Opinion ID: 3064442
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence Supporting Conviction

Text: The final issue is whether sufficient evidence was presented for Renteria’s conviction of violating 18 U.S.C. § 844(i). 2030 UNITED STATES v. RENTERIA In the first appeal, we summarized the following facts which had been established: The evidence presented showed that the gift shop space was rented by the Synagogue to an indepen- dent third party at a fixed monthly rate. The shop averaged $2,000 to $3,000 a month in sales of goods from throughout the United States and Israel. The gift shop was open to the public for walk-in sales and also filled orders placed over the telephone and internet. Renteria, 187 F. App’x at 707. Different evidence was presented at the second trial. At the second trial, the evidence included proof that (1) the synagogue rented the gift shop to an independent third party at a fixed monthly rent; (2) the gift shop sold $1,200 to $1,500 worth of goods each month and more during certain months and holidays; (3) the gift shop was open to the general public; and (4) the synagogue had an internet link to the gift shop on its website that listed the hours of operation, telephone number, and items for sale. Further, in the second trial, the government introduced evidence pertaining to the preschool daycare center. Children of synagogue members and non-members attended the center. For children who attended 5 days each week, the fee was approximately $5,000 a year. Teachers employed by the synagogue were paid $16 to $17 an hour on average. To work as a teacher, one did not need to be Jewish or a member of the synagogue. Renteria argues the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction because (1) testimony by the synagogue’s Executive Director, Michael Moskowitz, was hearsay and thus was improperly-admitted into evidence; (2) there was no evidence regarding how much of the gift shop’s sales could be attriUNITED STATES v. RENTERIA 2031 buted to non-religious items, and the gift shop had a substantial relationship to the synagogue’s religious mission; and (3) the operation of the gift shop could not be used to satisfy the federal jurisdictional requirement as to commercial use of the synagogue building.
Moskowitz was the Executive Director of the synagogue. As part of his duties, he oversaw the finances, security, accounting, and other non-religious matters for the synagogue. [8] Moskowitz’s testimony was not hearsay. He was the individual with direct knowledge of activities taking place at the synagogue, the synagogue’s preschool daycare center, the fee charged for the daycare services, availability of services to non-members, how the gift shop was run, the profit made at the gift shop, the rent charged for the gift shop space, the terms of the contract regarding the gift shop, the merchandise for sale at the shop, and the available methods for purchase of such merchandise. Moskowitz’s testimony was properly admitted into evidence.
[9] Renteria argues the gift shop’s operation cannot be considered a link to interstate or foreign commerce because no evidence was presented as to how much of the shop’s sales pertained to religious items and because the gift shop operated in furtherance of the synagogue’s religious mission. These contentions are irrelevant. While a house of worship may engage in activities that primarily further worship, it may also engage in other activities that are commercial in nature. United States v. Grassie, 237 F.3d 1199, 1210 (10th Cir. 2001). The fact that the gift shop’s sales may further the synagogue’s religious purposes does not take the shop’s operation out of the realm of commercial activity. The district court did 2032 UNITED STATES v. RENTERIA not err in considering the activities of the gift shop in determining the synagogue’s link to interstate or foreign commerce.
Renteria contends that the synagogue’s operation, by itself, could not possibly fulfill the commercial jurisdictional element of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i), and the ancillary functions of the gift shop and the preschool cannot bring the synagogue’s religious operations within § 844(i)’s commercial activity requirement. [10] Although not addressed in this circuit, see Lamont, 330 F.3d at 1255, the Tenth, Sixth, and Fourth Circuits have held that certain religious buildings have fallen within the commercial activity requirement of § 844(i) through ancillary activities such as daycare, radio stations, and gift shops. United States v. Gillespie, 452 F.3d 1183 (10th Cir. 2006); United States v. Rayborn, 312 F.3d 229 (6th Cir. 2002); United States v. Terry, 257 F.3d 366 (4th Cir. 2001). Gillespie from the Tenth Circuit is directly on point on this issue. That case involved the fire-bombing of the outside door alcove of a Jewish synagogue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and a prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 844(i). Gillespie, 452 F.3d at 1185. On appeal following his conviction, Gillespie argued that insufficient evidence was introduced to support the jury’s conclusion that the synagogue was a building used in or affecting an activity in interstate commerce within the meaning of § 844(i). Id. at 1186. The court recognized that the synagogue operated as a place of worship, but that it had additional functions, including the operation of a preschool and a gift shop. Id. at 1188. These additional functions constituted commercial use such that the function of the building affected interstate commerce. Id.; see also U. S. v. Terry, 257 F.3d at 369-70. UNITED STATES v. RENTERIA 2033 [11] Viewing the evidence in the present case concerning the operation of the gift shop and the preschool daycare center in the light most favorable to the government, a rational trier of fact could have found that these commercial uses were not passive, passing, or past connections to commerce and that the synagogue was used for interstate or foreign commercial purposes in addition to religious purposes. The evidence presented was sufficient to support Renteria’s conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 844(i). AFFIRMED.