United States v. Bowser, No. 14-1592 (7th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseFollowing an FBI investigation, 51 people associated with the Indianapolis Outlaws Motorcycle Club were indicted for 49 offenses. Most pleaded guilty to all charges. Bowser pleaded guilty to: wire fraud, extortion, witness tampering, and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, but pleaded nolo contendere to violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1962(c).The court noted that the plea allowed Bowser to refuse to admit that the Outlaws acted as a criminal organization and maintain his membership, but decided that this concern was outweighed by the burden of a trial and denied Bowser a reduction for acceptance of responsibility. Bowser received a sentence of 180 months, below the guidelines range of 235 to 293 months. Miller argued that the government could not prove the robberies charged as the predicate acts necessary for finding him guilty of a “pattern” of racketeering under RICO. Convicted, he was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment. A jury found Jordan guilty of distributing 500 or more grams of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. 846. Jordan unsuccessfully argued that the government had presented insufficient evidence. The court concluded that he had a prior felony drug conviction and imposed the mandatory minimum sentence of 120 months, 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(B). The Seventh Circuit affirmed, except with respect to a single condition of Bowser’s supervised release.
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