Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca4-19-04609/USCOURTS-ca4-19-04609-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Montez Lamar Allen
Appellee
Javontay Jacquis Holland
Appellee
Tredarius Jameriquan Keene
Appellee
Jalen Cormarrius Terry
Appellee
United States of America
Appellant

Document Text:

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 19-4609

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

TREDARIUS JAMERIQUAN KEENE, a/k/a Bubba, a/k/a Bubs; MONTEZ 

LAMAR ALLEN, a/k/a Doc Milla; JAVONTAY JACQUIS HOLLAND, a/k/a Tay, 

a/k/a Reckless; JALEN CORMARRIUS TERRY, a/k/a Fats,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at 

Danville. Michael F. Urbanski, Chief District Judge. (4:18-cr-00012-MFU-RSB-3; 4:18-

cr-00012-MFU-RSB-4; 4:18-cr-00012-MFU-RSB-5; 4:18-cr-00012-MFU-RSB-8)

Argued: January 31, 2020 Decided: April 9, 2020

Before KEENAN, HARRIS, and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Judge Keenan wrote the opinion, in which 

Judge Harris and Judge Quattlebaum joined.

ARGUED: Michael Andrew Baudinet, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

ATTORNEY, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellant. Paul Graham Beers, GLENN, 

FELDMANN, DARBY & GOODLATTE, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: 

Thomas T. Cullen, United States Attorney, Laura Day Rottenborn, Assistant United States 

Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Roanoke, Virginia, for 

Appellant. Mark D. Haugh, HAUGH & PREAS, PLC, Marion, Virginia, for Appellee 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 1 of 16
2

Tredarius Keene. Thomas J. Bondurant, Jr., Monica Taylor Monday, GENTRY LOCKE 

RAKES & MOORE, Roanoke, Virginia; Jacqueline M. Reiner, JACQUELINE M. 

REINER, PLLC, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee Javontay Holland. Seth C. Weston, 

LAW OFFICE OF SETH C. WESTON, PLC, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellee Montez 

Allen.

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 2 of 16
3

BARBARA MILANO KEENAN, Circuit Judge:

This appeal requires us to interpret the text of 18 U.S.C. § 1959, which imposes 

criminal penalties for committing “violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity” (the 

VICAR statute). The VICAR statute defines prohibited conduct by reference to 

enumerated federal offenses, but also requires that the conduct be “in violation of the laws 

of any State or the United States.” 18 U.S.C. § 1959. Relevant to this appeal, the 

defendants were charged under the VICAR statute in three counts with the enumerated 

federal offense of committing assault with a dangerous weapon, in violation of the Virginia 

prohibition against brandishing a firearm set forth in Virginia Code § 18.2-282 (Virginia 

brandishing). 

Because the VICAR statute requires the commission of enumerated federal offenses 

as well as separate state or federal crimes, the defendants assert that we must apply the 

categorical approach articulated in Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 (1990), to 

determine whether Virginia brandishing is a “categorical match” to the enumerated federal 

offense of assault with a dangerous weapon. According to the defendants, if the Virginia 

offense “sweeps more broadly” than the enumerated federal offense, the crimes are not a 

categorical match and the defendants cannot be convicted of VICAR assault with a 

dangerous weapon based on Virginia brandishing. See Omargharib v. Holder, 775 F.3d 

192, 196-97 (4th Cir. 2014). In the district court, the government agreed with the 

defendants that a comparison of the federal and state offenses was required without any 

consideration of the defendants’ actual conduct. In accord with the parties’ agreed view, 

the district court did not consider the defendants’ conduct but instead applied the 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 3 of 16
4

categorical approach. The court concluded that Virginia brandishing was broader than the 

enumerated federal offense of assault with a dangerous weapon, and dismissed the three 

VICAR counts at issue. 

Upon our review, we conclude that the portion of the VICAR statute before us is 

not subject to analysis under the categorical approach. Unlike numerous other statutory 

provisions, nothing in the statutory language at issue suggests that Congress intended an 

element-by-element comparison of the enumerated federal offense with the specified state 

offense. Nor do the underlying policy rationales for the categorical approach apply to the 

relevant text in the VICAR statute. Instead, the statutory language at issue requires only 

that a defendant’s conduct, presently before the court, constitute one of the enumerated 

federal offenses as well as the charged state crime. We therefore reverse the decision of 

the district court, and remand for the court to reinstate the dismissed VICAR charges 

alleging Virginia brandishing.

I.

