Opinion ID: 1435629
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: .Count One Conspiracy to Violate the AEPA

Text: To prove a conspiracy to violate the AEPA, the government was required to demonstrate the following beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) that the Defendants conspired, that is, they agreed with one another and/or with others; (2) to use a facility in interstate or foreign commerce; (3) for the purpose of causing physical disruption to the functioning of Huntingdon; and (4) to intentionally damage or cause the loss of property to Huntingdon. [13] 18 U.S.C. § 43(a) (2002). In addition, the Defendants were charged, under the penalty component of the statute, with causing economic damage exceeding $10,000. Id. § 43(b)(2). Defendants contend on appeal that there was insufficient evidence to prove the third and fourth of these elements: Defendants acted for the purpose of causing physical disruption to Huntingdon and to intentionally damage or cause the loss of Huntingdon's property. The AEPA expressly provides that the term `physical disruption' does not include any lawful disruption that results from lawful public, governmental, or animal enterprise employee reaction to the disclosure of information about an animal enterprise. 18 U.S.C. § 43(d)(2) (2002). This exception underpins Defendants' argument that they agreed to use only lawful protest activity with the objective of closing Huntingdon. We note at the outset of this discussion that Defendants' sufficiency arguments are largely tied to their argument that the AEPA was unconstitutional as-applied. The government need not introduce direct evidence to establish a conspiratorial agreement. United States v. McKee, 506 F.3d 225, 238 (3d Cir.2007). Rather, the government can prove the agreement with circumstantial evidence, based upon reasonable inferences drawn from actions and statements of the conspirators or from the circumstances surrounding the scheme. Id. (citations omitted). Defendants in this case unquestionably agreed to advocate for animal rights as members and agents of SHAC. However, Defendants cannot be convicted solely because of their associations, because such a conviction would clearly run afoul of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of association. See, e.g., N.A.A.C.P. v. Claiborne Hardware, 458 U.S. 886, 918-19, 102 S.Ct. 3409, 73 L.Ed.2d 1215 (1982); McKee, 506 F.3d at 238. To establish a conspiracy under these circumstances, the government must `establish that the group itself possessed unlawful goals and that the individual held a specific intent to further those illegal aims.' McKee, 506 F.3d at 239 (quoting Claiborne Hardware, 458 U.S. at 920, 102 S.Ct. 3409). This evidence must be judged according to the strictest law, or the  strictissimi juris doctrine. Id. (internal quotation omitted). However, the government need not show that each and every member of the conspiracy committed an unlawful act in furtherance of the conspiracy's goals. Even applying this strict standard, we find that the government provided evidence beyond association to prove the conspiracy with regard to SHAC, Kjonaas, Gazzola, Conroy, Harper, Stepanian and Fullmer. While there is no direct evidence that the Defendants expressly agreed to participate in the conspiracy and further its unlawful goals, there is ample circumstantial evidence from which the jury could have inferred their agreement to do so. Kjonaas and Gazzola had leadership positions in SHAC, an organization that clearly engaged in unprotected activity via its website. [14] Kjonaas and Gazzola were instrumental in the coordination of all of SHAC's activities, both legal and illegal. There is also overwhelming evidence of their constant attempts to evade law enforcement and cover their tracks: use of encryption devices and programs to wipe their computer hard drives; attributing illegal activities to fake organizations and activists; and the use of pseudonyms. While alone this evidence is not enough to demonstrate agreement, when viewed in context, it is circumstantial evidence of their agreement to participate in illegal activity. See, e.g., United States v. Pearlstein, 576 F.2d 531, 535 (3d Cir.1978) (citing United States v. Cohen, 516 F.2d 1358, 1367 (8th Cir.1975)). Ample circumstantial evidence demonstrates that Conroy and Fullmer agreed to participate in this conspiracy. Conroy resided with Kjonaas and Gazzola in the Somerset, New Jersey headquarters of SHAC. Using computers located there, he designed and maintained multiple websites affiliated with SHACthe primary tools of the campaign against Huntingdon. He frequently posted on these websites detailed information regarding when and how SHAC supporters could participate in illegal campaign activities. These postings at times included warnings and threats of violence against SHAC's targets, with the intent of intimidating those targets into complying with SHAC's demands. This strong circumstantial evidence supports the conclusion that Conroy agreed to participate in the conspiracy. Similarly, Fullmer, via the e-mail address malignantx@ aol.com, personally coordinated electronic civil disobedience via internet message boards. It is inconceivable that he could now argue that he never agreed to participate in illegal activityhe personally orchestrated it. There is sufficient circumstantial evidence from which the jury could infer that Harper also agreed to participate in this conspiracy. Harper organized a Seattle branch of SHAC and a local campaign against Stephens, a company targeted by SHAC. In a lengthy telephone conversation with Kjonaas, Harper enthusiastically discussed recent events in the SHAC campaign and future strategies. He wrote editorials and gave speeches praising militant tactics and direct action. These included a speech in Seattle in which he explained how the audience could send black faxes, a primary tool in SHAC's campaign. In that speech Harper declared, I think that it's appropriate to have a militant response ... to go after them with everything at ... our hands. Anything that we have available to use and do our utmost to shut them down. (J.A. at 2531.) From this constellation of evidence the jury could reasonably conclude that Harper conspired with others and shared the purpose of causing unlawful physical disruption and damage to property at Huntingdon. The circumstantial evidence of Stepanian's agreement is not as overwhelming as the evidence against his co-Defendants, but there is enough to support the jury's conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt. Stepanian, like Kjonaas and Gazzola, had a leadership position within SHAC. He alluded to his coordination of illegal activity in a phone call with Kjonaas when he explained to Kjonaas that he could not explain over an unprotected phone line what protest activity he had planned for the following weeks in New York and New Jersey. He worked with Kjonaas to attribute illegal activity to sham organizations, and he led an illegal protest at Deloitte and Touche. [15] We therefore conclude that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that SHAC, Kjonaas, Gazzola, Conroy, Stepanian, Harper and Fullmer agreed to participate in a conspiracy to violate the AEPA. To the extent that Defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence with regard to the other elements of Count One, we reject those arguments. [16] As we discussed in section IV, supra, we find that the object of Defendants' conspiracy was to cause a physical disruption to Huntingdon, an animal enterprise, and to intentionally damage or cause the loss of property.