 (Supreme Court, 1972)
United States v. Andrews
754 F. Supp. 1161 (N.D. Illinois, 1990)
United States v. Andrews
754 F. Supp. 1197 (N.D. Illinois, 1990)
United States v. Neapolitan
791 F.2d 489 (Seventh Circuit, 1986)
United States v. Garner
837 F.2d 1404 (Seventh Circuit, 1987)
Wienco, Inc. v. Katahn Associates, Inc.
965 F.2d 565 (Seventh Circuit, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
799 F. Supp. 900, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14538, 1992 WL 236680, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-bates-ilnd-1992.