The defendants, Montez Allen, Javontay Holland, Tredarius Keene, and Jalen Terry, 

along with several other co-defendants, were charged in a 15-count indictment with various 

offenses related to their involvement in the Bloods gang in Danville, Virginia. In Counts 

4, 8, and 14 of the indictment, the defendants were charged with committing violent crimes 

in aid of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1959 (the VICAR-brandishing 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 4 of 16
5

counts).1

 Those counts contained allegations that the defendants violated the VICAR 

statute by assaulting three victims with a dangerous weapon, which acts also violated the 

Virginia brandishing statute, Virginia Code § 18.2-282. The indictment further alleged 

that the defendants committed these assaults by shooting or shooting at the victims with a 

firearm. 

The defendants moved to dismiss the VICAR-brandishing counts, contending that 

the crime of Virginia brandishing did not “match” the enumerated federal offense of 

“assault with a dangerous weapon” in the VICAR statute. Applying the categorical 

approach, the district court concluded that the crime of Virginia brandishing is broader than 

the offense of assault with a dangerous weapon under VICAR, because the federal assault 

crime requires as an element an intent or threat to inflict injury while Virginia brandishing 

does not. The district court accordingly dismissed the VICAR-brandishing counts, and the 

government filed this interlocutory appeal.

II.

We review de novo the district court’s decision dismissing the three counts in the 

indictment. United States v. Good, 326 F.3d 589, 591 (4th Cir. 2003). Encompassed within 

this de novo review is the question whether the categorical approach must be applied to the 

VICAR-brandishing counts, which presents an issue of statutory interpretation. United

 1 The defendants also were charged with several other VICAR counts arising from 

murder and attempted murder under Virginia law. Those counts are not at issue in this 

appeal. 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 5 of 16
6

States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319, 2327 (2019) (applicability of categorical approach is 

question of statutory interpretation); United States v. Weaver, 659 F.3d 353, 356 (4th Cir. 

2011) (de novo review applies when construing a statute’s language).

The VICAR statute provides in relevant part:

(a) Whoever, as consideration for the receipt of, or as consideration for a 

promise or agreement to pay, anything of pecuniary value from an enterprise 

engaged in racketeering activity, or for the purpose of gaining entrance to or 

maintaining or increasing position in an enterprise engaged in racketeering 

activity, murders, kidnaps, maims, assaults with a dangerous weapon, 

commits assault resulting in serious bodily injury upon, or threatens to 

commit a crime of violence against any individual in violation of the laws of 

any State or the United States,

2 or attempts or conspires so to do, shall be 

punished . . . 

(3) for assault with a dangerous weapon or assault resulting in serious 

bodily injury, by imprisonment for not more than twenty years or a 

fine under this title, or both.

18 U.S.C. § 1959 (emphasis added). 

The VICAR statute complements the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt 

Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961 through 1968, by addressing the “particular 

danger posed by those . . . who are willing to commit violent crimes in order to bolster their 

positions within [racketeering] enterprises.” United States v. Ayala, 601 F.3d 256, 266 (4th 

Cir. 2010). Accordingly, to establish that a defendant violated the VICAR statute, the 

government must prove: (1) the existence of a RICO enterprise; (2) that the enterprise was 

engaged in racketeering activity; (3) that the defendant “had a position in the enterprise;” 

 2 Violations of both state and federal laws can serve as bases for a VICAR 

conviction. 18 U.S.C. § 1959. Because the defendants in the present case were charged 

with Virginia brandishing, for the sake of simplicity we refer throughout this opinion only 

to VICAR’s requirement that a defendant’s conduct violates state law.

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 6 of 16
7

(4) that the defendant committed one of the crimes specified in the VICAR statute, here, 

assault with a dangerous weapon, also constituting Virginia brandishing; and (5) that the 

defendant’s purpose was “to maintain or increase his position in the enterprise.” United 

States v. Zelaya, 908 F.3d 920, 926-27 (4th Cir. 2018) (citation and internal quotation 

marks omitted). The only element at issue in this appeal is the fourth element.

In the district court, both the government and the defendants argued that the VICAR 

statute requires a comparison of the definition of the enumerated federal offense, assault 

with a dangerous weapon, with the charged state offense, Virginia brandishing, without 

consideration of the defendants’ conduct. The government now has changed course, 

arguing that the language of the VICAR statute does not indicate any basis for requiring a 

comparison of the elements of the federal and state offenses. Thus, the government 

presently maintains that a jury must find that the defendant’s actual conduct constituted 

one of the enumerated federal offenses while also violating the state law charged in the 

indictment. 

