United States v. Lee

834 F.3d 145, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 15555, 2016 WL 4446012
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided August 24, 2016·No. Docket Nos. 11-2539; 11-2543; 11-2834; 11-4068·Published·Cited by 28 cases

Opinion

GERARD E. LYNCH, Circuit Judge:

Several defendants appeal from convictions on various charges of racketeering, narcotics conspiracy, Hobbs Act conspiracy, and substantive counts of Hobbs Act robbery and associated firearms and murder counts. We reject most of defendants’ challenges to their convictions in an accompanying summary order, in which we also conclude that defendant Selbourne Waite’s case must be remanded for resentencing. In this opinion, we hold, following the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Taylor v. United States, — U.S. -, 136 S.Ct. 2074, 195 L.Ed.2d. 456 (2016), that the evidence offered at trial to prove the interstate commerce element of the challenged Hobbs Act robbery convictions was sufficient to support the guilty verdicts, because the evidence permitted the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the robberies targeted suspected marijuana dealers for their drugs or the proceeds from the sale of drugs. We also reject defendant Levar Gayle’s due process and evidentiary challenges to his conviction on charges arising from the robbery and murder of Oneil Johnson. We therefore AFFIRM the judgment of the district court, except to the extent that defendant Waite’s case is REMANDED for resentencing for reasons set forth in the accompanying summary order.

BACKGROUND

Hisan Lee, Delroy Lee, Selbourne Waite, and Levar Gayle appeal from judgments of conviction in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Barbara S. Jones, /.), following a six-weék jury trial. The jury found the defendants guilty of all counts against them, except that it acquitted Selbourne Waite of the counts related to the murder of Bunny Campbell. As noted above, we resolve most of the issues on appeal in the accompanying summary order. Below, we address the challenges made by all four defendants to the sufficiency of the evidence on the interstate commerce element for the Hobbs Act robberies, and Gayle’s arguments that the district court’s rulings caused him substantial prejudice requiring reversal of his convictions in connection with the robbery and murder of Oneil Johnson.

The evidence at trial showed that Hisan Lee, his brother Delroy Lee, and their cousin Selbourne Waite were all members of a criminal organization centered around DeKalb Avenue in the northern Bronx (the “DeKalb Avenue Crew” or the “Crew”), which engaged in extensive drug dealing, violence, robberies of drug dealers, and murders. Another cousin, Levar Gayle, was not a member of the Crew, but was convicted of participating in a single drug robbery in which the victim, Oneil Johnson, was shot and killed by Hisan Lee.

The Crew was led primarily by a man named Bobby Saunders,' and its activities centered on a triangle of blocks between Van Cortlandt Park and Woodlawn Cemetery. Saunders had a close “father-son” type relationship with Hisan Lee, Delroy Lee, and Waite, and gave them entry-level jobs selling marijuana and crack cocaine on his stretch of DeKalb Avenue in the early 1990s. By the late 1990s, Delroy Lee, Hisan Lee, and Selbourne Waite were all selling crack cocaine on DeKalb Avenue with other members of the Crew. Members of the Crew pooled money to buy from suppliers, split sales, and watched out for the police for one another. By the mid-2000s, the Lee brothers and Waite were primarily involved in selling larger quantities of drugs than before, which they often secured through robberies, many of which are the subject of this appeal. The Lee brothers and Waite regularly carried guns to protect their drugs and themselves [150] while they were selling, and to protect and enforce the exclusive territory of the De-Kalb Avenue Crew. The factual background as it relates to each Hobbs Act robbery, and Gayle’s involvement in the robbery and murder of Oneil Johnson, is discussed further in context below.

DISCUSSION

I. Interstate Commerce Element

All four defendants challenge -the sufficiency of the evidence to prove the interstate commerce element of various charged substantive Hobbs Act robberies: the robbery of Oneil Johnson, in which Johnson was shot and killed, and robberies at 4061 Murdoch Avenue, 2041 Strang Avenue, 2032 Strang Avenue, 3955 Paulding Avenue, and 2930 Hone Avenue. Accordingly, they argue that those substantive robbery convictions, as well as any firearms convictions predicated on them, must be reversed.

It was stipulated by the parties that all cocaine and some marijuana comes from outside the state of New York. Therefore, if the target of a robbery was cocaine or its proceeds, the interstate commerce element is clearly satisfied, since the cocaine must have been transported in interstate commerce, and a reasonable jury therefore could easily conclude that the robberies affected an interstate, if illicit, commercial operation. But the stipulation that some marijuana has traveled interstate leaves open the possibility that the marijuana targeted in any particular robbery may have been grown, processed, and sold entirely within New York State, unless the government specifically proved otherwise. Accordingly, defendants argue, citing our decisions in United States v. Parkes, 497 F.3d 220 (2d Cir. 2007), and United States v. Needham, 604 F.3d 673 (2d Cir. 2010), that evidence that the defendants’ robberies targeted marijuana dealers for their marijuana (or for the proceeds from its sale) is insufficient in itself to permit a jury to find the requisite nexus with interstate commerce under the Hobbs Act, even if “the general activity [of marijuana dealing], taken in toto, has such an effect.” Needham, 604 F.3d at 684.

But the Needham case, on which defendants primarily rely, has been abrogated by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Taylor, which held that where the government proves that a defendant robbed or attempted to rob a marijuana dealer of marijuana or proceeds from its sale, the interstate commerce element of the Hobbs Act is satisfied. Taylor, 136 S.Ct. at 2077-78. Applying this new standard to the various Hobbs Act robbery convictions challenged by the defendants, we conclude that the evidence amply proved that the robberies in question affected interstate commerce within the meaning of the Hobbs Act.

A. Applicable Law

The Hobbs Act provides in relevant part that “[wjhoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery ... or attempts or conspires so to do ... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.” 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a). In a Hobbs Act prosecution, “it is well established that the burden of proving a nexus to interstate commerce is minimal.” United States v. Elias, 285 F.3d 183, 188 (2d Cir. 2002). But the Act still requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt of an effect on interstate commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a) (penalizing anyone who, inter alia, “in any way or degree ... affects commerce ... by robbery”).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Lee, 834 F.3d 145, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 15555, 2016 WL 4446012 (2d Cir. 2016).

834 F.3d 145 (United States v. Lee) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

United States v. Aryeetey
Second Circuit, 2026
United States v. Pippins
Second Circuit, 2026
United States v. Rodriguez
Second Circuit, 2025
People v. Williams
2025 IL App (5th) 220088-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
United States v. Huggins Orelien
119 F.4th 217 (Second Circuit, 2024)
People v. Patton
2024 IL App (5th) 200399-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
State v. Best
Idaho Court of Appeals, 2024
Lee v. United States
S.D. New York, 2023
United States v. Spear-Zuleta
Second Circuit, 2022
United States v. Hunter
Second Circuit, 2022
United States v. Vaccarelli
Second Circuit, 2021
United States v. Mickens
Second Circuit, 2021
United States v. King
Second Circuit, 2021
United States v. Wilkins
District of Columbia, 2021
Gayle v. United States
S.D. New York, 2020
United States v. Walker
974 F.3d 193 (Second Circuit, 2020)
United States v. Ngono
Second Circuit, 2020