United States v. Stanislawczyk, No. 15-3106 (7th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseWieckowicz, a confidential informant, alerted FBI agents that Oziemski solicited Wieckowicz’s help in planned robberies; Oziemski planned to travel from Poland to New York, and then to Chicago to meet Stanislawczyk, and then to New York to commit the robberies. Days later, Wieckowicz told agents that Stanislawczyk was in New York, but would return to Chicago and then travel to New York with Oziemski and Wrobel. Wieckowicz, Wrobel, and Stanislawczyk met at Stanislawczyk’s apartment. Oziemski participated via Skype in the recorded conversation, which concerned robbing a diamond merchant at his Brooklyn residence, using a rented van. Under FBI supervision, Wieckowicz rented a van, which the FBI equipped with a recording device. The four left for New York. They were arrested at a New Jersey hotel. Wrobel, Stanislawczyk, and Oziemski were charged with conspiring to obstruct, delay, and affect commerce by robbery of diamonds and other valuables, Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951(a). The court allowed the government to introduce expert testimony that all diamonds are mined outside the U.S., and that diamond dealers frequently carry diamonds on their persons, to establish a nexus between the charged offense and interstate commerce and to rebut arguments that defendants’ statements regarding robbing a diamond merchant were mere fantasy. The Seventh Circuit affirmed defendants' convictions, rejecting arguments that there was insufficient evidence to establish the required nexus between the crime and interstate commerce and that the court improperly admitted the government’s expert testimony.
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