United States v. Henley, No. 13-1894 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendants Henley, Smith, Elkins, Fry, Robinson, and Peteet pled guilty to racketeering conspiracy and various counts of violent crime in aid of racketeering in connection with their involvement in a motorcycle gang. Defendants appealed on numerous grounds. The court concluded that the evidence was sufficient to convict defendants of the racketeering conspiracy and various substantive counts; the judge sitting in the Eastern District of Missouri had jurisdiction to authorize a wiretap of a cell phone located in Illinois; the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting recorded conversations; the district court did not abuse its discretion by not submitting the case with a special verdict form requiring that the jury unanimously find which predicate acts were attributable to any one of the defendants; the omission of the "substantial step" language in the jury instructions did not affect Robinson's substantial rights; the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of an uncharged crime where it was relevant to establish both the continuity of the conspiracy and the common purpose underlying Robinson's acts; Smith failed to show that the district court erred by failing to sever his case; the district court did not clearly abuse its discretion in finding an affidavit which claimed that another person besides Peteet shot the victim at Bennigan's where it was unreliable and inadmissible; the district court did not plainly err in excluding the testimony of a witness's wife since Peteet failed to lay an evidentiary foundation; and the evidence supported the district court's application of the leadership enhancement under U.S.S.G. 3B1.1 to Peteet's sentence. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law. In this RICO prosecution of the members of the Wheels of Soul motorcycle gang, the evidence was sufficient to support their RICO conspiracy and other convictions; since the interception of phone calls through a wire tap includes both the location of the tapped phone and the original listening post, a judge in the Eastern District of Missouri had authority under Title III to issue the wiretap orders in the case; no error in admitting defendants' recorded conversation; the district court did not err in denying defendants' requests for special verdict forms; jury instructions regarding an attempted murder were not erroneous; no error in admitting evidence of an uncharged murder as it was relevant to establishing the elements of the RICO conspiracy; no error in denying defendant Smith's motion to sever; no error in refusing to admit the hearsay confession of an unavailable witness as the witness's affidavit was not clearly against his own interest since he claimed self-defense in the shooting and lacked indicia of trustworthiness; the district court did not plainly err in excluding the testimony of the unavailable witness's wife regarding his statements since defendant Poteet failed to lay an evidentiary foundation showing it to be an excited utterance or a statement against interest; no error in imposing a two-level enhancement against defendant Poteet under Guidelines Sec. 3B1.1(c)for a leadership role.
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