In response, the defendants contend that under Supreme Court precedent, whenever 

a federal statute refers to enumerated federal crimes and state crimes, a defendant violates 

the statute only if the elements of the state offense are equivalent to or narrower than the 

federal offense. Therefore, the defendants urge us to apply the categorical approach to the 

VICAR statute, and to conclude that Virginia brandishing may not serve as a predicate 

offense for the crime of assault with a dangerous weapon. 

Initially, we observe that we are troubled by the government’s failure to advance its 

current argument before the district court. The inconsistency of advocating one position 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 7 of 16
8

in the district court, and of reversing course on appeal, reflects poorly on the government 

in this case. Nevertheless, engaging in our required de novo review of the statutory 

language, we agree that the categorical approach does not apply to the relevant language 

in the VICAR statute. 

A.

Before addressing the parties’ arguments, we begin by discussing the principles 

underlying the categorical approach, an analytical tool used to determine whether a 

particular state or federal offense falls within a federal statutory definition. See generally 

Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. 254 (2013). The categorical approach typically is 

used in considering prior convictions, and reflects the general principle that a defendant 

will not be subject to a detrimental legal consequence based on a past conviction unless 

courts can be certain that his prior offense satisfies the full contours of the federal 

requirement.3

 See generally id. at 266-74. Accordingly, this approach most often is used 

to evaluate whether a defendant, based on a prior conviction, qualifies for a federal 

sentencing enhancement or an immigration consequence. See, e.g., Moncrieffe v. Holder, 

569 U.S. 184 (2013); Taylor, 495 U.S. 575. 

 3 Recently, the Supreme Court expanded application of the categorical approach 

beyond the context of prior convictions. In Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319, the Court applied the 

categorical approach in interpreting the language of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), which establishes 

a criminal offense when a person “uses or carries a firearm” “during and in relation to any 

crime of violence or drug trafficking crime.” In its decision extending the categorical 

approach to the determination under Section 924(c) whether a currently charged crime 

constitutes a “crime of violence,” the Court largely relied on its analysis of the identical 

term in Sessions v. Dimaya, 138 S. Ct. 1204 (2018). Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 2326-29.

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 8 of 16
9

Under the categorical approach, courts “focus[] solely on the elements of the offense 

of conviction, comparing those to the commonly understood elements of the generic 

offense identified in the federal statute.” United States v. Price, 777 F.3d 700, 704 (4th 

Cir. 2015); see also Moncrieffe, 569 U.S. at 190. A state offense is a “categorical match” 

to the federal crime only if “the elements comprising the statute of conviction [are] the 

same as, or narrower than, those of the generic offense.” Price, 777 F.3d at 704.

The categorical approach arose from the Supreme Court’s decision in Taylor v. 

United States, 494 U.S. 575 (1990), which addressed whether a defendant qualified for an 

enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) (the ACCA), 

based on his prior state burglary conviction. The ACCA establishes a 15-year mandatory 

sentence for certain federal firearm offenses if the defendant has “three previous 

convictions . . . for a violent felony or a serious drug offense, or both.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). 

Focusing on the text and legislative history of the ACCA, the Supreme Court concluded 

that “Congress intended the sentencing court to look only to the fact that the defendant had 

been convicted of crimes falling within certain categories, and not to the facts underlying 

the prior convictions.” Taylor, 495 U.S. at 600. 

The Court in Taylor identified two sources of “practical difficulties and potential 

unfairness” that would result if courts examined a defendant’s underlying conduct rather 

than the elements of the offense of which he was convicted. Id. at 601. Enhancing a 

defendant’s sentence based on a judge’s assessment of the defendant’s prior criminal 

conduct would implicate his right to a jury trial and raise “serious Sixth Amendment 

concerns.” Descamps, 570 U.S. at 269; Taylor, 495 U.S. at 601. And such a conductUSCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 9 of 16
10

based approach ordinarily would require sentencing courts to examine old court 

documents, which may be inaccurate or incomplete, to determine the factual basis for a 

defendant’s prior conviction. Descamps, 570 U.S. at 270-71; Taylor, 495 U.S. at 601-02.

The Supreme Court has reiterated these rationales and has used the categorical 

approach in cases addressing a range of federal statutes. See Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 

(addressing 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), which establishes a criminal offense when a person “uses 

or carries a firearm” “during and in relation to any crime of violence”); Sessions v. Dimaya,

138 S. Ct. 1204 (2018) (addressing 18 U.S.C. § 16, which defines the term “crime of 

violence” for general use in the federal criminal code); Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions, 137 

S. Ct. 1562 (2017) (addressing the aggravated felony of “sexual abuse of a minor” under 

the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(43)(A), 

1227(a)(2)(A)(iii)); Descamps, 570 U.S. 254 (addressing the ACCA); Moncrieffe, 569 U.S. 

