United States v. Caguana, No. 16-4152 (7th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseCaguana’s 17-year-old son was charged with murder. His son’s friends, also arrested, became state witnesses. Caguana called Valentin to find a hitman to kill the two. Valentin contacted Chicago Police Detective Pentimone. Valentin had acted as an uncompensated “John Doe” for Pentimone in multiple search warrants. At a meeting, Caguana showed Valentin the witnesses' photographs and notes about their whereabouts, offering to pay $7,500 plus a Cadillac. Pentimone contacted the FBI, which joined the investigation. Valentin called Caguana and, in a recorded conversation, conveyed that he had found a hit-man and needed money. Caguana told Valentin to come to his garage, saying “We’re gonna do it.” Caguana gave Valentin $500 to purchase a gun and drove Valentin to show him where the witnesses lived. The next day, Caguana met with Valentin and a "hitman" in Valentin’s car. Their discussion of the details was recorded. Caguana was arrested as he exited Valentin’s car. Convicted of four counts of using a facility of interstate commerce with the intent that the murder-for-hire of two individuals be committed, 18 U.S.C. 1958(a), Caguana was sentenced to 210 months' imprisonment. The jury rejected Caguana’s entrapment defense. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, rejecting Caguana’s challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence, with respect to his intent to pay for murder-for-hire and entrapment. The intent element of section 1958(a) does not require a legally binding contract. The sentence is substantively reasonable.
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