United States v. Harris, No. 10-3173 (10th Cir. 2012)
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Defendant-Appellant Tracy Harris was convicted under 18 U.S.C. 1962(d) of conspiracy to commit a racketeering offense in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), and sentenced to 188 months in prison. On appeal, he challenged the substantive correctness of the jury instructions on the elements of section 1962(d) conspiracy; the sufficiency of the evidence to convict him of that crime; the failure of the district court to issue a jury instruction on the affirmative defense of withdrawal; and the substantive and procedural reasonableness of his sentence. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit concluded: (1) that the existence of an enterprise is not a required element of section 1962(d) conspiracy; (2) alternatively, even if the Government was required to prove the existence of an enterprise, there was sufficient evidence to show that the various gang sets in this case constituted an association-in-fact enterprise under :Boyle v. United States," (556 U.S. 938 (2009)); and (3) that Defendant failed to present evidence that he had withdrawn from the alleged conspiracy sufficient to warrant a jury instruction on that defense.
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