184 (addressing the aggravated felony of “illicit trafficking in a controlled substance” 

under the INA, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(43)(B), 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii)).

Applying these principles, it is apparent that courts use the categorical approach 

because of the need to determine whether a state offense is “comparable” to a federal 

offense that is described generally. See Moncrieffe, 569 U.S. at 190. In contrast, the 

categorical approach is not applicable when statutory language lacks any textual cues 

demonstrating Congress’ intent to examine generally the elements of an offense. See

Nijhawan v. Holder, 557 U.S. 29, 38 (2009) (addressing the monetary loss threshold of the 

“fraud or deceit” offense in the INA, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(43)(M)(i), 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii)); 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 10 of 16
11

Price, 777 F.3d at 705, 708 (applying conduct-specific approach to provision of the Sex 

Offender Registration and Notification Act, 34 U.S.C. § 20911(1), (7)(I)). 

B.

Given this precedent, we review the relevant language of the VICAR statute as our 

“first and foremost guide” in determining whether the categorical approach is applicable 

to crimes charged under that statute. United States v. Simms, 914 F.3d 229, 240 (4th Cir. 

2019) (en banc); see also Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 2327; cf. Shular v. United States, 140 S. Ct. 

779, 784-86 (2020) (considering “natural” reading of definition of “serious drug offense” 

under ACCA to determine which method of categorical approach to apply, and concluding

that Congress “opt[ed] . . . for language suited to conduct”). As an initial matter, we 

observe that in addition to murder, kidnapping, maiming, and two types of assault, the 

VICAR statute also prohibits the act of “threaten[ing] to commit a crime of violence” in 

violation of a state or federal law. 18 U.S.C. § 1959 (emphasis added). Because the 

defendants have not been charged under this language of VICAR involving a “crime of 

violence,” we need not, and do not, consider whether the categorical approach would apply 

in an analysis of that statutory term. Instead, we focus on the specific language of VICAR 

under which the defendants were charged, which provides:

Whoever . . . assaults with a dangerous weapon . . . in violation of the laws 

of any State or the United States . . . shall be punished . . . .

18 U.S.C. § 1959. 

Nothing in this language suggests that the categorical approach should be used to 

compare the enumerated federal offense of assault with a dangerous weapon with the state 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 11 of 16
12

offense of Virginia brandishing. In fact, the most natural reading of the statute does not 

require any comparison whatsoever between the two offenses. By using the verb “assaults” 

in the present tense, the language requires that a defendant’s presently charged conduct 

constitute an assault under federal law, while simultaneously also violating a state law.4

 

The VICAR statute includes no language suggesting that all violations of a state law also 

must qualify as the enumerated federal offense, a result that would be required under the 

categorical approach. 

Notably, the VICAR language under which the defendants were charged contains 

none of the words or phrases that have triggered use of the categorical approach in other 

federal statutes. In the clearest example, courts have applied the categorical approach when 

a statute refers to the “elements” of a state offense. See, e.g., Taylor, 495 U.S. at 600; 

Simms, 914 F.3d at 233. In the context of the INA, the “relevant statutory hook” for the 

categorical approach is the statute’s reference to the alien’s “conviction,” rather than to the 

“acts” the person committed. Moncrieffe, 569 U.S. at 191 (citation omitted); see also 

Dimaya, 138 S. Ct. at 1217. The justification for applying the categorical approach to the 

term “conviction” is apparent, because that term necessarily encompasses the elements of 

 4 The Supreme Court in Davis briefly noted that the use of the present tense phrase 

“by its nature involves a substantial risk that physical force . . . may be used” supported the 

conclusion that a categorical analysis should apply to Section 924(c). Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 

2335 (emphasis added). In contrast to this description, the VICAR statute refers to the 

commission of the prohibited conduct in the present tense, rather than to whether the 

“nature” of that conduct presently involves substantial risk. Under these circumstances, 

the present tense verb counsels against application of the categorical approach. 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 12 of 16
13

the crime at issue covering the full range of prohibited conduct, without reference to the 

specific conduct in which the defendant engaged. 

As discussed above, the Supreme Court has identified other similar terms, including 

“felony” and “offense,” that also “are read naturally to denote the crime as generally

committed.” Dimaya, 138 S. Ct. at 1217 (citation and quotation marks omitted); see also 

Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 2328-29 (reading the term “offense” in Section 924(c) as referring to 

“a generic crime . . . in general” (citation omitted)); Leocal v. Ashcroft, 543 U.S. 1, 7 (2004) 

(when a statute refers to the “offense” of conviction, courts “look to the elements and the 

nature of the offense of conviction, rather than to the particular facts” of a person’s crime). 

And when a statute refers to the “nature” of an “offense,” we also consider that offense 

categorically, by evaluating what the crime “normally . . . entails, not what happened to 

occur on one occasion.”5

 Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 2329 (quoting Dimaya, 138 S. Ct. at 1217-

18); see also Simms, 914 F.3d at 241. Thus, categorical terms such as “offense,” 

“elements,” and “conviction” appear in a variety of statutory contexts, and the use of such 

terms signals Congress’ intent to disregard a defendant’s actual conduct, and instead to 

examine the elements of an offense generally. 

 5 We observe that some statutes, including the ACCA and Section 924(c), specify 

multiple ways a federal definition may be satisfied, such as requiring the use of force as an 

element of the offense, enumerating “generic” crimes like burglary and arson which must 

“match” the predicate offense, or by requiring an assessment of the potential risk posed by 

a predicate offense (a so-called “residual clause”). See 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), (e). Regardless 

of the type of clause, however, courts rely on statutory language signaling that offenses 

should be treated categorically before applying that approach. 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 13 of 16
14

In contrast, the language of the VICAR provision under which the defendants were 

charged is entirely devoid of any words or phrases arguably signaling such Congressional 

intent. We decline to apply the categorical approach based only on the charging of a federal 

offense of assault with a dangerous weapon in combination with a state offense, without 

any indication that we should conduct an elements-based analysis of either offense. To the 

contrary, the VICAR statute’s use of the present-tense verb “assaults,” without additional 

reference to an “offense,” “conviction,” “felony,” the “elements” of assault, or any other 

categorical term, indicates that Congress did not intend for us to “disregard how the 

defendant[s] actually committed [their] crime[s].” Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 2326. Rather, under 

the plain language of the VICAR statute, a defendant may be convicted when, by his 

conduct, he “assaults” another person with a dangerous weapon “in violation of” the state 

law charged in the indictment. This unambiguous statutory language precludes application 

of a formalistic, overinclusive categorical approach, and instead holds defendants 

accountable for their actual conduct as presented to a jury.

We also observe that the practical and constitutional concerns underlying the 

categorical approach are not present here. Because the VICAR language under which the 

defendants were charged refers only to presently charged conduct, courts are not required 

to reconstruct the facts underlying previous convictions. See Descamps, 570 U.S. at 270-

71; Taylor, 495 U.S. at 601. And the jury, not the judge, will determine whether the 

defendant committed the offenses charged in the indictment, eliminating any Sixth 

Amendment concerns. See Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. 99, 103 (2013); see also

Descamps, 570 U.S. at 269; Taylor, 495 U.S. at 601. Although these considerations are 

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 14 of 16
15

not dispositive of our inquiry, see Davis, 139 S. Ct. at 2327; Simms, 914 F.3d at 240, in 

their absence, we are confident that we need not apply the categorical approach to protect 

the defendants’ rights under the VICAR statute. 

Despite its seemingly ubiquitous presence, we apply the categorical approach only 

when the text of a statute signals the need for such an elements-based approach. See United 

States v. Pena, 952 F.3d 503, 508 n.4 (4th Cir. 2020) (explaining that the categorical 

approach is “not a default rule of statutory construction,” and we apply the approach only 

“when compelled to do so” by the statutory text). We will not employ this approach, a 

judicially created construct, in a manner contrary to “Congress’ manifest purpose.” See 

United States v. Hayes, 555 U.S. 415, 427 (2009). Reading the language of the VICAR 

statute under which the defendants were charged, we conclude that Congress intended for 

individuals to be convicted of VICAR assault with a dangerous weapon by engaging in 

conduct that violated both that enumerated federal offense as well as a state law offense, 

regardless whether the two offenses are a categorical “match.” Here, before convicting a 

defendant, a jury must find that he engaged in the conduct alleged in the indictment, 

namely, assaulting the named victim with a dangerous weapon in violation of the Virginia 

brandishing statute. We therefore hold that the district court erred in dismissing the 

VICAR-brandishing counts. 

III.

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 15 of 16
16

For these reasons, we reverse the district court’s decision dismissing Counts 4, 8, 

and 14 of the indictment. We remand the case for the district court to reinstate these counts 

and to conduct further proceedings consistent with the principles expressed in this opinion. 

REVERSED AND REMANDED

USCA4 Appeal: 19-4609 Doc: 72 Filed: 04/09/2020 Pg: 16 of 16